I have experienced great math teachers and horrible math teachers. So what constitutes a good math teacher or a bad one?
Mrs. F was a great math teacher because she reached out to us. She cared about us deeply. She bent over backwards to have us understand 8th grade math.
She was also a fun teacher. On Saint Patrick's Day, Mrs. F would dye her hair green, wear green contact lenses, and dress up in entirely green clothes for the luck of the Irish to celebrate St Patrick's Day. I loved her totally green hair. Her normal hair color was white hair so the green hair dye looked fantastic on her.
The traits of a caring math teacher is caring, humor and empathy. If something is wrong, she would act motherly and listen to our adolescent woes when we complained about dating curfews, or any other problems we may have.
When I could not understand the math lesson, she stayed after school to help me. When I had lousy math teachers in 9th and 10th grade math, she tutored me in those grades too. This showed how much Mrs. F loved and cared about us.
Now, for the bad math teacher.
Mr. W. was a lousy math teacher. He could not wait to leave the school. As soon as 3 oclock rolled around, he was instantly gone. I would say to Mr. W. "Wait, I need your help!"
Mr. W. would say, "You have to learn math on your own, because when you get to college, you will have to learn to figure out a math book without a tutor."
Mr. W was a lousy math teacher because he was uncaring, lacked social skills, and was just teaching for the paycheck, and not for the love of his students.
And by the way, when I did reach college, I did not have to "figure out the math book by myself" which was the excuse he used for not helping me. Actually, in college, I lived at the college math tutoring center and a cute graduate student tutor tutored me in math.
When Mr. W gave math lectures, it was boring. He did not look the students in the eye to check for comprehension. He did not stop to see if we had questions. He just kept right on talking and spending all class period with his back to us writing on the board most of the time.
You see, Mr. W wanted to teach college students. He thought teaching high school students was beneath him, and he thought his other math colleagues were also beneath him. Other math teachers at the math learning center (where I lived) disliked his snobby attitude. His snotty attitude came through in his teaching. He just didn't want to be bothered with high school students. I heard he was constantly looking for college teaching jobs, but just could not find one, so that's how he ended up teaching us.
As a result of Mr. W's unwillingness to stay after school to help us, I ended up going to Mrs. F for my math tutoring in order to pass math class because my 8th grade teacher was willing to tutor me for 9th and 10th grade math.
So don't be like Mr. W and be uncaring to your students, instead aspire to be more like Mrs. F and your students will love you! Yes, Mrs. F's students did love her and that's why I remember her to this day! I loved her green hair!
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