Dear Mrs. Pitino...

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2003 by Pitino, Donna

Donna Pitino on

Life in the Middle

YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOM

Letter writing can give kids a comfortable way of communicating and help you to know your students better

Last month in this column, I shared a letter I had written to my students. What a wonderful door it opened when I invited them to write back! The classroom is a busy place. With work to do and others listening, many students didn't know how to tell me about themselves. Letter writing gave them a comfortable way to communicate. Some of the letters I received in response were positive:

"Sometimes I succeed and sometimes, I may not, but I try my very best."

"Maybe the letter you wrote can help me get high honors."

"You're right when you say no one is just average."

Signs of distress

Other letters showed me that I need to pay closer attention to students who have not outwardly shown signs of distress, but expressed these thoughts on paper:

"The truth is, I think very low of myself I have no good qualities."

"When I'm at school, feel like screaming at everyone around me because of stress."

"I am not smart at all."

Another set of letters gave me a clue as to why certain students behave as they do:

"I like to be funny so I won't feel left out. "

"My whole life I have had to beat my sister's grades. "

"A lot of teachers think that Iam a rebel, but I'm not. just think for myself."

"My mom is in a halfway house. "

"I get angry when people blame me for things I didn't do. "

"Most times I am in tears when I am up late doing homework."

"I choose to be this way to avoid bullies. "

Passing notes

Students have also talked about their future goals and dreams in their letters to me. Yet one of the most amazing results of that first letter was that my students have continued to write to me. Notes are slipped in with homework, handed to me on the way out of class or left folded on my desk. In a letter, my students feel more freedom to disclose school problems, discuss changes at home or just to tell me about the basketball game won that weekend.

Writing for a reason

And have you noticed? These students are doing something I've wanted them to do all along: they are writing for a reason and that makes a difference. When students begin to internalize the idea that writing is a way to communicate our thoughts, good or bad, then I have to sit back, put my feet up (for two minutes) and say, "Wow, maybe school's not that bad." My students are finding their voices. Yours can, too.

Donna Pitino teaches language arts at Torrington Middle School in Torrington, CT. She's also a freelance magazine writer. E-mail: mdbcp@aol.com