letters to my class

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

Dear Scientists,

Crazy white hair doesn’t make you a scientist. A white lab coat doesn’t make you a scientist. Spending time in a laboratory surrounded by gurgling beakers doesn’t make you a scientist.

What makes you a scientist is the types of questions you ask about the world. And the ways you go about answering those questions.

I know you each have a ton of questions about the world. You can’t live in it for 10, 11, or 12 years and not. My job as a science teacher is to show you some ways other humans have gone about answering their own questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

The best thing we can give one another is a second chance. And third. And fourth. And as many as we need.

Because people change. We live on a planet that’s spinning and orbiting. The plates beneath our feet are literally moving. The water that we depend on for survival is constantly cycling around us. In such a world, it’s impossible not to change!

So as you’re reconnecting with classmates today, give them a chance to change. And instead of treating each other like the people we used to be, let’s treat each other like the people we’re trying to become.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Decision Makers,

This is Stevie. Stevie tangled with an insect (we think) and got a big bump on his chin. My wife decided to give him liquid Benadryl to ease the swelling. Math ensued

Google told her to give a milligram of diphenhydramine per pound of cat. So she weighed the cat. The concentration of liquid Benadryl is 12.5mg/ml. So she had to convert. Finally, she had to measure a small amount of liquid as precisely as she could using the the tools we had in our kitchen.

But most importantly she had to make a decision. Should she even give the cat medicine? Should she take her to the vet? Should she trust her math and dose the kitty? In real life, math isn’t about getting the right answer; it’s about gathering the information we need to make a good decision.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Readers,

When you read you can’t just think about what happens, you always have to be asking why. You always have to ask how it connects to what’s true in the world outside the book.

That’s an important skill. It’s one that will you serve you well throughout your life–thinking critically, looking for the bigger picture, understanding how complex things can be.

And reading–especially reading fiction–is the best place to practice those skills. That’s why I try to surround myself with readers. Not only do readers know more about the world, but they also ask more interesting questions about it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

I couldn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about all the troubles I would have on my drive in the morning. I kept picturing myself on the side of the road, waiting for help, not sure what to do next.

But of course everything turned out fine. In fact, everything went better than I could have imagined–green lights, little traffic, pretty clear roads.

Maybe I should try visualizing positive things happening in the future. Do it with me today. Imagine all the questions on your test are ones you know. Imagine all of the adults in your life show patience and all of your peers shows kindness.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck