letters to my class

Dear Learners,

We’re investigating the relationship between Earth and the sun, but because those things are so massive and so far apart from each other, we do it by observing something much simpler, smaller, and closer to home: our shadows.

And that shadow that you’ve been dragging around with you your whole life has a lot to tell us about how the solar system works. Yet you’ve probably taken it for granted or never even noticed it.

Knowledge is everywhere; everything is ripe for study. And no matter what you study, if you look closely enough, it will reveal something true and important about the bigger world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Skywatchers,

It sure looks like the sun moves across the sky. And if you have spent a lifetime seeing the sun move across the sky and believing the earth is the center of everything, it would be pretty hard to change your mind.

Of course, we know better now. But it took many hundreds of years for everyone to convince themselves. But changing our minds teaches us a powerful lesson: what else is not the way it seems?

As scientists, we have to join our observations of the world with our knowledge of how systems work. Only then can we get the true picture of what’s going on. And it might not be what it seems.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

Sometimes in our teacher trainings they warn us against confusing the children. But the only way not to be confused in a world like this is to cling to some serious untruths.

So when we talk about all these different strategies for multiplying, it might be a bit confusing. Can’t we just find the “right” way to multiply? But we play around with multiplication strategies because we’re exploring the truth of numbers and operations. And that can be a confusing topic.

Confusion is the beginning of all knowledge. So we ought to court it, spend a bit of time with it, and try our best to emerge out of it. Then, go looking for some more.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

My daughter and I were reading a book about global tooth traditions, and when she found out that Dominican children throw their lost teeth on the roof so a mouse can take them, she said she thought that was weird.

I told her that she puts her tooth under her pillow and waits for a fairy to come take it away. Isn’t that just as weird? She had to agree with me.

It’s easy to think what we do is normal and what other people do is strange. But if we step back and look at how people act all across the world, we see one truth: we’re all weird in very similar ways.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

A few years ago the self-propelled cable on my lawnmower broke. I did a little bit of looking around for a new one, but decided I was happy to just have a push mower. But my resourceful dad replaced the cable with a guitar string. Surprisingly, it worked. And it’s held strong for over 3 years.

Things break. Time wears them down and they never work perfectly again (if they ever did). But things can be mended. And things can be fixed. And it’s amazing how long those fixes can last.

Someday I’ll buy a new mower, but for now I’m happy with the one that’s held together with guitar string and ingenuity.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

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