letters to my class

Dear Readers,

I’ve been reading a spectacular novel. It has interweaving stories that are a little hard to follow, and the characters can be a bit confusing (because some of them are ghosts), but the language the author uses is amazing.

And I imagine this author always has her antennae up for the perfect language to describe any situation she’s in or any emotion she’s feeling. And that just seems like a rich way to live your life.

You’ve heard adults tell you that reading and writing will help you get a good job. But I’m here to tell that knowing more about language increases your potential for living the good life.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

There have been some car break-ins in my neighborhood. It turns out many of the cars were left unlocked. It’s still illegal and wrong to go into somebody’s unlocked car and take things out of it, but it sure isn’t surprising.

And yet, when you’re the victim of such a crime, it makes you think the world is completely unjust and full of terrible people. It’s not.

But we do live in an imperfect world. And bad things will happen to each of us. But we can still live the good life. We just shouldn’t expect it to be perfect.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I had bacon and eggs for supper last night.

I’m sure there are many agricultural, nutritional, and marketing reasons we think of bacon and eggs as a breakfast food. As my favorite saying goes, “Everything is the way it is because it got that way.”

But a lot of what we do is because that’s how it’s always been done. If we step back and really think about it, we might be bewildered that we do it that way at all.

So next time you think of something as the way it’s supposed to be, look a little deeper. You just might find the joy of bacon for supper.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Namers,

Our job as mathematicians is to give many different names to the same thing. Sometimes that might seem silly. And you might be thinking, “Why do I have to think of 9×8 as (((9×2)x2)x2)? Why can’t I just find the answer?”

But we’re not interested in finding answers; we’re interested in making meaning. There aren’t very many “answers” in life. But there are new worlds to be created and explored through making meaning.

So don’t think of math class as a time to look for answers. Think of it as a time to play around with numbers–breaking them, stretching them, and giving them new names.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Scientists,

Science is not exactly a science.

We like to think it offers us the truth in clear terms, but it’s not that simple. Science is just another tool for organizing human knowledge.

But it is a powerful tool. And it is a tool that has done wonders for humanity. (It only took 60 years for humans to turn a 20 second airplane flight into a trip to the moon). But, like all tools, it’s only as good as the hands that use it.

Our conclusions are only as good as our data which is only as good as our tests which are only as good as our questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

I had a fantasy football draft over the weekend. I haven’t been following the NFL very closely, so I had to do some major studying.

There are 256 games in a season. Over 1,500 players. And millions of words wasted on professional football every day. How could I take it all in?

Well, I tried to become part of the conversation. I tried to figure out how people talk about fantasy football, what people think is important in fantasy football, and I listened in on conversations.

And those are the same skills you use whether you want to learn about fantasy football or fashion or music or car repair. If you learn how to learn, you can know anything.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

We used to have a basket in our front room where we kept our shoes. But every time you grabbed your shoes, it seemed one shoe was at the top of the basket and the other shoe was at the bottom. So you had to dump the basket out every time you put on your shoes.

So we upgraded to a shoe rack.

Most of life is made up of things we do every single day: washing the dishes, driving to work, putting on our shoes. I’ve found one route to happiness is working to make those things a little bit better.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

When my wife and I were potty training our daughter, we thought it would never happen. We thought she would be in diapers forever. But then, it just did. And now, a few years later, I can hardly remember what diapers look like! (But I will never forget their smell.)

The thing about life is that it doesn’t stay the same for very long. Good days follow bad days like sunny days follow the rain.

In such a world, we shouldn’t be too certain about anything, especially the judgments we make of other people. They’re bound to change soon.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Creators,

This is Raphael’s The Marriage of the Virgin. There is a lot going on in this painting.

Raphael didn’t just want to paint a pretty picture. He wanted to explore the light and shadows in the folds of draping fabric. He wanted to take the viewer’s eye all the way back through the temple door into the sky beyond.

Raphael didn’t just paint a pretty picture. He was interested in testing the very nature of art. How much can a human convey on a two-dimensional canvas?

Well, here we are talking about his painting 500 years later.

It’s tempting to take the easy way and cross the finish line as quickly as possible. But understanding takes time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Strategists,

You have to have a plan. No matter what you’re doing–planting a garden, playing a game, furnishing your first apartment–a plan leads to success.

It’s easy enough to get along in life by following other people’s lead. You can just move your pieces around the game board. You can just believe what other people believe. But just getting along isn’t good enough. We want to live the good life.

And living the good life requires you to see the world around you and beyond you, think about your place in it, and make your move.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck