Dear Students

More than ever, it was important to write to my students at the end of this school year...


Since I'm changing schools next year, and I wasn't able to say a proper farewell to my students, I felt really motivated to send them some positive words and encouragement. To be really transparent, I didn't write to all my students like I usually do.  Instead, I chose students who I felt, in my heart, would really appreciate the gesture, would be pleasantly surprised to receive my letter, or this letter could be that push or nudge they needed to make a change for the better. Some of the students gave great consistent effort throughout the year (and even during digital learning and the quarantine), some showed great improvement, and some...lets just say I'm still hoping for a change. All in all, I wrote to more than half of my students.

Each time I write to my students, I understand fully that the majority of these letters will end up in the trash somewhere and maybe one or two will be treasured for years to come. And I'm okay with that. I'm quite aware of this whilst I spend hours writing, signing and sealing scores of letters.

And if I needed confirmation this is a good thing to do, I got it this year. I saw one of my former students in the cafeteria months ago. I taught him in the 6th grade, and next year he'll be in high school. He told me, "Ms. Cooke I still have the letter you wrote me. I'll keep it forever." I tell you. That made my year!

Though each letter is different, they all share a similarity. I speak confidence, determination and perseverance into each of my students' lives. And I always tell them...I believe in you!  

Read this post for when my students wrote me letters. And here's a post on the last time I wrote to all my students.