REMEMBERING GEOMETRY WITH MR. B.

     It was my junior year in high school and I was terrified of two things: failing my geometry class and not arriving on time for it at 8:00 a.m. Being my first period of the day, I was always half awake and frazzled after the hour-long commute on New York City's notorious-for-delays subway system. It didn't help at all that my 8:00 a.m. geometry teacher positively relished in his reputation of scaring his students to death by towering over us, jabbing his index finger suddenly at one of us and booming, "You! Put the next problem on the board." Any answers I ever knew leaped from my brain and immediately out the window when called upon in such an intimidating, insensitive manner. I felt increasingly inept, stupid and just plain worthless whenever Mr. K. would cast his eyes towards the ceiling and suck his teeth loudly and impatiently at my futile attempts to answer his questions.

     Up until then I had been rather proud of my other grades, but still lacked a great deal of confidence in my basic math abilities. Consequently, I approached geometry class with as much fear as humanly possible. After two weeks of Mr. K.'s treatment, I cut my losses, dropped the class and slept late while dreading having to make up the course in summer school in a few months. In retrospect, taking that geometry class in the summer was an absolutely life-changing experience for me. That's where I had the pleasure being taught by Mr. B.

     Although it was still early in the morning, I actually couldn't wait to get there. For the first time in a math class, I did not feel overwhelmed. Somehow in that very large class, Mr. B. made us all feel that we could master those skills. Most importantly, he made us feel that he cared, and that we mattered. His easy-going manner astonished me to no end. Moreover, it was first time one of my high school teachers had done more than goose-stepped down the aisles to patrol our performance. Mr. B. did a thoughtful "walk-about", and even sat down beside and among us to guide us patiently through the tedious process of learning geometry. We were amazed that he encouraged us to "find a partner" and try to solve the problems TOGETHER. This was the late 60's when most of us were only accustomed to sitting quietly until the teacher could get around to everyone in the class, or to no one at all. Mr. B. gave me the insight to realize that I was trying to solve problems by starting at step 3, for instance, when I didn't have the vaguest notion about steps 1 and 2. While I did not become a math whiz like the students in the movie Stand and Deliver, I did become confident I was capable of learning anything, including math, if given patient instruction and motivated to work to the best of my ability.

     Today, some 30 years later, when I teach English as a Second Language (ESL), I recall my struggles with math whenever I see one of my students afraid to try for fear of making a mistake. I keep telling myself--and sometimes my students-- that if I can learn math, they can learn English. Then I think of Mr. B., smile, and get inspired all over again....