letters to my class

Dear Timekeepers,

It was a lot darker when you woke up this morning and came to school. Last week, I had to wear sunglasses during my commute to work, but today they stayed in my pocket. And tonight when you go to bed, the sun might still be peeking over the western horizon.

We base our lives around natural patterns, like the sun rising and setting. We’ve created cultures and technologies (such as time) based on these patterns, so it’s no surprise when we tweak them to try to make them better. Whether you like daylight savings or not is a personal opinion. Maybe the extra hour of sunlight this evening will convince you that it’s a good thing, or maybe you hated this morning so much that you’ll never think it’s worth it.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Performers,

Today we’ll take our Unit 7 math test. It’s over fractions with some review of multiplication and division. These are concepts that we’ve explored deeply and that you know well. Now it’s time to show it.

I get excited when I see a fresh stack of math tests to grade, especially when I know my class understands the concepts, knows how to apply them to solving problems, and takes pride in the work they do. You literally put your name on the top of this test. Anytime you put your name on something, it represents you, so you want to make sure it’s something you’re proud of.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Readers,

I just started a new novel by one of my favorite authors. Throughout your lifetime of reading you’ll meet favorite authors and look forward to their new books coming out. You’ll mark the publication date on your calendar and wish the days would skip ahead. Later, after endless waiting, you’ll see that it’s ready for you at the library or the bookstore, and you’ll rush there to pick it up. And finally, at long last, you’ll hold the book in your hands, run them over its cover, and smell the new pages before rushing out the door to get home to read it.

Novels combine various experiences of the world into one coherent story. Think of all the people we met and places we went with Edward Tulane: a fine house on Egypt Street, the bottom of the sea, the home of a fisherman and his wife, a garbage dump, tramping around with a hobo and his dog, a ramshackle cabin with two young children and an abusive father, a doll mender’s shop, and finally, at long last, back home.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Thinkers,

Today we’ll do some experiments to explore concepts of probability. Remember, we can know the likelihood of an event before it happens, but the actual outcome won’t perfectly match the expectation. We know that a coin flip is a 50/50 chance, but if you flip a coin 10 times, you might get 8 heads and only 2 tails. However, as we add more flips, our data will get closer and closer to 50/50. Keep this in mind as we do our experiment today and notice how the outcome gets closer and closer to the expected outcome as we add more and more data.

We use a coin flip to decide who gets the ball first in a football game. What are some other fair ways to decide who goes first in a game?

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Adapters,

Today, and for the next few weeks, our schedule will change. I think this can be a good thing. Perhaps we were getting too stuck in our ways. What’s important is that you keep an open mind, follow directions, and focus on the things you can control.

Just because something’s been done one way for a long time doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it. There are countless right ways to do something, just as there are countless wrong ways to do something. Over the next few weeks, we’ll schedule our days in a different right way.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Reckoners,

The problem with learning about fractions is that there are so many mindless rules for solving fraction problems. These rules allow students to take shortcuts and solve problems, thinking they understand the concepts, without really knowing anything about fractions at all.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

When you see a fraction you should be visaualizing a picture in your head, comparing it to 1/2, and identifying other common names for the fraction. In a fraction, the numerator and the denominator are having a conversation. Listen in to what they’re saying.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Rule Makers,

You may have heard the phrase “there’s an exception to every rule.” That’s not true for math rules. The rules of numbers and patterns and shape are always true because they exist in an imaginary world of ideas.

Yesterday we discovered a rule for generating equivalent fractions. This is a rule that will be incredibly useful to you throughout your math career and your life. You’ll use it countless times when you’re cooking, measuring, or paying bills. But more importantly, you’ll use it to explore the beuatiful patterns that are the heart of our number system. And maybe you’ll convince yourself that those beautiful patterns are at the heart of our universe.

Surround yourself with numbers. Play with numbers. Look for patterns. If you look close enough, you may just discover a few rules that the world’s been missing.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Constructors of Knowledge,

Scientists are questioners, hypothesizers, observers, experimenters, data collectors, and synthesizers. But they’re also model makers.

Sometimes, in order to really know something, you have to look at all of pieces at one time. If you’re studying something as massive as outer space, you’re going to have to make a model.

Today, we’ll model the sun’s rays hitting Earth. We know Earth’s tilt causes the angle of the sun’s rays to change at different latitudes and at different times of year. How does that affect tempearture? We can’t see the entire Earth at one time and we can’t go through an entire year in a day, so we’ll build a model.

It’s amazing to think how thoroghly Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt has shaped our human lives. What would live be like if there were no tilt? Maybe our model will offer some hints.

Sincerely,

Mr. H

Dear Singers,

I love old folk songs. Knowing history is about more than knowing who did what when. It’s also about trying to empathize and understand what life was like in different places and at different times. I believe listening to and singing the songs of people from different places and different times helps us do that. Even more, these old songs contain a peal of truth that keeps ringing across the world and into and beyond our own times.

So today we’ll sing lots of old songs: We’ll sing songs about freedom, songs about rambling and wanderin’, songs abour friendship, and songs about nothing at all. When we do it, think about what life was like for the people who first sang these songs and also what truths still resonate today.

Sincerely,

Mr. H