Matthew's Assignment Example

The Next Ten Minutes

“Will you share your life with me? For the next ten minutes?” It was like looking down a long tunnel, and not being able to breathe. Words couldn’t form in my mouth, my mind was blank. I was freezing and my teeth were chattering and I couldn’t figure out what Rick was talking about. The high temperature for the day at over 11,000 feet above sea level was around 0 celsius. And then those lyrics: The next ten minutes. This picture was taken at Jungfraujoch, in the Alps of Switzerland, right after Rick proposed to me… and I accepted. These are our hands, of course, and our rings. The white space surrounding them is actually the snow of the glacier we were standing on. This picture represents the best of my summer bouncing around Europe—the memory of a lifetime. It symbolizes love, companionship, trust, faith, fun, passion, commitment… and one heck of a journey!

I am excited to be beginning another year at CFS. It is my fourth year here after graduating with a degree in Middle Grades Education from NC State University the same number of years ago. One of the most important reasons I teach at CFS, other than believing in the philosophy and mission of the school, is the support and love and acceptance that I receive… which is another reason why I chose this picture to represent my summer. ☺

The First Assignment -- A Picture is worth a thousand words...

Dear Students of My Morning Math Classes:

Hi! My name is Matthew and I will be teaching you First Year Math / Math 6 / Pre-Algebra / Jacobs Experience. The document that you hold in your hand is your very first assignment and I’m so excited to share it with you that I’m going to waste no time with small talk!
It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. We’re going to test out this theory here at the beginning of class.

Your assignment is to choose one, yes ONE, picture from your summer that represents either WHO you are or HOW you spent your summer. The sky is the limit on this one; but pick carefully! First things first, choose a title for your picture. Then, I would like you to compose a caption that describes the picture and how it relates to you, your summer, AND how you are thinking and about your upcoming year in math. But keep your caption short… maybe a paragraph. Remember, the picture is the focus of this assignment.

You may choose to include an original picture that has been pasted onto a piece of paper or a picture that you print off from your computer. The picture does not necessarily have to be one you took—if you have any worries about this, please ask. One reminder is that I will hold on to these pictures for awhile… so pick a picture that you can live without for a little while. ☺

The best part?! I will respond individually to all of your captions within the next week (once I get your pictures and have a chance to sit down and look at them).

I’ve also given you my version of completing this assignment as an example for you to consider.
Enjoy the process of completing this assignment! And, as with your materials, this assignment is Due Tuesday, September 2.

Much love and light--

Welcome to Math 6!

Hello!

My name is Matthew and I am your child's Math 6 teacher. As promised, this is the follow up email. :)

We met as a class for the first time on Thursday and in that time your children received two things: a sheet of paper describing what they will need for Math 6 and how to contact me (posted on the blog) and their first assignment.

The Blog - http://matthewsmath6.blogspot.com
We have a class blog! What grew out of an experiment in keeping parents informed about class happenings last year has grown into a staple of my morning classes. A blog is kind of like an online journal that dates posts chronologically. I have grown to at most posting several times a day and at the least every other day. Once I realized that I could post pictures to the blog, my postings grew from simply words to pictures of notes from the chalk/white board... to becoming an online reservoir of my classes. There have even been videos of me teaching posted on the blog! Besides being a little nervous about watching myself teach ;), all of these mediums (text, picture, video) are meant to help keep you informed about what is going on in your child's math class and to serve as a resource for your child should they lose track of their notebooks or are absent from class.

You may be thinking, "Jeez, Matthew?! Do I have to check this blog every day??" Well, that depends. Can you manually check it everyday? Sure. Do you have to? No. It is totally up to you to choose to check in on what's happening in class. Is there a way to make it a bit easier to stay informed? Yup and I'm glad you asked! On the right hand side of the blog there is a box that says "Subscribe via email" and when you enter your email in there and follow the instructions, you can get an email (once a day if there has been a post) that contains all of the posts for that day. Sometimes the timestamp is a bit wonky, but most of the time the emails go through without a hitch.

I want to go ahead and invite you to Back to School Night on Thursday, September 25. On this night you will be able to put a face to all of your child's teachers and we will get to spend some time together. During your time with me, I'm planning on showing you the blog and some of the cool things it can do.

Emails
So, you may be wondering, am I going to continue to get long emails from you, Matthew? Only occasionally, I promise! Starting this week, notes like this will be posted on the blog and I will only email you when the information I'm sharing is time sensitive. I'll also be posting this email up on the blog as soon as I hit send. :)

The First Assignment
I always like to give kids a getting to know each other first activity when we meet for the first time. I'm only going to mention that the assignment exists, and that it is due (along with their Materials) on Tuesday. I'm going to post the actual assignment online on the blog in a little while... you can check it out there. :)

Materials
On the sheet of paper your children came home with there was a list of materials they will need. The most important are a 3-ring binder, paper, pencil, and a pencil pouch. As second years, my expectations are high for their ability to get and stay organized. Their Math 6 Notebook will serve as the vessel for learning another (quite strict) way of staying organized. On the sheet I say 2-3 inches and I tried to convey to the kids on Thursday that I wasn't kidding--their notebooks will fill up fast. I also urged them to recycle old notebooks for their Math 6 notebook--those 3-ring binders are expensive! And, just to be clear, Math 6 can be the only thing in that binder. Pencils. They must have pencils. Writing in pencils for math is one of the hills that I will die on! And the pencil pouch. I encourage the use of a pencil pouch to ensure that the pencils that I'm so adamant about live in their notebooks with all the rest of their Math 6 stuff. Therefore, there is never the "I don't have a pencil!" dilemma. :)

Whew! What an email!

That's more than enough for now. On Tuesday/Wednesday there will be a post on the blog about how we organize our notebooks and then we'll be off and running!

I hope this email finds you all well, enjoying your Labor Day weekend, and let me know if you have any questions! Love and light--matthew

What you will need for Math 6

This is what I gave your children today:

Bring these materials to class Tuesday and we’ll get started!
o Three-Ring Binder (at LEAST 2’’ – your notebook will fill up fast!)
o Pencil pouch (to hold your stuff)
o Pencils
o Basic calculator
o Notebook paper (College ruled)

How do I get in touch with Matthew?

There may be times throughout the year when you need to reach me when we’re not at school. Here are some ways to get me:

• Cell Phone – 919.414.1983. This is your best bet. If I don’t answer, leave a message and your name and number (if it’s not in the directory) and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
• Email – ross.matthew@mac.com (try this one first) or mross@cfsnc.org. I also am pretty good about checking and replying to email, but if it is urgent—call.
• Blog – http://matthewsmath6.blogspot.com/ Every day I will post information about what we’re doing in class including homework and pictures from that days’ lesson or activity on our class blog

For your Parents: Email & The Blog

Parents: I have created email lists of all of your emails that are listed in the directory. Regularly throughout the year I will be emailing you updates on what we’ve been doing in class. Our primary means of everyday communication, however, will be through our class blog at http://matthewsmath6.blogspot.com -- your homework tonight (parents!) is to check out the blog and Subscribe to receive Email Updates if you choose. I’ll also be emailing you about this so if this doesn’t make sense, no worries! I’ve got most of your email addresses, but if would like to receive updates at an email address not listed in the directory, shoot me an email ross.matthew@mac.com so that I can write it down and add it to my list!

Welcome to the Math 6 Blog!

Stay tuned!