letters to my class

Dear Humans,

I love April Fools’ Day because I like pranks and jokes. Because at their heart is the unexpected. We think we know what’s going to happen, and then boom…the punchline or prank surprises us. And I think we could all use a bit more of that in our lives. 

I like a predictable schedule as much as anyone, but constant predictability gives us the false sense that we have a lot more control over our lives than we really do. The unexpected reminds us to be humble. And humility is the only place where we can learn new things.

So be on the lookout for the unexpected today and tomorrow and every day after. And when it comes, give it a chuckle.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Some of you might dye eggs this weekend. If you do, you’ll be part of a long tradition of humans decorating egg shells. One that shows up in many different cultures and that could be up to 60,000 years old.

Because there’s just something about eggs. Symbols of life and rebirth, a white canvas for painting or dyeing, and an appealing oval shape. But also fragile. And artists love to create in that tension between the permanent and fleeting.

Today we’ll learn about Pysanky, which is a central part of cultural life in Ukraine. But egg decorating is everywhere. And when humans in different times and places do similar things, it’s worth our time to sit up, pay attention, and wonder why.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Yesterday we learned the word self-sufficiency. Those New Englanders tried to be self-sufficient–to provide all they needed for themselves. But as their towns grew, they found they had to rely on others to provide the things they needed.

And we read “Ox Cart Man” by Donald Hall. Though that New England farmer made much of what he needed, he also sold extra items to buy the things he couldn’t make. Such as knives that may have come from factories in England or sugar from the West Indies.

Economics connects us across the globe. We are interdependent, relying on people we will never meet, just as they rely on us. That’s always been the case, but it’s more true now than ever before.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Today we’ll read about New England town meetings. It’s an important part of our history as a country that’s ruled by the people. That means that we all get together to decide what our rules are rather than just have them decided by a king. 

It’s not a perfect system. Some people still have more power than others. But it’s a whole lot better than some other things humans have tried.

But it takes work and it takes compromise. True freedom is not getting your way every time. Rather, it’s learning about your neighbors’ points of view, sharing ideas, and coming to something that everybody can live with. As we’ll learn, the Puritans weren’t always too good at that.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

We don’t have assigned hooks for backpacks and coats, but I think most of you have assigned yourself a spot and hang your backpack there every day. 

I have a closet full of shirts and ties that I could turn into a thousand different outfits, but I have rules about what colors and patterns match. That way I actually get dressed instead of just standing in my closet all day.

A big part of making choices is making our own rules that limit those choices. Otherwise, this wide world can just be too overwhelming. And the rules we make for ourselves also reflect the kind of person we want to be. And then we spend the rest of our life becoming that person–one self-regulated choice at a time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

I spend a lot of my weekends driving around the metro area. And wherever I am, I like to peek at the Denver skyline from that vantage point. With its iconic cash register building and the backdrop of the snow-capped mountains, it reminds me of where I am.

But skylines don’t just orient us in place, they also orient us in time. Because Denver’s skyline has changed over the years. Although the tallest 3 buildings have all been there since the early 80s, the skyline has changed since I moved here in 2006. And it will change over the next 20 years as well. 

Landmarks are important. Because where we are and when we are is a big part of who we are.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

When I get down, sometimes I think about the larger scale of things–the billions and billions of galaxies and the billions and billions of years–and think about how insignificant my troubles are over here on this tiny arm of the Milky Way.

But then I look at the people who share this dust mote of the universe with me, and I think about how they depend on me (and I on them). And things seem much more significant.

It’s true that in the grader scheme of things, our troubles are pretty minor. But we don’t live in the grander scheme of things. We live in the here and now. So what we do matters a whole lot. Even if it will be forgotten after we’re gone.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

It’s gonna be cold this weekend. After the sun goes down this evening, I don’t think we’ll see double digit temperatures until Tuesday morning. But don’t worry, humans are built for this.

Not our bodies, per se. We developed most of our biological features in tropical environments. That’s why we don’t have much fur. And really our body’s best response to cold temperatures is to shake itself (shivering) to maintain a stable core temperature. 

But our brains are an absolute wonder.  And we’ve used them to create cultures and technologies that allow us to live just about anywhere, no matter how cold. 

So stay indoors, bundle up by the fire or the radiator or the space heater, and thank your human ancestors.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Lately we’ve been reading a lot about nails. The final gold rivet in the Empire State Building, the Romans’ reliance on them, and Carl Sandburg singing the praises of those that hold up “skyscraper[s] through blue nights into white stars.”

Nails are everywhere. And though we take them for granted, they have completely changed how we live. A book I’m reading about the history of technology argues that nails were revolutionary for the simple reason that they allowed humans to first put different materials together.

Before, we’d make tools out of a single stone or boats out of a single log, but once we learned to put things together, the possibilities of creation–skyscrapers, spaceships, submarines–were endless.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

You know how our whiteboard doesn’t completely erase? So definitions of mixtures and solutions still appear when we’re learning about the themes in John Henry. And both of these things still hang around like ghosts while we’re practicing multiplication strategies?

Well that’s exactly how knowledge works. It’s all mushed together into one thing. Humans have spent much energy trying to put these things into specific subjects (so much so that we even call them disciplines) but our minds are just one big whiteboard and we write and erase on them over and over.

And that leads to connections. And we see that humans trying to figure things out looks similar no matter when or where it happened. And no matter what it’s called.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt