Nili Bartley, personalized learning coach and former teacher in Massachusetts, reflects on her experience as an educator, what she actively works to provide and instill in her students, and the profound impacts teachers and education can have. She discusses a classroom exercise where she had her students write letters to their future selves and the lasting impact it had on her and her students.
Living in Massachusetts, where school doesn’t begin for us until late August, I still manage to get a little jittery at this time of year. Hope, excitement, and nervousness all play a role, sometimes in isolation but more often as a team. A new school year awaits us. Opportunity to make an impact at our fingertips with a sense of unpredictability until we open the doors to our buildings and classrooms. A reminder as we get closer and closer to the first day of school that what we do matters.
For the past twenty years I have been passionate about trying to give students experiences they hopefully won't forget. It didn't occur to me until recently how much power there is in giving them the opportunity to choose what they want to remember. A former colleague recommended that we ask our fourth graders to write letters to themselves as graduated seniors, collect their addresses, and mail them back eight years later. Last year, I was fortunate enough to dive into the words of my very last class.
I had read each letter as students turned them in back in June of 2015, but it wasn't until I opened them again that I realized what these fabulous human beings did for themselves. As one might expect, they asked countless questions about their favorite singers, colors, and colleges they might attend with anticipation of what they would one day discover. As one might also expect, they asked their future selves to remember the experiences they had in fourth grade and to never forget each other.
"Best year ever" was the goal we were trying to achieve and several students wrote about the pride they felt in owning it. A few referred to our space as a second home which made me melt. They wrote about their strengths, described our superhero performance and music video, and explained what being a PIRATE learner meant to them. The pens of my quietest students came to life in ways I couldn't have predicted and I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit. One student referred to me as crazy (in a good way) so I assured him in my note back that I still am.
These unique fourth graders, however, did something else. Every one of my twenty-four students told their future selves to remember how special they are. In fact it quickly became clear that they so passionately wanted to hold onto the belief they had in who they were at nine and ten years old. I loved being a classroom teacher with all of my heart. I never expected that reading letter after letter would throw me right into the heart of teaching. My students were giving themselves a gift. It was their advice. It was their wisdom. It was their love.
Below are a few quotes from their letters.
"Never forget that YOU MATTER."
"You are beautiful. You are a superhero. You have so many superpowers."
"You have a contribution to make so go out there and make it!"
As we head into a new school year, I will do my best to use this story as a source of inspiration to think big and go for the unforgettable. More than anything, however, (and I would love for anyone reading this to join me) I will use it as a reminder to give students space to own an experience and discover who they are in the process and who they hope to be. I will certainly try my best to inspire my colleagues to do the same. And if we can take it one step further and ask our students to creatively capture and hold onto this kind of courage, as my students so beautifully did in their letters, their impact will have no limit.
In Lead Beyond Your Title, I write in great detail about our adventures with PIRATE learning, the You Matter Movement, Genius Hour, SuperYOU, and more. In my post Learning to Fly, I describe what it was like to attend graduation and to learn that it all mattered more than I knew. I just wish I could have been there to see their reactions as students unfolded an invaluable treasure they gave themselves.
I know they've heard this many times, but I will be forever grateful to Dave Burgess, Beth Houf, Jay Billy, Angela Maiers, Paul Solarz, Lourds Lane, (and more!) for taking time out of their schedules to make a difference in the lives of twenty-four elementary students who are going out there and making their contributions to the world.
About the Author:
Nili Bartley is currently a personalized learning coach in Natick, MA. After an eleven-year adventure in the classroom, Nili’s technology integration role at the elementary level for the next three years pushed her to see the importance of a thriving culture and led her to write “Lead Beyond Your Title: Creating Change in School from Any Role.” Since then, Nili has been a middle school specialist and digital learning coach and is now embracing her new role on a district-wide team. An enthusiastic presenter, she is committed to sharing her passions beyond the school community and is always excited to connect with other educators.