letters to my class

Dear Humans,

Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” I can’t think of anything that’s more true. We make clear what we think is important by how we spend the moments in our lives. We become the people that we practice being in those moments.

Life is much too long to worry too much about how efficiently we spend every waking moment; but life is far too short to waste those moments on activities that aren’t important to us.

So think about how you’re spending your time today. What will your moments add up to?

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Readers,

In kindergarten you learned to read by matching letters to sounds. As you learned more words, you didn’t have to think so much about the letters. But then you learned that those letters on the page didn’t just naturally show up there. Someone–someone a lot like you–put them there for a reason.

And now your job as a reader is not just to know what sounds the letters make or what meanings the words have, but to think about why the writer wrote what the writer wrote.

And if you learn to do all of that, then you have a big shiny key that can unlock almost any door in the world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Puzzle-Solvers,

There’s something about the way those tans fit together in a tangram. They are alike and different in ways that makes it seem like they’re having a conversation with each other, working together to make something beautiful.

A thing itself is not as important as the things it connects to. If you just have one tan, you can make only one shape. But if you have all seven pieces, you can make endless shapes.

When you meet a new thing, don’t just ask what it is. Look and see what it connects to. Look and see what beautiful combinations you can build with the pieces that surround it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

Yesterday I was driving down Colorado Boulevard when a car passed me driving 20 mph over the speed limit. When I heard the “whoosh”, my head whipped around in surprise. I’ve heard people say that “everyone speeds.” But yesterday on Colorado Boulevard I only saw one person doing it. And I saw about a hundred people driving at or around the speed limit.

You’ll hear similar things in your life about how “everyone does [fill-in the blank].” But it’s not true. Most people most places most of the time do what they’re supposed to do.

Don’t let the rule breakers and troublemakers set the norms for you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Coloradoans,

We need to have a talk about Colorado. We keep learning about people, explorers, and settlers who came to Colorado, but Colorado didn’t even exist until 1861–after Pike failed to climb his mountain, Bent blew up his fort, and San Luis became the first town in the state.

Before that, the rectangle we call home was claimed by native tribes, Spain, France, the United States, and Mexico. Part of Colorado even used to be Texas. But then it became a quadrilateral for lots of reasons having to do with the Civil War, slavery, and the politics of 1861.

Things change. We study history so we can understand these forces of change. Because they’re still working today.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

I make pizza every Saturday night. So I thought I had it down. But then my dough was all weird this past Saturday. It just wasn’t stretchy like it’s supposed to be. So I played with it. I added more water. And I thought a lot about what I would do next time. I read books about pizza dough. I bought bread flour. And I dedicated myself to learning more about something I thought I already knew everything about.

We’re never done learning. Steph Curry still goes to practice to learn new things about basketball. Tom Brady is still figuring things out about football. The better you know something, the more you know you have to learn.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

I look forward to solving the crossword puzzle each day. But once I get into it, my fun quickly dissolves into frustration. The blank spaces stare at me and the clues mock me. But by the next day, I forget this feeling and again look forward to solving the crossword puzzle.

Engagement is not the same thing as fun. Things that require our full focus and attention aren’t usually fun–they’re beyond fun. They exist in that place where we lose ourselves and put everything we have into one task.

So lose yourself in some task today. Go beyond fun and forget everything around you. I promise it will be more rewarding.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Readers,

When you finish your schooling, your learning will just begin. Adults have to learn something new and unexpected everyday. And we don’t do it for a grade; we do it to survive.

But we have books to help. If we’re lucky enough to learn how to read them, life is a lot easier. Because books are really just other people telling us about their mistakes. If we read about them in books, then we don’t have to make them ourselves. Sometimes learning from our own mistakes is useful, but usually it’s just painful.

So in school we teach you how books work, how to read them, and how to learn lessons from them. If you learn them well, those lessons will last a lifetime.

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

My six year old just lost her first tooth. It had been wiggly and bothering her for more than a week. She had trouble eating, her mouth was bleeding, and she was always playing with it. She said to me, “Daddy, I just wish it were out.” “It will be soon,” I said. “Just wait.”

If you know six year olds, you know they need to learn patience. And I think the week-long wiggly tooth was a lesson in patience for her.

Life just seems to know the lessons we need, and it’s ready to teach them to us, if we’re willing to learn.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Thinkers,

When driving in snow like this, it’s not too much of a problem as long as the car keeps moving. The trouble comes with stopping and starting.

Our brains are the same way. And I don’t know about you, but my brain has some pretty bald tires. So I find it’s best to keep my focus on one thing for a long time rather than jumping from thing to thing. When I start doing that, I lose traction, spin out, and end up in the ditch.

Life is full of distractions that you’ll want to start and stop for. But keep your car moving–slow and steady.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck