email to the future you

I read an article in a print magazine (I know. Crazy, right?!) not too long ago (and of course, I can't remember which one it was) about writing a letter to a future you.  The author of the article apparently had a college professor that gave the class this assignment and then he agreed to mail everyone their letters ten years down the road.  She got the letter out of the blue one day and printed it in the magazine for all to read. 

I thought it was such an interesting concept since it was a pretty entertaining letter and I have put some serious thought into doing this for my middle school students.  The only problem is that these are 10 - 13 year old kids that I teach so I'm not really sure that they would be mature enough to take the assignment seriously and I really don't want to waste almost two hundred $0.42 stamps.  I'm still giving it some thought.

Meanwhile I googled it to see if there was any similar type of online service and sure enough I found Email Future.  Through this website you can send yourself emails in the future.  Free and fitting.  I believe I'll try it with my classes sometime soon since it's the beginning of a new year.

I had the chance to sit in a high school assembly this week and it was refreshing.  When a student walked on stage to present her piano recital piece, the entire auditorium was silent.  When another group came up to play their band medley the entire auditorium was respectful.  When another group of students prepared to play their harps, you could have heard a cell phone vibrating in someone's pocket ten rows back.  Each performance got the attention it deserved and the appropriate amount of applause.  It was such a refreshing change from a middle school assembly or for that matter, any assembly at my last school.

My point is that there's a pretty big gap between the maturity of a high school student and a middle school student.  What could we learn from simply taking the time to consider how/where we want to be in the future?  What could we teach ourselves now when we think about what we want to become?  What could we learn from imagining how our lives might be different at some point?  What would we change NOW if we thought about how things will be THEN?  

[Edited to add: I've since found this on Pinterest http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Letters-to-the-Future which is definitely of some value. I'll probably use her parent letter. Thanks TpT and Laura Candler!]