Please Return to Sender

The hundred day writing challenge is down to its final fortnight, and this year we're wrapping it up with the Gratitude Challenge. All students are invited, but not required, to post some thank-yous to all sorts of people in their lives.

When I introduced the activity earlier this week, the inevitable question in each class was "What's the prize?" My answer was that I thought they would find that the challenge itself was rewarding, and I encouraged them all to give it a try. If you send gratitude out into the universe, you never know what you may get in return.

Some scoffed, to be sure, but a handful of kids are participating, and their writing has been lovely and sweet. Even the most minimalist of the bunch has turned some heartfelt phrases. Some letters, too, have been wrenching, reminding me even at this late date that there is so much we don't know about the children in our charge.

Here's an example:

Dear sister,

Thank you for always caring about my mom and I. I know you haven't seen mom ever since you were five, but look at you, twenty years old. Thank you for sending me the El Salvador soccer shirt. I know El Salvador is not good at soccer, but I root for them. I sorry you have to get surgery on your wrist. Make sure to take care for our brother, Omar.

I hope I see you soon,

Carlito.

Mail Call

Believe it or not, the entire experience of writing a letter, addressing the envelope, placing a stamp on it, and personally putting it in the mail is a novel one for most of the sixth graders I teach. As the culmination of the Gratitude Challenge, and because the weather was a gorgeous 80 degrees here, today my students and I walked to the mailbox on the far corner of campus to physically post their thank-you notes.

After overcoming the exacting task of properly placing name, street, city, state and zip code on a tiny envelope, they joyfully ran down the sidewalks and across the fields to the intersection where a vintage mailbox stands bolted to the pavement. With wonder they pulled the worn metal handle to reveal the yawning maw of that blue beast and gleefully sacrificed their offerings to the postal gods. Then they skipped back to their school, eager to continue their lessons.

Attitude of Gratitude

One of the teachers on my team is retiring as of April 1, so today was her appreciation party. As the English teacher, I had all of the students write notes of thanks which we placed in a nice little album. The kids did a really nice job-- their cards were genuinely sweet and poignant.

The activity made me remember an interview I'd heard on the radio several years ago. It was with John Kralik, a man who, in his early fifties was overworked and overweight and facing his second divorce and a faltering law practice. Unsure as to how he could even move forward, he took a solitary hike on New Years Day, and after getting lost in the mountains heard a voice tell him that until he appreciated what he had, he would never get what he wanted.

He also remembered his grandfather who gave his grandchildren silver dollars with the promise that if they wrote a thank-you note, he would give them another. His grandfather's lesson was that expressing thanks will pay off, sometimes literally. Considering all the obsolete stationery he had back at his soon-to-be-closed office, Kralik  decided to use it to write 365 thank-you notes, one a day for the next year. His book, 365 Thank Yous, chronicles how that year of appreciation changed his life.

At this point in the year, my students complete a series of writing challenges designed to encourage them to write and post their writing every day, or at least twice a week. As our first task, The Alphabiography Challenge, draws to a close, I plan to do a poetry challenge in April, for National Poetry month. But before then, we have Spring Break, and just enough time to do a mini-project.

And so, our Gratitude Challenge kicks off on March 27: it will consist of ten days of thank-you notes, at least 2 of which will be handwritten and mailed off. Today the students made lists of possible recipients, and it was gratifying to see how little trouble they had.