Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to 7th & 8th grade technology!  I am looking forward to getting to know you and your child and working together to help him or her succeed!  As parents and guardians, I understand that you are the most important teachers in your child’s life and it is with that understanding that I appreciate the role that you and I each play in the partnership to your child achieving the goals set forth for him or her.  In the spirit of learning from each other, I have taken the liberty to write this letter of introduction to give you a brief overview about myself in an effort to become more accessible to you.

My name is Nishantha Unantenne, I am your child’s course instructor for 7th & 8th technology this year at Pinacate Middle School. Like some of you might be, I am a first generation American. My family immigrated to the United States from a tiny Island in the Indian Ocean called Sri Lanka when I was ten years old.  As an immigrant to the United States, I was a beneficiary of the amazing educational opportunities that this country has to offer. When my family moved to California, I did not speak any English. I was very lucky to have a few special teachers who inspired me to achieve beyond what I thought was possible, who instilled in me the confidence to believe that if worked hard enough I could be just as good as anyone. 

This year in my class I hope to inspire and instill the confidence in your child to pursue science & technology, because I strongly believe that they have the power to transform your child's lives. I experienced first-hand the transformative power that a world-class education can have on a socially/economically disadvantaged young person.  I attended the University of California, Santa Barbara for my bachelors, where I had the privilege of learning from some of the best scientists and educators in the world.  

My philosophy of teaching combines the best elements of favorite teachers with research based pedagogy.  I do not subscribe to the industrial model of public education that aims to produce compliant, obedient and competitive workers; I do not view your child as a commodity that needs to be measured and processed to conform to a set of standardizations. Instead, I believe that every child deserves equitable opportunity to succeed in my class. I respect the diversity in our community and how it is reflected in the classroom. Because I believe that the purpose of education is to develop a conscience and well-trained mind, we will be focusing on developing high-level critical thinking and systems level thinking skills in the process of studying science & Technology.

I am thrilled  to welcome you and your student to my science class here at Pinacate Middle School for the 2022-2023 academic year. I have very high expectations for your child, and I will give every effort to help them meet these expectations. I am very excited to start the new school year, we have an awesome year of discoveries ahead of us. I also want you to know that one of my most important goals this year is to keep the lines of communications open with you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.  

The best way to reach me is via e-mail  nishantha.unantenne@puhsd.org.

Thank You,

Nishantha Unantenne