A Letter to My Younger Self

This activity is pulled from our Virtual ExCEL Camps happening summer of 2020! While these activities are written to fit into the larger lesson plan of the camp themes, you can complete them with your little one at any time. Learn more about our Virtual ExCEL Summer Camp here!

Today we had some fun, we put on our detective hats, gathered our tools, and became Question Detectives. We asked panelists effective questions about their successes and challenges. If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would you tell yourself when you were two or four years younger?  Use your creative skills to give advice and encouragement to your younger self.

Appropriate Age Range: 15 to age 21 

Materials Needed:

A note-taking system, Google docs, iPad, or a braille device or recording device.

Vocabulary:

Some of these terms may seem brand new so take some time to look them up and they will be part of your vocabulary too: advice, challenges, obstacles, perseverance, and success.

Activity:

Prepare your equipment for the second session at the brain gym. Share this fun activity with a family member and create a heartfelt letter to yourself with this thought in mind “If you could write a letter to your younger self when you were 15, 17, 19, or 21…”

Here are some starter ideas to consider included in this second brain gym exercise.

•   What advice would you give someone like me?
•  What would you say if you had setbacks?
• Was there a time when you said to yourself, I’m done I can’t do this? What words of encouragement could you share? ·
•  What tools helped you achieve your goals and why were they important?
•  If you were mentored, what ways did that impact your younger self?

Edit the draft, add some, honest advice, and then publish your creative product.

Outcome:

If you would like, share the advice to your younger self with family and friends and start another conversation about how you see your older self.

Extension: 

Feeling creative? Here are some ways to share your thoughts, make a movie about a topic or reply to questions asked. https://info.flipgrid.com/ or Apple clips https://www.apple.com/clips/

 If you would like to learn more about mentoring programs

American Council of the Blind

Blind Canadians

Blogs about mentoring

Paying It Forward as a Visually Impaired Mentor

 Authors: 

JoAnne Chalom is President of In Focus Mobility and has been working with individuals with disabilities for over thirty years. JoAnne teaches younger and older individuals orientation and mobility. JoAnne enjoys spending quality time with her grand dog, Cody.

Robbin Keating Clark is the Expanded Core Curriculum Coordinator at Utah Schools for the Deaf & Blind and has been working with students with visual impairments for nearly two decades. She is enthusiastic and energetic about the Expanded Core Curriculum.  In her free time she likes to spend time with her children.

Susan Drake has been a special education teacher for seven years and is completing her certification as a teacher of the visually impaired at Missouri State University.  She lives on a farm with her veterinarian husband Randy, son Renin, a herd of corgis and cows.