✉️ Write It Like It Happened: A Letter to Your Future Self
What if your students could time-travel?
Not with a DeLorean or a TARDIS — but with a pen, an envelope, and a powerful writing prompt. One of my favorite beginning-of-the-year activities is deceptively simple: writing a letter to your future self. But the real power comes from the way we frame it — not as a dream, a wish, or even a goal.
We write it as if it already happened. Here is our lesson slides.
🎯 The Purpose Behind the Prompt
At the beginning of the school year, students are full of potential energy — curious, cautious, and often anxious about what lies ahead. This letter activity helps students focus their energy, clarify their hopes, and visualize success across academic and personal areas of life.
Here’s the twist: they write from the future.
Instead of saying “I want to improve my grades,” students write:
👉 “I have improved my grades.”
Instead of “I hope I make the soccer team,” they write:
👉 “I made the soccer team and built great friendships with my teammates.”
This shift in voice — from future to past tense — creates a mindset of agency, belief, and ownership.
🧠 Not Manifestation… But Kind Of
We’re not calling it manifestation. But let’s be real: it’s a form of positive visualization, and there’s tons of research that backs it.
Athletes visualize wins. Public speakers rehearse successful performances in their heads. Writers imagine publishing their books before typing the first word.
We’re giving students a chance to do the same: to tell the story of their own success before it happens, so they can start living it on purpose.
✍️ How the Lesson Works
Here’s how I introduce and run this lesson in my middle school and high school classes (it adapts beautifully to both):
1. Kickoff Discussion
“What do you hope to feel proud of 6 months from now?”
“If you could look back at the next few months, what would make you say, ‘I did it!’?”
2. Goal Categories for Brainstorming
Academic: Grades, projects, reading, presentations, exams (like state tests, APs, or final exams)
Personal: Sports, clubs, friendships, hobbies, family goals
Growth Habits: Time management, focus, responsibility, risk-taking
Mindset: Resilience, self-belief, positive thinking
3. Letter Writing (Past Tense Only!)
Prompts like:
“In the past 6 months, I have…”
“One thing I’m really proud of is…”
“I stayed focused even when…”
“I pushed through challenges by…”
4. Seal and Save
Students seal the letter in an envelope, write their name on it, and I stash it away until a strategic reveal — like right after winter break, or before testing season.
🪞The Reflection Payoff
When students reopen their letters later in the year, it’s always a moment. They laugh, they tear up, they marvel at how much they have changed — even if they didn’t notice it while it was happening.
Some exceeded their hopes. Some needed the reminder. All are better for having paused to write their story.
🥃 Distilled Insight
You don’t need a fancy template, but you do need intention.
This letter-writing activity gives students something rare and valuable:
A chance to dream without fear.
A way to set goals without pressure.
A quiet voice cheering them on from the past.
And honestly? I write one too — because we teachers need reminders of our own growth, just like our students.