A Letter To Future You: A Gift for the Last Day of School
As we prepare for a new school year, here's a simple idea that might become one of your favorite traditions.
💙 Write a letter to yourself to read on the last day of school.
Instead of focusing on everything you hope to accomplish, write about the teacher you hope to become.
You might include goals like:
🎵 Staying positive, even on challenging days.
🎵 Creating a classroom where every child feels safe to create and make music.
🎵 Adding more hands-on learning and retrieval practice so students build lasting understanding.
🎵 Finding ways to reach every learner and help them experience the joy of music.
🎵 Using meaningful assessments to guide your instruction instead of simply measuring it.
Or make it personal. For example:
🎵 Remembering to celebrate the moments outside the classroom that make this school year special.
🎵 Is this your first year of teaching? Write about how you hope to grow, what success will look like, and remind yourself that no one expects perfection. Your goal might simply be to make it through the year while continuing to learn.
🎵 Is this your last year before retirement? Reflect on the legacy you hope to leave, the memories you want to create, and the advice you hope your future self will remember as one chapter closes and another begins.
🎵 Will this year include personal milestones—a child graduating, a wedding, a new baby, a move, a new position, or another life-changing event? Include those hopes, too. School is only one part of your story, and someday you'll be grateful that you captured the whole picture.
When you've finished writing, don't tuck it into a drawer where you'll forget it!
📧 Schedule it as an email to yourself to arrive on the last day of school, or use a free service like Future Letters to have it delivered to your future self:
https://future-letters.com/
By June, you'll probably have forgotten many of the words you wrote—but I bet you'll remember exactly how they make you feel.
Sometimes the encouragement we need most is the encouragement we gave ourselves months before. ❤️
One final thought: I have done this for years, but when Ava from Abbott Elementary did this idea in Season 3, I had to giggle!