letters to my class

Dear Humans,

I listened to an interview with a traffic expert yesterday while I sat in traffic, and he talked about how traffic jams happen. One person blocks an intersection because they didn’t want to wait for a light and then that leads to another blocked intersection and another and another until the jam wraps all the way back around to the front of the original intersection blocker.

So while that person thought they were saving themselves time, because of the way traffic works, they were creating a bigger problem for themselves.

We’re all connected–in complex and unseen ways.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Friends,

The kindest, smartest, and best people I know are friendly with everybody. They don’t just hang out with a small circle of people who look like them and act like them; they hang out with everybody, because they know everyone has something to teach them.

Friends are important. Friends will encourage you and teach you things and help you get out of trouble. And friends might also help you get into trouble. That’s why choosing who you spend your time with is so important.

What you do with your time now and who you do it with will determine who are you in the future. Choose wisely.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

There’s a reason your mother won’t let you eat candy for supper. The first taste is sweet, but there’s not much beyond that. It isn’t filling. It doesn’t last.

Some of my favorite things in life are those things that I had to learn to like. The first taste of them might have been bitter, strange, or unpleasant, but over time, with a little effort, I learned to appreciate them. And I found out that they are the things that last.

Look for the things that last.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Navigators,

When early navigators traveled the wide world and open seas, they couldn’t look around them to find their way–their surroundings were foreign or they were in an expanse of endless sea. They couldn’t look down–the dusty road and the salty sea look pretty much the same the world over.

So they looked up to the heavens. That was their constant as they traveled this world. And it’s strange–the best way to navigate this world was to use the sparkling lights of worlds trillions of miles away.

Often times the best answers are not right in front of us. Often times the best answers aren’t even of this world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

Life is complex beyond our understanding. We estimate that there’s been about 100 billion people alive in the history of the humanity, and each of those people have something to say about life and how it should be lived.

The only way to deal with such complexity and uncertainty is to hold to a few simple rules for ourselves. Treat people well. Do your best in everything you do. And know that you have some people in your life who really care about you. I can’t think of any better way of living than that.

And that’s something I can be certain of.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

When I get a new gizmo, I shove the owner’s manual in a drawer full of them and figure out how to use my device. Soon, however, I’ll have to dig the manual back out. But I’ll only look at one section: troubleshooting.

While it might be nice to know how a thing works, what’s really useful to know is how it doesn’t work. What should I do then?

The same is true in school. When you’re reading or writing or solving a math problem, you’re going to come across problems. Something’s not going to work right. Learners know how to use strategies to “troubleshoot” these problems, even though there’s no owner’s manual.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Historians,

History is not just rereading the same story from a dusty book and putting the right events in the right order on a timeline. History is a site of contention. History is where we try to figure out what happened in the past using evidence, arguments, and theories.

Mesa Verde shows this. Historians aren’t sure why the Ancestral Puebloans left in the 13th century after living there for 700 years. But it’s important for us to work to figure it out. Because we live here now. And the forces that drove people in the past are the same forces that drive us today. The better we understand them–the better we know our history–the better we can live with them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Students,

My brother made turkey rice soup the day after Thanksgiving, and it was delicious. And I thought, how can simple turkey rice soup be so good? And then I saw green specks of parsley floating in the broth.

Most people would probably skip the parsley. It’s an extra ingredient, it’s extra chopping, and when you drop it in the pot those little wet leaves stick to your hands. Anyways, how much difference can it make?

All the difference. It adds flavor, it adds color, it adds bite. It’s like the bow on top of a wrapped present.

The difference between life and the good life is those little extras–the parsley in turkey rice soup.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Humans,

No matter what you want to be great at–video games, writing, playing guitar, cooking, juggling–it takes a lot practice. And the foundation of practice is dedication and discipline. You dedicate yourself to being great and you discipline yourself to make it happen, everyday, no matter how you feel, what’s on TV, or what your friends are doing.

And if you do those things, “talent” doesn’t really matter. “Talent” is just an excuse for those you don’t put in the practice.

My hope is that each of you becomes great at something. Because that is how you make the world a better place. That is how you leave your mark.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Historians,

What does an old prospector and his burro, who died almost 90 years ago, have to do with our lives in Colorado today? At first glance, it might not seem like much. But if we look closer, we see the past lives on in the present–the foods we eat, the words we use, the stories we tell, and, most importantly, the things we believe about ourselves.

Everyone has a Colorado story–what brought them here and how they made it. Understanding the prospector and the burro’s story might help us better understand our own. And that’s why we learn history. It’s a mirror that helps us more clearly see ourselves.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck