Today was our last session at Perez Elementary and we spent the time celebrating! After passing around a huge bowl of candy, (which is great early in the morning) students looked over their poetry portfolios and shared what they had learned about poetry and themselves through the process of writing. Then I led them in an exercise where they wrote letters from their future selves to their present selves, imagining what their accomplishments and lessons learned might be. Their future selves offered so many beautiful words of encouragement and affirmation and students got to keep these letters for themselves.
I want to give a huge thank you to Ms. Armstrong and Mr. Reinholdt for all of their support in the classroom and for allowing me to work with their amazing students. And I want to wish my 8th grade Perez students all the luck in the world as they begin their high school years. It was such a pleasure to work with you and watch you grow as writers and storytellers in our time together. Have a fantastic summer!
