Math teacher’s goal is not only to teach math but also to provide the necessary skills that are needed for students after graduating high school. By focusing on students’ growth and development, they make sure to have an important impact on their students’ future. Geometry teacher Shelby Tyler, hopes her students will one day look back and remember her as a person who had impacted them during their high school years.
¨Well, I hope that when they graduate, they’ll look back and if someone asks them one name that impacted them in their journey in high school, and one teacher they look forward to seeing the most, I would hope that some of them would say Mrs. Tyler,¨ Tyler said.
Helping students to learn and grow was what inspired her to become an educator. She ensures that every single one of her students will have the opportunity to have a successful future.
¨I wanted to help kids learn to grow not only in their math skills but also help them develop the skills that they’ll need outside of high school when they graduate,” Tyler said.
Sophomore Elle Summer described her as a generous and accepting teacher. When her students need help she would always be there to provide support and comfort.
¨She’s very sweet and very accepting, anytime I’d be having trouble in math or I feel like I’m about to cry because I’m panicking or I’m like, Oh my gosh, I can’t understand this. She’d always been so sweet about it,¨ Summer said.
Tyler´s bright personality, affection and support have such a positive influence on her students’ learning experience.
¨She would always just calm me down and explain very slowly in a way that didn’t make me feel stupid,¨ Summer said.
Tyler also taught algebra in her previous years but preferred teaching geometry because it involves more hands-on activities. By assigning hands-on activities, students could come together to communicate, share ideas and help each other to solve problems, while algebra focused more on working with formulas, equations and variables to find solutions. Some students who are visual learners may find geometry easier because they can learn through visual presentations like working with physical shapes and other objects. Tyler’s former student, sophomore Marcos Serna, says he was never interested in math.
¨I never liked math, to be honest,” Serna said. ¨Back in eighth grade and seventh grade, I would always tell myself that I had an F.¨
After being enrolled in Tyler´s class, Serna felt inspired by his teacher and wanted to improve to make an effort to accomplish better results.
“When I had Mrs.Tyler it kind of inspired me a little bit more to do better, she would help me out and she would make it fun to learn,” Serna said.
His favorite memory was during his freshman year in Tyler´s class Serna responded,
“Favorite memory was when I got my finger slammed into a door. Yeah, that was one of my favorite memories,” Serna said. ¨Another one was the project where we drew.¨
At the end of every school year, Tyler hands out papers to her students to make her class memorable. They´ll write, draw, and color different concepts they´ve learned from that unit and create a sphere out of the paper.
“I guess at the end of the year, we take a unit review for every concept that they learned and we create a paper sphere with all those different concepts that they can keep or they can give it to me so I can use it next year,” Tyler said.
To make these memories unforgettable, she takes them outside to play games and take pictures with her students.
“There was this one day that we went outside to the ponds that’s in front of the school and we were like playing games and she took this picture with us. It was so cute. Oh, I still have that picture. It’s so sweet,” Summer said.
Tyler´s devotion to her students builds up more than just teaching, and the bond she has with them is what makes her teaching journey outstanding.
“Just makes me feel like the work I’m doing is worth it. And that I’m impacting, even if it’s in their lives, not necessarily with math.” Tyler said.