letters to my class

Dear Essayists,

Writers—all writers—rely on structure. While it may seem that structure limits us, it actually frees us to focus on the most important parts of writing—our ideas and the refreshing ways that we present them.

As I told you yesterday, you’re lucky to learn about essay structure in fourth grade. This is the same structure you will use when you write essays in college, briefs in law school, or memos in the office. I wish I had learned this in 4th grade. Instead, I had to take a self-taught crash course when I was much older.

So pay attention to structure. It will make you a better writer, a better reader, and a better thinker. Once we figure out the structure of a thing, we figure out the thing itself.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Readers,

The other day I was rereading a book I first read in high school and it magically transported me back to that moment, and I remembered how powerful and challenging books and literature can be.

My hope for you is that one day when you’re in high school or college or an adult, you’ll reread Tiger Rising and remember yourself how powerful and challenging books can be. They not only make life a little sweeter,  but I also believe that make us live life better.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

I’m trying to get better at playing fingerstyle blues guitar and I’ve found that mostly what I need to do is get stronger. I need to grown a thicker callous on my thumb and get my fingers used to playing for a long time. And the only way I can do that is by playing every single day.

I think most of learning is about building callouses. We get stronger as Readers, writers, and thinkers and we find that we can focus on our tasks for longer amounts of time. Then, we find that we can read more, write better, and solve more difficult problems. But it all starts with that focused, daily practice.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Readers,

We read books about the big issues. Tiger Rising isn’t just about a boy and a tiger. It’s about a boy’s relationship with his father and their shared sadness about his passed mother. It’s about the power of art and words to make sense of life. And it’s about the importance of opening yourself up to others.

The themes in a book fly out of the pages of the book and settle right in the middle of our real lives. And that’s why it’s so important to read: it helps us make sense of our lives and it makes us better understand the world. As one of my favorite writers put it, reading makes us feel “more alive and less lonely.”

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

The most important thing I can teach you is how to focus and persevere on a task. That’s the not-so-secret secret to success: fully engaging. Whether it’s reading, writing, or problem solving, focused attention is the way.

The most valuable thing you have is your attention. The biggest companies in the world try to find new ways everyday to capture it. But it’s yours to do what you want with. And where you put it is an investment in your future. So today I want you to ask yourself, “Where is my attention and focus?” 

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

Everyone in the world has something to teach us. Everyone knows something we don’t.

In school, you will learn more from your fellow students than you will from your teachers. In life, you will learn more from your friends than you do from your parents. It’s up to you to make good choices about who you choose to learn from and what lessons you let them teach you.

Our classroom is full of amazingly talented, kind, and intelligent children. Every single person in here has a lot to teach us.  Learn from them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Learners,

The best way to learn about yourself is to learn about the world. You can only know the “true you” by putting that person out in the world, meeting other people, and learning new things. 

And because you are a unique individual, you will have your own perspective on the world out there. You will make sense of it by holding it up in the light of your own experiences, and you’ll come away with insights and ideas about the world and about yourself. It’s important that you refine and share those insights.

So greet each day as another opportunity to learn more about the world out there. It’s the only way you’ll learn about the you in there.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Debaters,

Most of the problems in the world don’t have one right answer. So we have to figure out our position and try to sway others to agree with us through reasons and evidence. But the key to debating is listening. 

If you really give ear to other people’s reasons and evidence, you will find out what’s in their heart. Then, you can appeal to those values with your own argument. And that is how you change people’s minds. You might even change your own.

No matter what kind of writing you’re doing, you are always appealing to your reader’s values. You are always thinking about what they believe is good, true, and beautiful.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck

Dear Habitmakers,

Since bad habits are so easy to pick up, you’d think good habits would be as well. But they’re not. So we have to show a lot of discipline at the beginning. 

That means we force ourselves to read for 30 minutes each night and we keep close track of the number of pages we read and we set goals for our reading and we do it every single day. Each day it becomes a little bit easier.

Soon, reading each day will just be a part of what we do, like eating or breathing. Our days won’t feel complete without it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Heimbuck