A Great Teacher

I was blessed to have some amazing teachers.  The reason I know I had some great teachers is because I also had some bad teachers.  You wouldn't think Dauphin would be able to attract such amazing talent but we had more than our share. 

When I was in Grade 9, I had an outstanding math teacher.  Imaginative, creative, inspiring, and dedicated.  He was newly married to another teacher who was also one of my favorites.  She was equally extraordinary and I think they inspired each other.

He designed his own curriculum called "Common Sense Math".  One day a week, we were living in the real world (figuratively).  We told him what we wanted to be and he gave us the mean salary of that profession.  He taught us about deductions and we were able to calculate our net pay.  Then, we had to make a budget.  If we wanted to rent, we had to find a suitable rental from the newspaper and factor the asking amount in our budget.  If we wanted to buy, we had to find the listing and we had to go to the banker and get a mortgage and we had to calculate that.  We were in grade 9 and we were already learning the benefit of bi-weekly payments vs monthly.  For our grocery budget, we had to use the flyers to calculate what we would buy each week, etc.  We had to research our potential vacations and factor that into our budget.  If we wanted pets, we had to factor in what our vet bills would be.  He thought of everything.  Then, every week, we had to randomly pick a card and tell with it.  Sometimes it would be good, like a small inheritance or a promotion at work.  Often, it was bad like a child needing braces or your home was robbed and you had to tell with insurance, etc.  He had enough situations for a whole year.  It was an amazing program. I would love to do it over again.  Everyone but me picked amazing jobs like Engineer, Neurosurgeon, Psychologist, Bank Manager, etc.  I selected being a single writer.  I was the least paid in our "common sense math" world.  By the end of the year, I was sleeping on my friend, the Neurosurgeon's couch. I would love to do it again but I would pick Ambassador to the United Nations as my job.  I can not even begin to imagine all the preparation that he did for this course and the on-going work of checking our work, etc. 

And, it wasn't just that day of the week that he was creative and innovative.  Every day, he took a math concept and made it a game.  We were constantly up and working in stations and groups and moving around the room.  We had contests between teams.  For everything he taught us, he also explained how we were going to use this in real life in our future. 

Outside of the classroom, he had a math club one day a week at lunch.  I remember one of the activities was a stock market challenge.  Yes, in grade 9, we were learning about investing in the market. 

He was an amazing teacher and I still awed when I think about how much time he put into our learning.  He and his wife also chaperoned a spring break field trip to Louisiana with another one of my favorite teachers and his wife.  His enthusiasm for his job was endless. 

I can't help of think of him and other great teachers this September as school resumes.  I don't know how he could have adapted his creative teaching style to the current realities of social distancing and no contact.  We were always moving around and working in small groups and tackling several work stations.  Several times a week, our class was told to "keep it down" by the teacher across the hall.  We were that enthusiastic about math. 

I mean, I know he would have adapted and made it work, but I don't know if his zest and enthusiasm would have been compromised.  I don't know how he would have dealt with the fear of contracting the virus.  I know he would have felt responsible to make sure his students didn't get the virus and take it home.  I know that wouldn't be in his control, but, I know he was the kind of man that would feel that responsibility and it would weigh heavy on him. 

Like I said, he was only one of the exceptional teachers that I was fortunate to have.  I know there are exceptional teachers all over the province trying to make the new restrictions and directives work.  I am sure they are also feeling anxious.  As are the parents. 

I think the best we can do is follow all the guidelines that we urged to follow and to use common sense. 

We are all in this together and we all a part to play.  Peace out.