Be a Teacher Your Students Remember - An Idea From a Math Teacher and One From Me!

At a yard sale last weekend, an outstanding math teacher and tutor and I started swapping stories and ideas.  I mentioned to her that I frequently meet former students because twenty years of my career were spent teaching locally.  I'm usually interested to hear what's happening currently so it's rare that I ask about what they remember from the year they spent with me.  Sometimes they volunteer something beautiful, but mostly they remember it as their favorite class - a place where they felt welcome and most important of all: a place where they could be themselves.  Recently, I ran into a student who is using her graphic and journalism skills and she gave me a lot of credit for getting her interested in that arena - I don't think so - but it was nice of her to say.  However, my math master and I started talking about teachers and/or lessons we remembered.

I could only remember Mr. Collins, my sixth-grade teacher, who made it snow using boiling water and a special beaker with a long neck. We went outsize on a day when the temperature was 32 degrees and so flakes collected in the long neck of the beaker. I think I've mentioned him a few times.

Here is her math story and I think it is well worth passing along.  Her seventh grade math teacher stood out for her because she had different geometric shapes (fairly large and different colored ones), folded and made of paper hanging from every light fixture. She said that the shapes would move gently and when she finished her work, she would always transfer her gaze to the shapes- always finding something of interest in the class. Additionally, this teacher had the numeric value of Pi written on the wall circling the middle (nice size and eye level when seated) and when she had run out of room she had ended with three dots (or marks of ellipsis) indicating that this number was infinite. This was a Pre-Algebra/Algebra class for advanced students, but our master math teacher remembers learning the process of algebraic equations and that they were presented visually - not just as algorithms.

As a tutor, she now sometimes views the on-line presentations of math teachers who just put the equations on the "Smart Board".  All of the upcoming lessons are posted so that the student, parent and tutor, if necessary, can review what process to use.  However, she always turns the lesson into something visual and concrete. She explained to me that one item she uses is a soccer ball shape which students can fold and create.

The best teachers I know have always used sensory materials.  It is time consuming to plan these lessons not to mention costly - which is why working as a departmental, grade-level or interdisciplinary team, sharing and brainstorming ways to push to the application level of learning is so important. I told her I had always loved Algebra and loved teaching the beginning level of it to sixth graders.  For me, Algebra is like unwrapping a present.  What I do to one side of the box, I must do to the other and so on and so on until I get to the end and the present stands alone. Yippee!

Now, it's my turn - chose a theme for your room: pirates, boxes, puppets, hats, tall buildings, outer space, weird animals, shoes, rocks, circles, eyes, Muppets, Post-it notes, bridges, crazy inventions, silly socks, volcanoes, amazing careers, detectives, olden days, survivors and fishing ...
These are just a few items that I brainstormed - wanted them to be gender neutral, safe topics (no parent phone calls), easy for you to find inexpensive or free material to decorate your room and when you chose the theme it must be something that grabs you - like - I got this!

When I did pirates, I found a parrot for two or three dollars at the Party Store and I had a blast using that prop!  Parents used to always tell me they couldn't wait to hear the stories of what went on in my classroom - now chew on that for awhile. Most kids go home - what did you do in school today? Nothing!  I must admit that I am a ham - so I do like a lively room and it isn't for every teacher out there - but even if you're a quiet person - the theme will do wonders for embedding any lesson in every students' mind.

Wonders of wonder - who knew Kings Dominion was a fantastic source of inexpensive posters! I'll leave off with the words from one of my favorite posters from good, old KD:

People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered,

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The kindness you show today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Be kind anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down

by the smallest person with the smallest mind.

Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

Author Unknown (Some people have suggested that they have found the author for this piece - let me know if you have a name for me.)

Poster by Mantis Design copyright 1998 Mantis Design, 513 Main St. Stroudsburg, PA 18360 

www.mantis.com