Mayo’s Clinic: Helping Students Take Charge—Letter Writing
10 January 2014
One of the most powerful techniques to help students remember what they have learned and apply it to a range of situations is the assignment to write letters to themselves.
By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT
Last month, we discussed helping students take charge of their lives by using journals. This month, we will examine the power of personal letter writing as a way to encourage recognition of what students have learned and motivate them to apply it.
Writing
Almost any kind of writing helps students improve their writing and, usually, the clarity of their thinking. Students—and professionals—who cannot write something clear are typically not able to think clearly about the topic or think about it in an organized manner. Therefore, any writing assignment that asks for careful structure and logic will make a difference in a student’s education. Simply regurgitating definitions does not make a difference. Writing research papers, creating project reports, answering essay questions on a test, preparing reaction papers and developing reflection papers all help students organize their thoughts as well as build connection among ideas. Writing assignments also improve students’ recall of information.
Writing Letters to Myself
One of the most powerful techniques to help students and trainees remember what they have learned and apply it to a range of situations outside of the classroom is the assignment to write a letter to self. At the end of a course or specific topic, ask them to write themselves a letter describing what they have learned and how they plan to use it in the near future. When they get the letter some time later, it reminds them of what they learned and what they intended to do with their newly acquired information or skills.
Many training programs end with the practice of participants writing a letter to themselves reminding them of what they learned and how they intend to use their newly acquired knowledge and skills. The same is true for students in professional programs like ours. The act of sitting down and reflecting on what they have learned and deciding what they will do with the new insights tends to focus attention on the new information and increases, dramatically, the likelihood of actually using it. The simple act of writing it down helps individuals remember the insights.
It is also important to protect the privacy of the letter. It is a personal letter from the student at the current moment to the student to read at a future time. Therefore, it is important to give students a chance to write the letter without any interference or oversight. They need to know that the confidentiality of what they say will be respected.
The Assignment
To make this letter-writing activity work most productively, you need to do five things:
- Give the students a clear assignment to write a letter to themselves that you will mail at some specific date in the future. They should address the envelopes with their mailing address at the time that you will mail them.
- Provide some time and space in the classroom (or make it a homework assignment) for the students to write the letters. Giving class time shows you value the assignment. If it is a homework assignment, collect it; that act provides the same message of importance.
- Pick an appropriate time during the term for the assignment. It can be part of a class at the end of an important unit or near the end of the term, when reviewing material is often a class activity.
- Collect the letters—in stamped and sealed self-addressed envelopes—and hold them until the date you indicated that you will mail them.
- Mail them to the students on the appointed date, which can be several weeks later in the term or a month or six weeks after the course ends. Either date—or another one that may be more appropriate to your school calendar—is fine so long as you actually honor it. (I found that mailing the letters to students in the early part of the next term, before assignments got too heavy, was most useful.)
The clarity of the assignment and the privacy of the letter are essential for this activity to work. To ensure students will complete the assignment, you can make it a requirement of the course that they do the letter and guarantee that its privacy will be respected. Given the stamped addressed envelopes that you collect, it is easy to know who has done the assignment and who has not.
Summary
Thank you for reading this column about using personal letter writing as a strategy for students to remind themselves of important insights. Next month and for the spring, we will discuss increasing, building and encouraging curiosity and creativity among students. If you have suggestions for other topics or teaching practices you want to share, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future Mayo’s Clinics.
Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, was most recently a clinical professor at New York University. Principal of Mayo Consulting Services, he continues to teach around the globe, and is a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide. His latest book, Planning an Applied Research Project in Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports (Wiley, 2013), debuted last autumn.