Hey guys,
I am a student teacher and a strong introvert. I am heavily intrinsically motivated, which means I don't need verbal affirmations almost at all. They are nice to receive sometimes, but honestly they just tend to make me uncomfortable. Because of this, I have an extremely hard time giving verbal affirmations. Many times I notice wonderful qualities and great moments in my students without ever telling them out loud. It isn't that I don't want them to hear it from me, it is just that it doesn't come naturally to me. Most of the time, I don't even think about giving them verbal affirmations or compliments until I reflect on my day that evening. This is not an opportune time to think what I should have said.
Instead of beating myself up about not being verbally supportive with my students, I do the best I can in that area. Then I write them letters. I am able to convey my appreciation for them through written words, and they have to work on their reading skills if they want to know what it says. I am much more eloquent with my words on paper than when speaking. I attribute that to my INTJ personality. The introverted part of me struggles to speak with great wisdom, but I have an ability to write what I think quite nicely.
Not only am I able to convey verbal affirmations and give the extrinsic motivations so many of my lovelies need, I am able to connect with them on a much more personal level. My main goal, as a teacher, is to assist my students in knowing their worth. I want them to feel loved and worthy of love. I work hard to make it so that my students leave my classroom knowing that I want them to come back tomorrow. That is the most important aspect to me. Of course I want them to learn science, because science is absolutely the coolest ever. But, I want my students to leave knowing they are important. To accomplish this, I work diligently to build relationships with my students. I want them to know how much I love them. From the moment I see them in the hall to the moment I am watching them walk away from my classroom, my love is being poured out to them. Writing letters is just one of the ways I am building these relationships.
I have students that are verbal and love to talk to me. Mostly, it seems, they love hearing themselves talk. I also have kids that have a lot to say but are like me in the words department. Some of my students are also introverted and words do not come as easily for them as they do for others. Writing letters to my students opens up a channel of communication that might have been lost had I tried to only communicate verbally. It is actually surprising the vast number of "talkers" I have that have deeper conversations with me than they ever do out loud. They talk nonsense a lot, but when they write are able to convey a much more personal and thoughtful self. Sometimes the love they need is shown to me through their letters, where I may have missed it otherwise.
I write letters to my students to show them I love them, but I also write letters to my students so they can communicate what they may be afraid to say out loud. I wish this idea was my own, but I cannot take credit. I first took interest in this idea when I saw something similar on the movie Freedom Writers. She gave each student a journal and told them they had to write in it everyday, but she would only read it if they left it on the shelf for her to read. This made them work on their writing, but it also opened a channel of communication between her and her students that those kids had never had with a teacher. They loved her for it. (Hence the reason she got a movie made about her). Later, I read an article on facebook or pinterest or some form of media about a teacher that assigned a writing prompt that was simply "I wish my teacher knew...". That teacher had so much feedback from her kiddos that she decided to do that every year. She shared her story and inspired thousands of teachers around America to do the same.
In short, students, as much as adults, have a voice. Sometimes, adults tend to smash kids voices so they feel they can't speak openly. I want my students to be able to communicate what they need to. I want my kids to have and use their voice. I do not force them to write back. Most of the time I do not even ask them to write back. But out of all the letters I have written to my students, I have never had one that did not receive a response.
Sincerely,
Miss
