letters to my class

Dear Artists,

This week we’ll take a whirlwind tour of the ancient civilizations of the Americas–Mayan, Aztec, Anasazi, and Moundbuilders. We’ll see that agriculture played the central role in these civilizations  because it allowed many people to stop farming and begin new areas of human development–architecture, writing, science, math, and art.

I think there’s something centrally human about making art. Instead of merely making the things we need to survive, we like to make them in a way that is beautiful, a way that speaks to some sort of ideal world we all wish we coud live in. Look at the calendar the Aztec made hundreds of years ago. It’s not just squares in a grid, it’s something much more beautiful.

Humans don’t just make buildings, we create architecture. We don’t make sounds, we make music. We don’t just move our bodies, we dance.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Empathizers,

Books and learning let us see the world from other times and places. Only ever living in our own place and own time is an impoverished life. Humans are meant to try to understand the world from many other points of view. Books let us do that.

Through books we can imagine what life was like for an African-American family in Flint, MI in 1963; we can imagine what life was like for newly arrived immigrants passing by the Statue of Liberty; we can even imagine what life was like for those First Americans as they tried to chase bison over cliffs using only rocks and their own two legs.

Living the good life is an act of imagination.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Mathematicians,

We’ve learned a lot of new strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers. The important thing to remember is that these strategies aren’t only so you can quickly and accurately arrive at the correct answer. When learning these strategies, they might seem confusing and awkward. But over time you’ll begin to understand the concepts behind them, and you’ll find yourself using them to solve problems mentally.

We want you to learn to think about numbers in deep ways. We want you to understand how numbers and operations work, so you can use numbers to solve more complex problems in the future.

Math isn’t really about numbers. It’s about thinking in patterns. Numbers just happen to be a useful tool we use to talk about and model these patterns.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Readers,

I just picked up Katherine Applegate’s latest book, Crenshaw. She’s the author of The One and Only Ivan, which is one of our class’s all-time favorites. From what I’ve read so far, Crenshaw is great in similar ways. It tells a real story but uses fantastical elements (like talking animals) to give the story a deeper meaning. And, like most great books, the book is about the power of stories.

I’ll have the book in the bin at the front of the room if you’d like to read it. I’m planning to read it aloud as soon as we finish reading about those Weird Watsons, but reading great books more than once is a great use of time.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Historians,

Yesterday we talked about the First Americans traveling across the land bridge between Asia and the Americas and spreading out across the Americas. Today we’ll talk about one of the greatest discoveries in human history: agriculture.

Think about the advantanges that agriculture allows. Now people could stay in one place rather than always chasing after game. With agriculture, fewer people would have to find food and others could learn new trades. Eventually, humans learned new methods for improving agricultural production beyond what hunters and gatherers ever thought possible.

Sometimes when I’m in the grocery store, I like to imagine that I’m a prehistoric, pre-agricultural human seeing this incredible bounty of fruits and vegetables–all made possible by agriculture.

Dear Dreamers,

On Monday, Yogi Berra died. He grew up with four brothers and sisters and Italian immigrant parents in St. Louis. His father was a construction worker. Yogi left school after eighth grade to help the family, but he kept playing baseball and eventually signed a contract to join the minor leagues.

Nobody probably expected Yogi to become much of a baseball player–he was short, he was small, he was round, and he was sort of funny-looking. But he was also smart, hardworking, and he never took himself too seriously. He combined these traits into becoming the greatest catcher who ever played the game.

No matter what you want to be successful at, the ingredients for success are the same: hardwork, passion, and humility. Yogi Berra used these traits to become one of the greatest (and most memorable) players who ever lived. What will you become?

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Writers,

We’re in the middle of drafting personal narratives, and I am impressed by what you’ve come up with so far. This is your opportunity to tell a story that only you can tell, and you want to tell it in the most beautiful and entertaining way possible.

We’ve read a ton of personal narratives, so we know what good ones look and sound like it. And when we’re reading a really good personal narrative (or any type of good writing) we feel like the author is speaking directly to us. That’s your job as a writer–make each of your readers feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. No matter how different your life experience may be, if you tell your story in an engagng way, your reader will feel like you’re speaking directly to them.

Sincerely,

Mr. H