To my students ...

Hi,

By the time you read this you will already have heard from Mrs. Ingram that I will be away from school for an extended period of time. 10 weeks to be exact. I'll be back on November 17.

On August 18 we had our fourth child, a little girl. Her name is Sadie. My wife and I discussed this a lot. As this is our last child, late last week we decided together that I would take a parental leave of absence.

I must admit I had very mixed feelings about taking the leave of absence. We began learning together and were off to a wonderful start with much hope and promise for the year ahead. That hasn't changed. You are all capable of being the person, learner, mathematician you imagine yourself to be.

I have always believed that anyone can learn math, even the most advanced math, as long as they see themselves as able to be successful. So much of your success, in school and in life, has to do with believing in yourself; having confidence in yourself. See yourself as a success and you will be successful; in this and in all things.

In my absence you will be learning from one of the finest teachers in our school, yet don't underestimate yourselves. You can also be the finest teachers of each other. Just making the effort to take on that role for each other will deepen your learning and make you better students. Many of you have been in my classes in the past. If you stop to think about it you'll realize that I did very little teaching myself. I turned it over to you to teach each other. You are your own best teachers. Continue to work together. Teach and support each other. And watch yourselves grow into the finest mathematicians in the school.

Mrs. Ingram is a wonderful teacher, I've worked with her for years, I know. Trust and lean on her, and each other, and you'll go far together. When I return to school in November I may or may not be teaching your class, but then again, I never did teach you. I just set you up to teach each other. You know how to do that. Now you can do it on your own; and you have one of the finest people I know to help you.

I'm going to spend the next little while just being a dad to my kids. I'm looking forward to seeing you all when I come back to school. You'll be surprised how fast 10 weeks fly by. In the meantime I'll be poking in on the blog to see how you're all doing.

Take care of each other. And learn hard.

Your Teacher,
Mr. K