A Student Self-Assessment Activity: A Letter to One’s Future Self | Edutopia

Letters written to their future selves can strengthen students’ writing skills and encourage them to be more introspective.

When I first introduce the assignment, there are usually a lot of questions. “How do we even start it? What do we talk about?” So, we take some time to unpack the salutation—do they want to address themselves formally? Informally? Affectionately?

These questions have provoked interesting conversations about how students view themselves and, in some ways, how kind they are to themselves. Students are sometimes embarrassed to begin; they default to making self-deprecating comments and teasing others who look to be taking the assignment seriously. I remind the class that they will be looking back on this letter a year from now – how do they want to portray themselves? How might that future self read it? That lens often allows them more grace and kindness than they might normally grant themselves.

Find out more about how Aimee Leukert used this in her classroom here: A Student Self-Assessment Activity: A Letter to One’s Future Self | Edutopia