MassCUE is proud to celebrate Matthew Henry as our Featured Educator for June 2026!
This Featured Educator post was written by Heather Hannon, ELA teacher at the Carroll School and member of the MassCUE Communications Committee.
Walk into Matthew Henry’s proficiency-based French classroom at Mansfield High School and you might find students discussing a breaking news story from the francophone world, analyzing symbolism in a French music video, filming a segment for the school news show, or debating whether a Canva video-editor transition was “sharp and snappy” or “not quite snappy enough” In other words, it is not your typical high school language classroom—and that is exactly the point.
Now in his fourth year teaching French Language and Culture at Mansfield High School, Matthew brings a unique background to education. Before entering the classroom, he worked in marketing, specializing in graphic design, photography, and social media, garnering experiences that continue to shape the way he designs his lessons and engages students.
“Nowadays, engaging instruction means using authentic resources and teaching in real time,” Matthew explains. “If something is happening in the world today, we can talk about it today, and subsequently draw parallels between the regularly scheduled themes within our curriculum. That immediacy makes learning feel relevant.”
This philosophy came to life during the recent historic robbery at the Louvre in Paris where thieves stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels from the Galerie d'Apollon. Coincidentally, Matthew’s planned instructional theme that week was Artistic Heritage & Culture, and in the spirit of teaching “in the now”, he and his students pivoted into a live, digital exploration of the event. They examined the vocabulary in French news coverage, studied the cultural significance of the stolen pieces to the people of France, and eventually connected the experience via field trip to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - where the largest unsolved art theft in history took place in 1990. By the following week, students were processing a much deeper sense of intercultural understanding and appreciation than they might have ever expected, returning to class asking the same question dominating headlines, ”Have the pieces been recovered?”
Matthew’s 32 AP French students vlogged the trip to Boston using a GoPro HERO5 Session, with the video adventure serving as inspiration and encouragement for his other students taking French.
It is this kind of organic, responsive teaching that defines Matthew’s classroom. Technology is not treated as an add-on or flashy extra. Instead, it functions as a bridge between language learning, storytelling, creativity, and real-world connection. Whether students profile French-speaking astronauts as they orbit the moon, or create multimedia projects to explore the extensive impact of the 2026 World Cup being hosted in their hometown, Matthew’s lessons evolve naturally from student curiosity and authentic global experiences.
Matthew’s design background also allows him to create highly customized resources for students. Rather than relying heavily on pre-made materials, he designs his own graphic organizers, activity sheets, and classroom visuals using tools like Canva, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Premiere Pro.
Over time, students have even started to recognize his particular style of presentation.“This looks like a Mr. Henry paper,” students joke when they receive one of his carefully designed handouts—a compliment Matthew takes as a sign that thoughtful presentation matters.
That same attention to creativity and production quality extends beyond the classroom through The Buzz, Mansfield High School’s recently revived student-run news show. “Supporting students in creating their own brand of front-facing content via The Buzz has had far-reaching impacts across our school community,” he says. “The goal has always been to create a platform where students feel seen, heard, informed, and connected.”
What began with a smartphone camera and a small back corner of classroom space has grown into a full-fledged student-driven production wrapping up its third season with more than 70 episodes to date. Students write scripts, operate mirrorless cameras, edit video footage, engineer audio, create graphics, run teleprompters, and produce weekly broadcasts by students, for students. The “studio” setup now includes professional-level equipment funded in part through a community grant, but Matthew is quick to emphasize that the heart of the program is the students themselves.
The production process sounds somewhere between a journalism class, a tech internship, and a very organized version of Saturday Night Live. Every week, students race against Friday deadlines, troubleshoot tech issues, revise scripts, and sync audio transitions with a rotating roster of anchors and presenters to champion inclusivity. If a microphone fails or a featured guest turns up unavailable, the team adapts and keeps moving—an authentic lesson in collaboration and creative problem solving. “The entire initiative is powered by technology,” Matthew explains. “But the real goal is helping students learn how to create something meaningful together.”
Despite the impressive production value of both his classroom projects and The Buzz, Matthew encourages educators not to be intimidated by the technology itself. “The journey of learning is usually less difficult than the fear of starting,” he says. “There are always going to be more buttons than you actually need to press, and you really only need a few to get started.”
That mindset reflects the environment he intentionally creates for students: one where experimentation, creativity, and mistakes are welcomed as part of the learning process. Particularly in language acquisition, Matthew believes students need opportunities and a safe space to take risks, despite their fears of failure.
His classroom balances high expectations with strong support, encouraging students to become not only more proficient language learners, but also more thoughtful creators and communicators. By pulling back the curtain on the media students consume every day, Matthew helps them understand the work, collaboration, and storytelling behind the content that fills their news feeds.
Being recognized as a MassCUE Featured Educator is both humbling and affirming for Matthew. More importantly, he sees it as recognition that meaningful, innovative learning experiences can grow from curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to try something new.
And somewhere in the back corner of his classroom—between the lights, cameras, microphones, teleprompters, editing timelines, and Thursday evening deadlines—students are discovering that learning a language can also mean learning how to tell stories, build community, and create something worth sharing.
Matthew Henry’s Bio
Matthew Henry is a Grade 9–12 French Teacher at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Massachusetts, where he integrates innovation, media production, and creative design into language instruction and student activities. Before entering education, Matthew spent 11 years working professionally in marketing and social media marketing (photography, graphic design, illustration) in Boston.
An early experience teaching as an Assistant D'Anglais in Nérac, France sparked a passion for language learning, travel, and cultural exchange that later supported a return to classroom instruction. Matthew holds a Bachelor's degree in International Relations and French from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica.
In addition to teaching French, he advises the MHS French Club and the student-led weekly school news show "The Buzz" using Nikon Z cameras and tools like Adobe Premiere Pro, Canva's Video Editor, and Adobe Photoshop to help students build digital literacy skills and understand the intricacies of content creation, while simultaneously championing inclusivity, community, and belonging.
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