First letter from Mr. Lomax

Dear Students,
Welcome back to school, and welcome to my class. I hope you had a great summer.
I like to greet a new class with a letter. I think it’s a more personal way to begin than a course outline, which is the way I used
to start.
In this case, I’ll start off by introducing you to the classroom. As I write this, it’s Thursday, August 29, and I’m sitting at the
front of the class, looking around at all the posters, signs, books, computers and other things that I’ve spent the last few days
assembling for this year, so it seems like a good time to tell you all about it.
Behind me and to my right is a pod of computers that I’m calling our “writing centre.” There are three ancient Macs there,
and an old PC running Windows 95. It’s pretty outdated stuff. At the moment, it’s also not working. With luck it may be
functional by the time you read this letter. My goal for these computers is that they will be available for your use when we are
writing in class. Obviously, not everyone can use them at a time, so we’ll have to figure out some kind of fair system.
Ahead and to my right are some bookshelves filled with a lot of very good books. I’m always on the lookout for books that I
think my students will enjoy. Whenever I find a good one, I bring it to school and make it available for people to borrow. If you
see anything on these shelves that interests you, just ask and you can borrow it. In the same area of the room, there are some boxes
with labels on them that say “Missed something Look here!” In one box, I will put spare copies of any handouts I give in class,
and in another, I will put any assignments that I am returning to you.
At the back of the classroom are a few posters that I think are interesting or inspiring, and a mostly blank area entitled “Words
are power!” That area is reserved for you. The stories and essays that you write in class will go up there.
To my left is a blackboard covered with posters about writing, spelling and words. They are there to help you. Sometime,
perhaps on a day when you arrive a little early to class, I suggest you have a look at these posters.
Then, the desks themsleves. I’ve arranged the room in a horseshoe formation, because it’s my favourite set-up for a class. In
this kind of formation, nobody has their back turned to anyone. We all face each other and communicate with each other.
About now, you’re probably wondering why I’ve spent so much time telling you about our room. Well, I wanted to start off
by showing you what is provided for you. Here’s the reason: I want to talk about a specific responsibility that you have while in
this room. You have a responsibility to treat what you have been given with respect.
Last year, some students (a small number of them) didn’t. I spent a lot of hours setting up the computers only to find that
somebody thought it would be funny to steal the mouse-balls. That, by the way, is why the computers aren’t working right now.
It’s hard to get mice for those old Macs. Last year, I also provided books for my students to read. Five of those books were
borrowed and never returned.
That’s not all. Students wrote on the desks, left garbage in the desks, left garbage on the floor, and so on.
Of course, not everyone did that. Most people appreciated the computers, the books and everything else about the room. They
acted decently and responsibly. They knew that they benefited from the classroom.
This whole thing reminded me of a book I read a couple of years ago. In this novel a character went to a class in an aikido
dojo (a school were the martial art aikido is taught). The class was described in great detail. It began when the master greeted the
students and welcomed them to class. The students in turn welcomed the master. During the class, the master taught them some
aikido lessons. The students participated enthusiastically. At the end of the class, the students assembled and the master thanked
the students for their presence. The students also thanked the master and the master then asked them to thank each other. The
students went around for a few moments, thanking each other, recognizing that the participation of others was vital to their own
learning. Finally, the master dismissed the students. The students rushed to the corner of the room where the master’s three brooms
rested; each student wanted to have the honour of cleaning out the master’s classroom.
Big difference, don’t you think I’m not saying that I want you to sweep up the class at the end of the period (though I
wouldn’t say no if someone offered ;)). What I’m saying is that I’d like you to respect the classroom you will learn in. If you do, it
makes it a better place for all of us. If you treat the computers well, the computers will always be there for you (and others) to use.
If everyone returns my books after using them, there will always be books there to read.
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To sum it up, try your best to leave this place the way you found it.
To put it another way, think of this stuff – all of it, from the desks to the computers, from the posters to the books – as stuff
that’s provided for you but doesn’t belong to you.
When I say that, students often want to know who it does belong to. The simple answer is that some of it belongs to me and
some of it belongs to the Toronto District School Board. When I say that, someone often says, “Well, it belongs to our parents,
then, because they pay taxes.”
In a way, this is true. It belongs to the taxpayers of Ontario. That probably includes you. If you buy candy, fast food, comic
books, magazines, clothes, or just about anything else, you are also a taxpayer.
But just because people pay taxes, that doesn’t mean they can wreck public property.
Think about it this way: the stuff that’s in this classroom belongs not to you or me, not to your parents or Mr. Paterson, not to
the school board trustees, and not to some stranger on the street.
It belongs to the future.
The chairs you are sitting on aren’t for you alone. They’re for your younger brothers and sisters, your nieces and nephews.
Someday, they’ll possibly be here for your children (me, too, perhaps, though I’ll be a lot grayer by then.)
That’s the thing about schools. They belong to the future.
So if you see someone littering in your school, or defacing a part of your school – think about pointing out to that person that
that they’re not just spoiling the present, they’re harming the future.
Wow. That was a long letter.
And you’re not yet done. As soon as you finish reading, get out a piece of paper and write a reply. In your letter, you can
write about anything you like. If you don’t know what to write, here are a few suggestions:
• write about what you thought about anything I wrote
in my letter
• write about what you felt about anything I wrote in my
letter
• write about what you think your responsibilities as a
student are
• write about your favourite things at school
• write about what you are good at in school
• write about what you did in the summer
• write about your hobbies or your pets
• write about your friends
• tell me about your personality
• write about your goals for the future
• write about who you want to be
• tell me about your family
My letter is about two pages long, but I’m only asking you to write about one page. And, by the way, when I say a page, I
mean about 250 words. That’s what the average person’s handwriting will fit on a page. Keep a count of your words, and
don’t write less than 250. More is fine.
Sincerely,
I will end this letter by saying I’m looking forward to a great semester together. There’s a lot of learning and fun ahead.
Mr. Lomax
PS: I hope the tone of this letter doesn’t seem too negative. I really am looking forward to a great semester, and I hope you
will join me in making our classroom a good place to be.
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