Overview:
Meaningful connections between teachers and students, across academic disciplines, and through life lessons embedded in subject matter—spark student interest and create lasting memories of great educators.
It surely takes little effort for most of us visiting The Educator’s Room to conjure up memories of favorite teachers and in our imaginations picture them in their classroom kingdoms. Mr. Hemphill is the teacher I see, a square-built man with thinning sandy-colored hair, who always wore a tie and white shirt with its sleeves rolled up. Mr. Hemphill led us on a voyage of discovery to chart the shores of geometry, algebra and far off trigonometry. The latter was our destination in 1967 when I was a high school senior, although not as senior as I am now. I clearly recall sitting at my desk in class working rather hopelessly on a trig problem. I stopped working and stared at the ceiling seeking the solution. Or it might have been interpreted as an appeal to heaven for aid and comfort. Intercepting my appeal, Mr. Hemphill gently pointed out that, “The answer’s not up there, Frankie, it’s right in front of you.” It was indeed, but so fog bound that I could only see the outline of the problem, not a solution.
The fact that I remember Mr. Hemphill so vividly after nearly 60 years means, in part, that he forged a connection with me. A connection built on his kindness, patience, humor and always encouraging me to perform to the best of my abilities. My own experiences as a teacher convince me that in addition to this personal connection, showing how our subject connects to other academic disciplines and pointing out life lessons our subject teaches help create and nurture students’ interest, the foundation upon which learning is built.- Francis Martini
I gained some of my teaching experience as an adjunct instructor at several local colleges while working at my day job in banking. Then in 2017, after retiring from my full-time job, I volunteered as a tutor at St. Michael-St Clement elementary/middle school. In my first year tutoring, a wonderful elementary school student taught me a memorable connection between math and both philosophy and theology.
Perhaps attending Catholic school influenced Nina’s answer to my seemingly prosaic question: What is the difference between a line and a line segment? Nina’s thoughtful response opened a door to more meaningful considerations. “A line segment,” she said, “has a beginning point and an end point. A line goes on forever, just like life does.” How delightful and inspiring, regardless of whether “life” is interpreted as the life of humankind or the life of the soul. Sister Mary Agnes, my first-grade teacher, would likely have taken the latter view and translated Nina’s words as: A line travels towards infinity just as a soul lives for eternity. Whether a philosophical or theological connection, if nuns still walked the halls of St Michael-St Clement, they would be proud of young Nina’s response!
Nina’s inspiring connection taught me that I could incorporate into the tutoring sessions how math concepts connect to other academic disciplines and by doing so create more interest in learning. Take fractions for example. They appear mundane, but fascinate when considered more deeply. Each fraction, by definition, is less than the whole. They have their own identity (one-third or one-sixth, for example), but each is part of something greater. Now think of this applying not only to fractions, but also to people. And we all know that to add fractions each must have the same denominator. If they don’t have that in common, they can’t be joined. The same is true for people, they too join together when they have something in common. Hardly mundane fractions but, by changing our point of view, mighty fractions that lead us to civics and humanities lessons!
In addition to connecting to other disciplines, math teaches life skills useful to us all, even those with a math allergy. To help increase students’ interest in math, I’ve found it worthwhile to share and discuss the following from A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age by Alex Wilkinson:
“Mathematics…requires that a person pay close attention…consider a problem carefully…and encourages systematic thought, an advantage, so far as I can tell, in all endeavors. Abraham Lincoln said he spent a year reading Euclid in order to learn to think logically.” Even students who don’t immediately see the beauty and utility of Euclidean geometry (yes, there are some), appreciate that the qualities Mr Wilkinson points out are useful ones to master! –
Alex Wilkinson, A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry and Caluclus at the Edge of Old Age
A high school teacher, an elementary school student and an author teach us about the importance of connections in accomplishing our goal of creating interest in the subjects we teach and helping our students maximize their potential. The personal connection between teacher and student, the connections between our subject and other disciplines, and how skills mastered in our subject provide important and useful life lessons are among the elements that help us create the beautiful mosaic of learning. Our challenge is how to better use these connections so that, long after we’ve said farewell, we are among the educators our students remember as the best teachers from their days in the classroom kingdom.
