Imagine the changes in our schools if in every grade in every school, every year, each student received letters from each parent, grandparent, and/or maybe other relatives, writing about their dreams for that student and including a family history story from the writer's life. After the student immediately reads each letter, or has it read to them by each letter writer starting in Pre-K, all received letters are stored inside a self-addressed envelope prepared by the parent.
The self-addressed envelope should have the date, grade, school, teacher & student's name, as well as the parent's phone number, email address and home address. The family must be able to be located to return such a valuable envelope! (A parent is always free to send only copies of the letters written to school and keep the originals in safe keeping in their homes. They also certainly can make extra copies for the letter writers themselves.)
A class day is scheduled to bring these self-addressed envelopes to school. They are collected by the grade’s Time Capsule Postmaster Volunteer and stored in the School Time Capsule Vault until the next year. This 700-pound vault is in the school lobby, or other high traffic area, to be seen daily by students.
Letters are returned to students by the Postmaster Volunteer just before the next year's letter writing starts. The year-old letters are all read again to or by the student, preparing for another cycle of letter writing. The year-old envelope goes home to be safely stored while new letters are written to go back into the vault in a new self-addressed envelope. This annual letter writing process continues through the second grade.
Starting in the 3rd grade there are 3 changes:
1) Instead of the school asking for the letters to be written to
students, students themselves begin writing annual letters to each parent,
grandparent, or other close relative, asking for a letter back about their new
dreams for them and with another family history story.
2) Students will prepare their own self-addressed envelope in class,
following the format their parents used, in a class period dedicated to the
Time Capsule Project. The envelope holds
all letters received that year.
3) Students then write a letter to themselves with their thoughts about these letters received, and their own dreams for their own future. This letter also goes into the self-addressed envelope. The envelope is sealed and stored in the school's Time Capsule Vault by the Postmaster Volunteer.
This new cycle is repeated annually until 12th grade. The year-old envelopes are always returned to students by the grade’s Postmaster Volunteer to be re-read and taken home just before the next year’s letter writing process starts.
In the 12th grade the dreams everyone writes about change to be focused 10-years into the future. Everyone writes about their dreams for the student in 10 years. These 12th grade envelopes remain in the school's Time Capsule Vault until the first 10-year high school class reunion.
With roots and goals constantly being explored every year in such letter writing, students become more focused and motivated, more bonded with parents, grandparents, and involved relatives, and more well behaved. School achievement increases as unplanned pregnancies and the attraction of gangs go down.
Teachers enjoy teaching more!
More details about running this project and the record of achievement
under this project can be found in the first two postings at www.StudentMotivation.org.
Bill Betzen, LMSW (Emeritus), Retired Teacher, Family & School Time Capsule
Postmaster Volunteer bbetzen@aol.com, or text to 214-957-9739, Dallas, Texas
