The StudentMotivation.org Project History

The StudentMotivation.org Project will dramatically improve a school to be one of the best in the district within one year if fully implemented.

The Project History from 2005 to January of 2025 helps anyone understand within 10 monutes why the Project works. It shows the increasingly rapid improvements in student achievement from the Project, especially since 2016. Project development lost 4 years due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, but the Pandemic did help document the power of the Project at the same time. That is documented below.

This Pk-12, volunteer-driven, open-source, free-to-use, StudentMotivation.org Project can make any school better than the majority of current schools within just one year! Within Dallas ISD, as schools that begin full Project implimentation gather at the top of the SEI score listings, those schools not using the Project will be left behind, inside the group having the generally lower SEI scores.

The StudentMotivation.org Project started in 2005 as the Quintanilla School Time-Capsule Project. It started with 8th graders in this under performing, high poverty middle school, writing letters to themselves about their goals for 10-years into their future. They placed their letters into a large "Time-Capsule Vault" in the school lobby, on a shelf for their class. Their letters stayed there until their 10-year 8th grade class reunion.

All the letters written 2005 through 2015 were 10-year into the future letters, not read again for 10-years. Slowly a goal-focused mentality expanded throughout the school. Within 10 years Quintanilla was the highest performing of the 32 middle schools in DISD based on their achieving the highest School Effectiveness Indices (SEI) score.

Before the Covid-19 Pandemic shut down of the Project in 2020, Quintanilla was able to have five 8th-grade Class 10-year Reunions, from 2015 through 2019. They were wonderful events!

The two Project goals were always to increase student academic achievement and to increase high school graduation rates. Both goals started to improve, but the improvements were slow. (Prior to 2017 we did not understand how slow!) We still celebrated the improvements that were being documented at that time, not realizing until 2017 that much more rapid improvements were possible.

In 2010 Sunset High School Principal Tony Tovar noticed that Quintanilla students were consistently achieving better than students from Greiner, the other middle school. He investigated, discovered the Time Capsule Project, and immediately had a Sunset Time Capsule Vault installed in the old 1920's circular large phone booth on the first floor at Sunset. Greiner Middle School also heard what Quintanilla was doing and started their own Time Capsule Project as well.

Sunset Seniors & Greiner 8th graders began the annual letter writing tradition planning their 10-year goals in writing. The extra improvement at both schools began to happen, but still only slowly compared to what we now know is possible.

We now know that with only 8th graders, & then 12th graders, writing letters, the intense benefit of focusing on roots and goals was not fully benefitting either school's full enrollment of students in all grades.

Following recommendations from staff in 2010, hoping to accelerate academic improvements with more positive self images, the writing of letters by parents to students about their dreams for their child was started. The Quintanilla principal began writing a letter to all 8th grade parents asking them to write about their dreams for their child, and including a family history story in their letter. But never more than 30% of students received such valuable letters! The focus on family roots was starting in the Project, but again the progress was slow, especially as we now understand.

In 2016 then Ms Niki Lincoln (now Mrs. Niki Lincoln Goff) was the Quintanilla Language Arts Coach. She came up with 2 brilliant ideas that dramatically accelerated all student achievement progress!

First, she had students write their own letter to parents asking each for the letter back about their dreams for them, and a family history story. (At some point in time this was expanded to specify requesting letters from each parent, grandparent, and other close relative.)

Second, she had this same letter writing done by all students in all grades!

Immediately the percentage of students getting such valuable letters from the adults in their family increased from 30% to 80%! Teachers had tears of joy for their students! Family involvement increased for all students.

With all grades exchanging letters with family members about dreams for their future, the roots and goals focus saturated all students and their families! Everyone became better grounded in their own family history in the process! Mrs. Niki Lincoln Goff is to be congratulated as bringing about the greatest imrovements in the 20-year history of the now renamed School Time Capsule Project. It is now more accurately called the StudentMotivation.org Project. It is accelerating student motivation that transforms a school to the best in district in only one year!

But in 2016, since Quintanilla was already the highest SEI (School Effectiveness Indices) scoring middle school, we did not notice any dramatic student achievment improvement in 2016! (See
https://mydata.dallasisd.org/SL/SD/SEI/Default.jsp to better understand the SEI measurement history and SEI score records in every Dallas ISD school at all levels.)

The next year, 2016-17, that changed! A 5th year failing middle school was transformed to the highest performing middle school in Dallas ISD in one year! We saw how rapidly academic improvements can happen!

The expanded all-grade, all student StudentMotivation.org Project was tried at Browne Middle School, a 5th year failing school! Browne was already getting the extra resources all such 5th year failing schools, in danger of being closed by the state, receive in Dallas ISD.

The StudentMotivation.org Project had not been planned for by DISD Central Office in their attempt to keep Browne open. That oversight allowed Browne to wonderfully OVERperform, exceeding all expectations, and setting a District wide middle school SEI score record that still stands today!

In 2016-17 Browne became the HIGHEST achieving middle school in all of Dallas ISD in just one year! Browne went from being a 5th year failing school to being the best middle school in DISD! Browne earned a 61.7 SEI score, a 14.2 point improvement in one year! TO THIS DAY IN 2024 THE BROWNE 61.7 SEI SCORE FOR 2017 REMAINS THE HIGHEST MIDDLE SCHOOL SEI SCORE SINCE 2008 IN DISD! (See second chart below with 2006-2023 SEI scores for 32 middle schools.)

But a new Browne principal did not continue the StudentMotivation.org Project in 2018. The achievement rates dropped dramatically. (See last spreadsheet below to verify all above facts.) Within 2 years the Browne SEI score dropped 13.3 points!

Then in 2020 all letter writing in all schools stopped due to the Covid Pandemic. SEI scores began to drop in all Project schools.

In 2021 only one school, Rosemont Upper School, resumed the 8th grade only Project model. Their School Effectiveness Indices (SEI) score continued the slow rise until they had one of the highest SEI scores of any middle school by 2023! (Only 8th grade Rosemont students were writing letters, and only to themselves. I did not know this was happening until I saw the letters produced when examining the Rosemont Time Capsule Vault in 2024, a very pleasant surprise! Then I studied SEI scores and saw the constantly higher SEI scores that had been achieved by Rosemont during 2021-2023! - Bill)

Meanwhile, Quintanilla never resumed full letter writing after the Pandemic started in 2020. This original StudentMotivation.org Project middle school. After 10 years Quintanilla had the highest SEI by 2015. After that achievement, Quintanilla continued to have either the highest or second highest SEI scores through 2019. When the Pandemic stopped the Project letter writing Quintanilla dropped 16 points within 5 years to one of the lowest SEI scores of any of the 32 middle schools by 2024, only 42.6! Only 2 other middle schools had a lower 2024 SEI score! That is the result of the Pandemic stopping of all future and family roots focused letter writing for 5 years.

The loss of a such student future and family history focus is fatal for student achievement!

(See all the SEI data for 32 DISD middle schools, from 2006 to 2023, in the second spreadsheet below. The data can be verified in the Dallas ISD Data Portal at https://mydata.dallasisd.org/SL/SD/SEI/Default.jsp)

The Time Capsule Project was changing as elementary schools were added. Quickly 90% of all letters being written were being returned to students and their families within 10 months for the annual letter writing. A new Project model was being born. Student motivation for all students in all grades was the true focus! This new project model was partially tried for the first time in a high school in 2023-24, at South Oak Cliff High School, aka SOC.

SOC had a 2015-2023 SEI average that was the 3rd lowest of all 21 comprehensive high schools in Dallas ISD. But in 2024, after using only part of the StudentMotivation.org Project, the SOC SEI score was the 3rd HIGHEST of all 21 schools! The majority of all SOC students in all grades had written letters to themselves planning their futures. The 2015-2023 SEI average score for SOC rose 9.86 SEI points to 54.0 in 2024! Only 2 of 21 comprehensive high schools had higher scores. But both of those were just barely above SOC, within just half an SEI point above SOC!

If all students had also written to each parent, grandparent, and favorite relative, asking for a letter back about their dreams for the student, and telling a family history story, the changes would have accelerated dramatically more! This will happen especially if all letter writers meet with their student to read and discuss the letter together. If this had happened in 2024, SOC would have had an SEI far above all other DISD high schools for 2024!

Again, to achieve maximum benefit such improvements require students be able to read the letters from their family immediately. Then they have the meeting, in person, or by phone, or by Zoom, to discuss the letter with the writer of the letter to better understand it.

Hopefully SOC is in the process of achieving such dramatically improved progress this year for their 2025 SEI score. Such valuable family letters are being added by SOC for all students in 2024-25.

(The first spreadsheet below is the 2015-2024 history of SEI scores for all 21 Dallas ISD comprehensive high schools. The second spreadsheet is for the 32 middle school's SEI history from 2006 through 2023.)

The third document below is a Letter Request Form developed at the end of 2024 to facilitate the students asking for a letter from each parent, grandparent, or other close relative. It was recommended 5 copies of this form, in Spanish or English as needed, be sent home (next year before the Thanksgiving Break) with each student with a cover letter for parents explaining the value of the StudentMotivation.org Project. It asks their help for their student to help them identify grandparents and other relatives they want to request a letter from. They guide the completing of the form, in Spanish or English as needed, to distribute to the people identified. This is in addition to each parent receiving one of the forms to write their own letters. This also starts the StudentMotivation.org Project in a school

It took 20 years for the new name for the Time Capsule Project, now the StudentMotivation.org Project, to be born. The Project has been proven to be overwhelmingly effective!

We continue to anticipate future improvement ideas for the StudentMotivation.org Project. Please share any Project improvements you discover with us so all schools and students can benefit.

2024 SEI Reports for 21 DISD Non-magnet High Schools, and first high school to use full all student, all grade letter writing in Family & School Time Capsule Project

South Oak Cliff High School (SOC) improved more points above their average School Effectiveness Indices (SEI) scores since 2015 than any other of the 21 Dallas ISD high schools in 2024!

(See more details about the 30+ year old SEI measurement, and how it is calculated in DISD, at https://mydata.dallasisd.org/SL/SD/SEI/Default.jsp.)

SOC was the first DISD high school to have all students in all grades exchanging letters with each of their parents and grandparents about dreams for the student. Parents also included in their letter to their student a story from their family history. This happened for the first time in a Dallas ISD high school in 2024 at SOC! Again, it was the first time for any high school. This is part of the Family and School Time Capsule Project that works to motivate Pre-k to 12th grade students.

Now SOC parents, with increased communications with their own children and grandchildren, are working more closely with SOC. (See www.StudentMotivation.org.)

The SOC SEI for 2024 was the 3rd highest of all 21 DISD high schools! When compared with the school's average SEI for the 7 SEI scores 2015 through 2023, SOC showed more improvement than any other of the 21 high schools!! See spreadsheet below.

Up to now, only 12th grade students had been writing letters since high schools first started Family and School Time Capsule Projects in 2010. The changes in SEI were similar to when only 8th graders were writing letters in middle schools. SEI improvements were constant, but only a very gradual improvement.

But when all students in all grades write letters with each parent, and then the final letter to themselves, the SEI growth is dramatically greater, as with SOC!

The same dramatic improvement happened in T.W. Browne Middle School in 2017 when they had all students in all grades writing and receiving letters. Browne went from being a potential 5th year failing school to being the highest performing middle school in DISD as measured by the highest middle school SEI on record since 2008! The 61.7 SEI Browne received in 2017 remains the highest SEI score ever earned by any middle school since 2008!

It is certain we will have the same results as SOC when all students in all grades are actively involved. The positive SEI results will continue to improve year to year as letter writing improves! Families make the difference, constantly cooperating more closely with teachers.

Would you want to volunteer three days a year to become the Time Capsule Postmaster Volunteer for your child's grade year to year? You will be making certain student's letters, including your child's, follow them year to year. Watch their student achievement soar with their focus on goals and roots, encouraged by the parent letters written to them.

Bill Betzen 9/23/24

www.StudentMotivation.org

Time Capsule Postmasters are needed to bring Time Capsule Projects back to schools after Covid!

School Time Capsule Postmasters help the letters written to and by students about their history and future, to follow those students from year to year.  Volunteers willing to help students connect with their letters from the School Time Capsule annually, and then a decade after their 8th or 12th grade, are needed!  They will hear the wonderful stories of the 10 years after the 10-year letters were written in 8th and/or 12th grade. They will hear how life was changed by exploring family history with stories from relatives and by constantly updating plans for their futures.

The changes will be more clearly visible as Postmasters watch the performance in the school(s) they are helping change and soar compared to schools without such goal-centered projects as students become more grounded in their own family history and more goal centered in their own life planning.  They can see the change their work makes possible!

The letters students receive from family are priceless as they include stories from family history. Traveling back in time is one of the most valuable journeys students take in a classroom, when they truly connect with the past, with their own history.  Too many students never take that journey with parents and relatives, connecting with their own family history. The Time Capsule Project changes that. Students and their parents write letters to each other for a decade, starting in the 3rd grade, documenting their dreams and plans for the future, along with their family stories written down by relatives to be passed to future generations due to being written.

These journeys are made possible by the volunteer Time Capsule Postmasters.  They are the volunteers who deliver forward these priceless letters.  Each year a student stores all the letters they have from family, with the letter they write to themselves planning their own future, in one large self-addressed envelope.  The job of the postmaster is to organize and store these envelopes for each class in the School Time Capsule Vault.  The goal is that next year the Postmasters sort the letters so they can be returned to the child who wrote them the next school year before this annual letter writing starts again.

Want to help deliver this priceless mail? 

Your work will make the School Time Capsule Project possible in the school or schools you care about.  It only takes about 3 days per year per school.  You only need work in one school, or you can work in all the schools for a feeder pattern. No matter how many schools you help you can watch the change!  It is your choice.  You control this job!  If you love our students, and know the alphabet to help sort letters, you are qualified!  The look in students eyes as you return their year old, or 10-year old, envelopes to them will be the priceless payback!  The stories they tell at 10 year reunions are the absolute best reinforcement possible for this work.

We now not only need Time Capsule Postmaster Volunteers in 20 Dallas ISD Schools: 6 elementary, 10 middle and 4 high schools, all on the south side of Dallas, but any school anywhere can be encouraged by volunteers to start this priceless project.

You can also help start Time Capsule Projects in any school or schools you want to see improve. Share this project information with the principal. Ask if this could become a Parent Teacher Association Project. (It could be a project that helps build and invigorate the PTA!) They could raise the $900 now required to purchase a 700-pound vault from Costco.com, delivered.  That is the size vault now being used in most schools.  It has 43 cubic feet of inside space.  (It is also several hundred dollars less expensive than each of the 11 first 500-pound vaults with about half the space!) See below how the much smaller 350-pound Quintanilla Time Capsule vault from 2005 had to be replaced due to "too many letters!"

Share the School Time Capsule Project Manual from
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/2018/10/school-time-capsule-project-manual.html with the school, and especially the teachers most involved in teaching writing.  This is a writing project that helps students experience the power of writing over time.

This writing exercise, carried forward year to year by your volunteer "Postmaster" work, will show students the power of writing.  Writing is too often the weakest link in the education of our students!

These goals are possible!

Simply helping letters that students, parents, and other important relatives write, to get back to the student a year, or a decade later, makes it all possible!

Imagine handing out year-old letters to 5th graders.  Year-old letters are very old to most students.  Then imagine doing it 10 years later at the 8th grade and 12th grade 10-year reunions!



Each postmaster invests three days a year helping store hundreds, if not thousands of letters parents and students write for the School Time Capsule Vault, a large 500 to 700-pound vault usually placed in the school lobby, a place students and parents pass as often as possible. (We now recommend the 700-pound Costco Executive Vault for $900 delivered.)

It begins with pre-k enrollment when each parent is asked to write a letter to their child about their dreams for them. The letters are written each year and go into the vault in the envelope for each child.

This process changes by the third grade when two annual writing assignments begin. Students write a letter to each of their parents, and may expand in later years to favorite relatives, especially grandparents. Students write to ask for letters back about dreams the writers have for the student and for a story from the writer's personal history. Students should always immediately read letters they receive back. They then ask the writer any questions they may have.  Hopefully this will lead to those priceless conversations we should have more often with our children and grandchildren.

Honorable Trini Garza, former DISD Trustee and Bill Betzen on 1-17-19,
with the old 2005 Quintanilla vault and the new 700-pound vault.
Too many letters for the old vault! Nice problem! Since 2015 Quintanilla has
consistently remained one of the 5 best of all 33 DISD middle schools.

The second writing class is when students prepare the self-addressed envelope to hold the letters collected.  Then the student writes a letter to themselves about their own plans for the future while the postmaster and teacher double check addresses on the envelopes. (Such accuracy is critical!) 

A year is a very long time. Students change significantly.  Thus the "Time Capsule" term is appropriate from the perspective of both the student, and their parents who see the massive year-to-year changes every child's life reflects.

Postmaster(s) make this system possible. They manage the archiving system so that they can personally hand back to each student the envelope they prepared a year earlier.  They will see that twinkle in the student's eye as students try to remember what they wrote a year earlier.

The letter writing starts as parents write their first letter to their child about their dreams for them.  This letter goes with the pre-k application. It is the first of 14 annual letters to their child about their dreams for them.  These letters will develop and gain detail as their child grows.

The Postmaster(s) will also help for the special 10-year-in-the-future dreams and plans that are documented in the 8th grade, and then again in the 12th grade.  They will ultimately be helping to coordinate those 10-year 8th grade and 12th grade class reunions.  At the high school level they may simply staff the "Time Capsule Table" at the traditional high school 10-year reunion.  They will pass back the letters written 10-years earlier.  Imagine handing 28-year old adults letters they had written to themselves their last year in high school. Such reunions will begin in 2020.

2015 was first 10-year reunion for the first Time Capsule Project Class of 2005.
2015 was also the year Quintanilla had the highest DISD School Effectiveness
Indices (SEI) Score of any DISD middle school, for the first time! System
improvements now speed up such improvement to three years, not 10.

I personally consider this to be the most rewarding volunteer work possible.  You will see a school change before your very eyes!  Your work allows students to begin to know in more detail their own family roots and make their own plans for the future, updating their plans every year.  Grades and behavior both improve! Student confidence grows!  Then you see tears of joy at the class reunions as they are thankful and celebrate what they have achieved.

Please email me at bbetzen@aol.com about becoming a Time Capsule Postmaster. You may even help start such a project in any school you want to change. Let me know your plans and I will help in any way I can. Use the word "Postmaster" and they may know what you are calling about.

To see more details about the project, read the manual that is found at www.StudentMotivation.org.

This is an open source project that is ran independently by each school.  We only ask that Project improvements discovered be shared.

Your questions are welcome.
Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com

The School Time Capsule Project became dormant during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Now in March 2023 we are beginning to recruit School Time Capsule Postmaster volunteers to help teachers in re-activating it. We also have a minimum of nine 10-year class reunions to plan and celebrate returning decade old letters to former students in 4 middle schools and two high schools.

School Time Capsule Project Manual, 2-24-2020

Here are four links to directions for each age group using the School Time Capsule Project. 

1) Recruiting Time Capsule Postmasters to make project possible: 
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/2019/05/time-capsule-postmasters-needed.html

2) Elementary School (Pk-5) Recommendations: 
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/2020/02/pk-5-time-capsule-project.html

3) Middle School (6-8) Recommendations: 
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/2020/02/middle-school-6-8-time-capsule-project.html

4) High School (9-12) Recommendations:
https://schooltimecapsule.blogspot.com/2020/02/high-school-9-12-time-capsule-project.html

Starting a School Time Capsule Project does not require the 43 cubic ft inside space, 700-pound vault recommended, usually online at Costco, https://www.costco.com/hardware-safes.html.  Just now, (2-26-20) I could not find the type vault we have purchased 9 of over the past 2 years, but vaults available at Costco change often.  Vaults can be secured many places. A vault with 40 cubic feet inside space is recommended, unless the class size in your school is significantly below 200. The extra space is rarely a problem.

The vault is both a place to store the letters and a symbol of how truly valuable planning for the future and studying family history are. As students pass the vault daily they may be reminded of the letters inside from their loved ones, and plans they have in the vault as well as updates they may be planning.

This goal setting process helps students improve their own lives more than just about anything else.  Only our students can make it all work.  That is the power of the message.  This is their future built on their work.

Questions are welcome.  

Bill Betzen
bbetzen@aol.com.

Elementary School (Pk-5) Time Capsule Project Recommendations

It is recommended that the first act with the Time Capsule Project start with parents as they enroll their child in Pre-K.  With the application ask that the parent submit a simple letter to their child about their dreams for them. They are asked to read it to their child at home and then sealed into an envelope addressed to their child to be brought to school. At school it is placed into the School Time Capsule, the 700-pound vault placed in a very visible location of the school lobby. Hopefully the location allows it to be seen by parents and students as often as possible.

Let parents know that such letters from each parent to their child, and grandparents if they also want to be involved, will be requested each year as their child will be changing rapidly.  They will be returned each year so they can be updated and changed as needed every year.

The process changes in the third grade as the child will initiate the process with a letter they write to each parent and other relative they want a letter back from.  Here is recommended wording for directions that can be given students for writing this letter beginning in the third grade:

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Directions for 3rd through 5th grade students for the first of two Time Capsule Project writing lessons each year:

What are your dreams for me?
Time Capsule Project Letter Student Directions
Elementary School  2-20-20

Write a letter to each of the most important adults in your life. Write to each parent, grandparent, and/or other relatives, or even school staff, if you want letters from them.     

Ask them to write you a letter telling you their dreams for you.

Ask that they also write one story from your family’s history, or your history with them. It can be a story they want you to remember and maybe someday share with your own children.  

As your parents and/or relatives finish their letter, immediately read it with them. Ask them questions so you can understand their letter well.  

Bring the letters you have received to school. Bring them on the day your teacher says you will write a letter to yourself for the Time Capsule.

In class, first prepare the return envelope for all your letters. Put your name and home address on the envelope with your phone number. As the return address place your teacher's name, your grade, and the name and address of the school you attend, and finally the date you are addressing the envelope.  Your teacher will check this envelope as you write your letter to yourself.

You will write a letter to yourself about your thoughts on the letters you have received and what they said.  Then you write about your own dreams for your future.  When finished place your letter into the self-addressed envelope you have prepared. Seal it and they will be collected to be placed in the School Time Capsule in the container for your grades letters.

Your envelope will return to you in one year.


***************************************
The existence of these letters from parents and students themselves will be in the background as school work continues.  As goal issues come up during class it can be mentioned as something that will be updated next year.

This letter writing is recommended for the start of the school year but it can be done at any time the teacher in a grade find it convenient.  If possible, for the entire school to do the letter writing at the same time may be easiest.

Each year, before the letter writing starts the Time Capsule Postmaster Volunteers will need to have a day to sort the letters into the classes students are currently attending.   It is recommended that each year the class roster with home addresses be placed into the class container and into the vault to help in knowing the students.

Each year some students may have moved out of the school.  It is recommended that if they school they are moving to is also a school with a Time Capsule Project, that the letter be sent to that school to help welcome them and continue the letter writing there.  If it is not a Time Capsule Project school, then send the letter to the new home address. 

The first weeks of what would be the 6th grade it is recommended that the Postmasters sort the letters by the new schools the students are attending and have the letters delivered to that school if they are Time Capsule Schools. If not, again, just mail the letters to the home address.

Since most of the students will be going to the middle school in the feeder pattern, most of the letters will be going to that school.  If this transition is managed well and students know their letters will be following them to the new middle school, this may lessen the loss of students during this often painful transition when as much as 12% of enrollment is lost.

Questions are welcomed!  Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com

Middle School (6-8) Time Capsule Project Recommendations

Once you have studied the history and achievements of active School Time Capsule Projects and decided to start one for your school, the goals to be achieved are the following:

1) Introduce it to your students and prepare for the first writing lesson.  Remember, each set of letters require two class periods, one to write letters to each parent and relative the student wants letters back from and the second after having received these letters to put them into one self-addressed envelope.  Then the student writes a letter to themselves reflecting on letters received and planning and updating their plans for their own future.  (At home students could write letters to as many relatives as they want, anywhere in the world, using any language necessary.  They mail them.)  They write separate letters to each individual as everyone has a different family history with a different set of stories to write about.

2) Introduce this project to parents every chance you get. Let them know that the goal is to help students know their roots and develop their plans for the future, a process that never ends.  These will be documents that will help their child start a better awareness of how to plan for the future.

3) From the very start begin to recruit School Time Capsule Project Postmasters. They will be volunteers who help this project year to year in each classroom.  They sort letters from the previous year so that they can be handed out to the students each year before the next round of letter writing.  It is recommended they be allowed to hand out the letters as a form of reinforcement.  If they do not enjoy seeing the positive responses of the students in getting their year old letters back, they may not be the right folks for the job.

If all goes well your middle school will be receiving students who have already been introduced to the Time Capsule Project and who have been writing and receiving letters about their families dreams for them, and reading stories from their family history, for many years. Hopefully they will have letters waiting for them at your school that they wrote in the 5th grade.  But you will always have students just starting.  We begin there.

Pass out the letters for any of your students received from their previous grade. Explain to all what those letters are and pass out directions like this to read with the class for this assignment.

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Directions for 6th  through 8th grade students for the first Time Capsule Project writing lesson:

What are your dreams for me?
Directions for the Time Capsule Project Middle School Letters 2-20-20

Write a letter to each of the most important adults in your life. Write to your parents, grandparents, guardians or other relatives. You may even write to school staff you may be close to.  Write to adults from whom you would like a letter describing their dreams for you.   

You may write your letter in any language and you may write additional letters at home with your parents help as needed. 

You will write such letters each year.  You change a lot in one year.  You will write letters to the adults observing your changes.  They will describe how their dreams for you have changed as you change.

Ask them to each also write one story from your family’s history. It can be a story about themselves or any relative.  It should be a story they consider valuable. It should be a story they want you to pass on to your children someday.   

When your parents and/or relatives finish their letter, read it at home with them as soon as possible. Ask them questions you may have. The goal is for you to understand the letter. 

Bring all the letters you have received to your Language Arts Class. Do this on the day planned to write a letter to yourself. On that day your teacher will give you an envelope. It will hold all the letters you have received. Place your name and address on this envelope. The return address is the date, your teachers name, grade, school, and school address. You will then write a letter to yourself about your own plans for the future.

Place the letter you write into this self-addressed envelope with all your letters. Seal it. That envelope will be placed into the School Time-Capsule by the Postmaster.  This should happen each year until you graduate. 

Every year you will receive back the envelope with your letters before you write the next set of letters. The only differences will be in the 8th and 12th grade. Those years you will write letters planning your life 10-years into the future.  Those same years the relatives writing to you will also describe their dreams for you 10-years into the future. These 10-year letters will remain inside the School Time Capsule for 10 years.

In 10 years your class will have a 10-year reunion. At that reunion you will receive these envelopes back. School staff will invite you to speak with the then current students in your former middle school.  You will give your recommendations for success to them. You will describe life after middle school and the work you do.

***************************************

The existence of these letters from parents and students themselves will be in the background as school work continues.  As goal issues come up during class it can be mentioned as something that will be updated next year.

This letter writing is recommended for the start of the school year but it can be done at any time the teacher in a grade find it convenient.  If possible, for the entire school to do the letter writing at the same time may be easiest.

Each year, before the letter writing starts the Time Capsule Postmaster Volunteers will need to have a day to sort the letters into the classes students are currently attending.   It is recommended that each year the class roster with home addresses be placed into the class container and into the vault to help in knowing the students.

Each year some students may have moved out of the school area.  It is recommended that if the school they are moving to is also a school with a Time Capsule Project, that the letter be sent to that school to help welcome them and continue the letter writing there.  If it is not a Time Capsule Project school, then send the letter to the new home address. 

The 8th grade letters remain in the vault, with a listing of all students and a check made on that listing for everyone with an envelope in the vault.

Questions are welcomed!  Bill Betzen, bbetzen@aol.com