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Postcard from May
Write a short message from your future end-of-year self about what mattered most.
Time10–15 minutes
Group size2+ people
FormatIndividual, Optional partners
MaterialsIndex cards or paper, Pens, Optional envelopes
What this accomplishes
Educators imagine the school year has reached a satisfying—not perfect—ending and write a postcard back to themselves. They identify what they protected, tried, or noticed along the way.
- Clarify a meaningful intention for the year
- Create a personal artifact to revisit later
Before you begin
Materials
- Index cards or paper
- Pens
- Optional envelopes
Preparation
- Decide whether participants keep their cards or whether you will return them near the end of the year
What to say
“Imagine it is May and the year was meaningful, even though it was not perfect. Write a short postcard from that future version of you to the person sitting here today.”
How to run it
- 1
Display three future-looking prompts.
- 2
Give participants five quiet minutes to write a postcard beginning with ‘Dear August me…’
- 3
Ask them to underline one action, boundary, or relationship that helped the year go well.
- 4
Invite optional partner sharing of only the underlined sentence.
- 5
Have participants keep, seal, or schedule the postcard for a later return.
Prompts to use
I am glad you kept making time for…
The thing that mattered more than you expected was…
A small choice that changed the year was…
Please remember that…
Adapt it to the room
Small group
Offer an optional round where each person shares one sentence they want the group to remember.
Large group
Keep the writing private and use a QR form if storing physical cards is impractical.
Virtual
Use a scheduled email service, calendar reminder, or private document dated for May.
Accessibility & inclusion
- Allow typing, drawing, voice notes, or dictation.
- Make sharing optional and keep the full postcard private.
- Use ‘end of year’ rather than a specific month when calendars vary.
Debrief, if useful
What deserves protection before the year becomes busy?
What would make this intention easier to remember?
Why it works—and what can go wrong
Why it works
Looking backward from an imagined future helps people prioritize meaning over prediction and produces a concrete reminder for the middle of a busy year.
Watch out for
- Avoid language that assumes the year will be easy or fully controllable.
- Do not collect private postcards unless participants clearly consent.