Welcome letter
Welcome to the 2021-2022 School Year
Dear Parents and Guardians,
It may be a sign of the times we are living that I start my letter this way. Mathematics is a complicated study. It is beautiful by design. It is stubborn in its complexity. It is both easy and difficult and unforgiving. It exists separate from opinions, but is often used as a tool to sway the opinions of others. It follows strict rules and order, but often those rules are bent to represent the kind of information that someone wants you to see and interpret. It has no mind of its own but is used to change minds, habits, and hearts. The history of mathematics is controversial, rooted in elitism, racism, and class structure, but no individual group has ever “owned” math.
Fundamentally, mathematics is a powerful tool, one that I believe any and everyone has access to. Yes, we’re only in grade 7, the very beginning of the secondary education journey, but chances are you already have firmly-held attitudes about math and math class. Ever said to yourself, I’m good or I’m no good at math? Even a statement like that is complicated, because math is not a single thing, and more than likely you’ve found some success with a topic involving math at some point in your life, which should be celebrated.
Teachers often start the school year with class rules. They’re familiar and most often use the word “respect.” After a lot of reflection over the last couple of years, I will instead be beginning this new year with my commitments to you, and what we value in class, instead of rules.
My personal commitment to my students and their families:
I see you. I promise to check in regularly with you. Not only to check for understanding, but to see that you, as a person, are doing well. And when you are not, I promise to be available to you so that we can find the best support together.
I promise to challenge you. Not so much so that you are overwhelmed. If you ever feel as though I am not challenging you enough, or you feel that I am challenging you too much, I urge you to let me know.
I promise to honor your mistakes. We will all make mistakes this year, myself included. Mistakes are made by even the best mathematical thinkers. They help us learn and grow, as long as we understand them. To that end, I will honor your mistakes, and encourage you to understand them, so that we can use them as tools for growth.
We will discuss our class values I the first week of school, but I invite you to read them here.
Changes this year:
As much as possible, I will be making communication paperless.
Course content
Will we follow the structure of our math workbook, given in the first week of class. Out of respect to families, I will not be using the Covid-19 pandemic as a source for direct math instruction material this year, unless students specifically ask about or for it.
I anticipate the beginning of the year to encompass many unknowns, many logistical challenges, and frequent changes in policies, both handed down from the government and administration as well as from your teachers, as we navigate the best way to learn in this new time. I appreciate every ounce of patience and support. If there is anything that will create a sense of community out of this strange time, it is that we will all be trying to make sense of this new reality together. It is unprecedented for teachers as well as parents and students.
More information will be available in the coming days, and I invite you to explore and become familiar with this website as well as work through Microsoft Teams, but for now, I remain excited in anticipating what this year will bring, and I cannot stress enough how excited I am to be the person tasked with teaching you math this year. Never hesitate to reach out to me.
Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year,
Mr. Graeme Lachance