Darlington teachers show students the fun side of Algebra
Darlington High School Principal Greg Harrison stands with Heather Dyar, Shaniqua Bennett and Melissa Ham who created a video to help their students learn, and remember, the Quadratic Equation. Photo by Melissa Rollins
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
For many high school students, math is a subject that creates a divide. Some students like it; others dread the subject. A few teachers at Darlington high school wanted to show their students that, despite popular belief, math can be fun.
Algebra II teachers Melissa Ham and Heather Dyar, along with teacher assistant Shaniqua Bennett, recently challenged their students to create a video to help remember the Quadratic Equation.
“With quadratics in general it can get a little boring,” Dyar said. “We always try to do something that will get them motivated and excited a little bit more because, of course, math is the dreaded subject for students. We gave students the project to do a music vide; it helps them to remember the formula better.”
The students were not the only ones to create a video, though.
“We thought it would be good to have a standard to show them,” Dyar said. “That’s how we ended up doing a video.”
The women agreed that they all played a part in preparing for their video.
“Coach Bennett came up with the chorus so we were grateful for that; it definitely is the catchy part,” Dyar said. “Ms. Ham and I came up with the content of the rest of the song, to make sure the content was correct. Coach Bennett tweaked that to make sure it flowed.”
“It was a team thing,” Bennett said. “They know a lot more about math than I do. I felt like with the video, it was a way to catch the kid’s attention. Kids don’t think that teaching math can be fun. When we first gave them the project and told them they had to make a video, they were looking at us like it was impossible. Seeing the teachers do it showed them that it was possible.”
Principal Greg Harrison said that he wasn’t surprised to hear what his teachers were doing.
“One of the things we’ve been talking about as we’re looking at 21st Century education is how do we teach creativity, collaboration, innovation and communication,” Harrison said. “I thought this was a perfect example of what we have been asking our teachers to do: think outside the box. What can you do to get students engaged? Get the hook in them, make them want to be in your class; that’s half the battle.”
Harrison said the project was ‘very impressive’ and that he even caught himself humming the catchy chorus after watching the teachers’ video.
