To whom it may concern,

I had the great honor of being a student in Mr. Matteson's class twice during my high school career. I took his class for the first time during my transition from middle school to high school. His class was the most empowering class I have ever taken. Mr. Matteson had a low stakes improvement model in place that cultivated a learning environment true to his class mantra: "Mistakes are good. Struggle Makes you smarter. Mistakes are proof that you are trying". I was relieved and ecstatic to return to his class as a senior learning AP Calculus.

Mr. Matteson is a wonderful teacher. His teaching style is carefully crafted to accommodate the learning needs of each of his students and all learning styles. Mr. Matteson is also very conscious of the examples he includes in his lessons: practical examples of career based applications of the material. I remember my frustrations while taking AP Calculus. I kept thinking that this class was wasting space in my brain, until we had an example about using information gathered by a heart monitor to predict how many beats per minute a patient's heart rate should have. I loved this example because it felt important, practical, and applicable to my future endeavors. Examples like this helped me feel excited about learning.

Mr. Matteson also maintains a positive class dynamic. He always provides opportunities for collaboration and open discussion while learning more challenging topics. I also remember having many group projects that I enjoyed. These projects were a structured, yet involved, way to interact with my peers. I also appreciated, however, that Mr. Matteson included solitary alternatives for the projects as well. This allowed students with extenuating circumstances one less source of stress if out-of-class collaboration was difficult to schedule.

Mr. Matteson genuinely cares to see his students succeed. I left his classes with confidence and a love of learning. I would highly recommend Mr. Matteson for any position he chooses to pursue.

Best regards,
Madeliene Harris
Class of 2018