I realized that, by including math parody videos within the video lessons, I could get students more engaged with the distance learning, and also give them a moment of laughter at a time when it was awfully hard to laugh. While the response wasn’t what I was expecting, and no students ever ended up creating their own videos, they did send me emails pleading to make more videos. In order to kick it off, I created a model: “Math Hurts” a math parody of the song “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo. In a nod to Carol(e)’s I saw the opportunity to pair math + music and hoped that their past successes would be a foreshadowing of mine to come. It started with a challenge I issued to the students to create a math parody of a pop song of their choosing. The more I checked in with students the more it became clear: what they were missing was not the content, it was the connection to their goofy and entertaining teacher. I used all of the resources I had and put in countless hours creating video lessons and activities that I was certain would keep students engaged and learning. I knew how to create entertaining and dynamic lessons for in-person instruction, and I had dabbled with educational technology but was by no means a master. All at once, the in-person schooling was paused and we were forced into an all-remote world that I don’t think anyone was prepared for. Dan Davis after the 2008 Commencement Ceremony | Photo by Brooke Kessel Rapping up the school yearįlash forward to this past March, and the beginning of what would ultimately be the end of my 11th year teaching middle school. Hear I am with another of BU’s incredible and inspirational professors, the late Dr. If ever there was a perfect inspiration for an aspiring math teacher, it was those two. The tandem had written mathematical musicals that they had performed at countless schools, and never hesitated to break into song at any moment (I can still hear them singing, “To borrow, to borrow, we can’t say to borrow, we must say regroup today”). Both professors served as my advisor at some point during my tenure and BU, and if there was one message that they echoed over and over it was that math should be real-world, be authentic, and be entertaining. While I won’t take you through every class or professor that I had, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Carol(e)’s: Dr. As an incoming freshman at BU, I knew that I wanted to be a math teacher and, while I had plenty of experience being a student in a classroom, I had no idea what I would be like as a teacher. To best understand where I am today, it’s important to flashback to the fall of 2004. Staring blankly at the computer screen, I realized that it was time to throw caution to the wind, and risk making an absolute fool out of myself if it meant reaching the students. As someone who prided himself on teaching through building great relationships with students and injecting excitement into typically dry topics like fractions, I felt defeated.
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