As technology and social media becomes more prevalent in our society, it may seem the days of handwritten notes and letters are long gone.
However, Alyssa Corbitt, Elberta Middle School family and consumer science teacher, also known as FACS, has made it her mission to incorporate letter writing into her lessons, giving new life to a lost art.

Corbitt, who has taught at Elberta Middle since 2015, said that while it is not included within the FACS curriculum, she has incorporated lessons surrounding addressing and writing letters into the classroom when she can.

"It's not a part of our FACS curriculum, but I believe it is important to tell people thank you and share how grateful we are for people, especially the ones we see every day," Corbitt said. "However, part of our curriculum is personal and character development, and showing gratitude to others is a large part of growing up and learning how to be thankful for things."

Corbitt said she also incorporates language arts and grammar into the letter writing lessons, reinforcing the school's literacy standards.

"The kids do have to write in complete sentences, have correct grammar and complete thoughts," Corbitt said. "Writing the letters reinforces what they learn in their English-language arts classes."

Corbitt said each student in her class was required to write two letters to a teacher or staff member who made a positive impact on them, and the students delivered the letters prior to the recent Thanksgiving holiday break.

"They really enjoyed it. As an adult professional, you don't always know the impact you're making on the students, and you don't always get feedback from the kids," Corbitt said. "I know there are a couple teachers who made a book with the letter they received, and others hung them in their classroom. The kids also had fun brainstorming and talking through their ideas with their neighbors when writing their letters."

Marley Pierce, a seventh-grader, said writing the letters helped her better understand how to organize her writing.

"It gave me a better understanding of what to put in each paragraph, the important ideas and helped me to organize my thoughts," Pierce said.

Madison Willis, another seventh-grade student in Corbitt's class, said her favorite part of the lesson was seeing her teacher's reaction after delivering the letters.

"I liked seeing my teacher's excitement when they opened the letters and getting to write them with our friends," Willis said. "I liked sharing what I am thankful for, and I'm thankful for the people who teach us and help us learn new things," said seventh-grader Emma Franks. "It's important for our teachers to know they are appreciated."

Corbitt also said that while the lesson reinforces the importance of neat handwriting, she has not incorporated a lesson on cursive writing yet.

"We aren't doing cursive right now, but we do teach the kids how to write their signature," Corbitt said. "I really think this is a lost art. We have so much technology at our fingertips that actually sitting down and writing a letter is not something that we do anymore. Handwritten letters take more time, and they have to make sure it looks nice; some students even added drawings and decorations to make it more special. Writing a letter is much more personal than an email or a text message; it's giving someone something they can hang on to forever."