There has never been a man who has inspired me to both look forward to math class and have a swell time in it quite like Mr. Smith. As I entered his classroom for the first time, I had no idea of what to expect from a high school math course. My perception of the way the class would be run quickly changed when Mr. Smith started to talk. However, Mr. Smith’s form of talking was that of shouting, for I have never heard Mr. Smith speak in a normal speaking voice. He spoke loudly to get everyone’s attention and began to run his operation of teaching styles I had never seen before.

As the year progressed and harder lessons came along, Mr. Smith would send groups of people to the front of the class to do math problems. Although he claimed it was a game, everyone in the class felt it was just an opportunity to get embarrassed. Even though this was awkward, it was an excellent way of getting students to learn how to both do and understand the problems.

Mr. Smith was so into teaching, sweat would begin to form near his armpits. He would inform us of the intelligence of certain communities in attempts at getting us to try harder if we ever wanted to be as smart and successful as others. He would drink a cup of coffee in order to summon the energy to shout commands. Since he shouted when he talked and screamed when he shouted, it seemed near impossible for a student to fall asleep. However, when this happened, Mr. Smith would use his former Arrowhead basketball coaching skills to lob a marker at the individual who chose to nod off. This kept the amount of sleepers in class to a total of nobody after the first incident of this marker throwing technique.

Mr. Smith has been able to help me both in class and out. Anytime I had a question in class, he was able to answer it clearly. When I was in need of homework help, Mr. Smith would talk me through the problem, and see to it I finished the problem correctly and learned the step by step procedure on how to do them. If there has ever been a person who has mastered teaching in an exciting, fun, and efficient way, Mr. Smith is the man.