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As a young algebra teacher and assistant baseball coach, many could speculate that Gunn is one of the stereotypical \u201cyoung and fun\u201d teachers within the school system. While that may be true, it is also true that Gunn has a lot of heartfelt and strategic intentions behind his jolly demeanor. Gunn shared, \u201cStudents who have me know that I am lighthearted and like to share my humor, sing, and do funny stuff. I like to have conversations before we begin each class. I think that was something that was missing from my experience in school. I never really developed a relationship with teachers that I felt comfortable enough to have casual conversations with and get to know and trust.\u201d All of these seemingly unrelated moments described above do not directly relate to math but instead reflect Gunn\u2019s teaching style, which is very relational in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunn shared that he is not a strict teacher. Instead, he emphasizes developing positive relationships with students. \u201cMy mindset is that if I form enough of a relationship with students, they will want to do good for me, and they are disappointed in themselves when they don\u2019t please me or achieve what I asked of them.\u201d Putting this emphasis on developing a positive and respect-filled relationship with students has been successful for both Gunn and students. Gunn shares, \u201cI see kids wanting to learn, do their work, follow the rules, and do well on state testing\u2013all things that don\u2019t always matter to high school students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the beginning of each new class, Gunn sets the standard with all of his students, sharing his teaching philosophy, \u201cLearning is doing.\u201d Gunn shares, \u201cStudents know that for 180 days, every day when they walk into my classroom, they are going to do the math. The expectation is that they will do more math than I will. I always say that I want to be able to introduce them to the math and investigate problems together, but the only way for them to learn is to do it themselves consistently and in a hands-on manner. When you develop that as the expectation from the beginning, students don\u2019t complain about it anymore because they know that is what we are going to do. They respect that somebody shows up to work every single day and does exactly what they say they were going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gunn believes the way his classroom impacts the world most directly isn\u2019t necessarily related to the content and specific math problems being taught but rather the principles being taught in the midst of it all. He shares, \u201cA lot of the content we do teach is applicable to the real world, but it\u2019s not exactly necessary to survive in the real world. However, the critical thinking skills, collaborative thinking skills, and being given something that\u2019s difficult and having to learn it in small pieces until we create a bigger picture are things that students will carry over into life after high school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar to the aim of newer Common Core methods, Gunn\u2019s hope for his students when they leave his classroom is to be able to create alternate ways of thinking when problem-solving in everyday life. He shared, \u201cWe don\u2019t want to teach students how to just compute 10×18 by carrying ones and zeros. We want students to understand that 10×18 is 10 sets of 18 or 18 sets of 10. We want students to be able to do math mentally.\u201d Similarly, Gunn\u2019s desire for students is to be able to leave his classroom and feel confident when facing more significant problems at home or in the world. He wants them to know that they can break the problem down into smaller pieces until they can conceptualize the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though there has been much public pushback regarding Common Core math standards, Gunn pleads for community support within the math classrooms. He shares, \u201cWe see the community talk on Facebook about how teaching math has changed. It is different because it\u2019s intended to create alternate ways of thinking. It will cause more difficulty and struggle, but if teaching and learning aren\u2019t causing struggle, then chances are it wasn\u2019t worth learning in the first place. So please give the schools and the teaching methods your support. Then, if after continued support you still don\u2019t see the results you would like to see, we can look at other methods. But we teachers, administrators, and schools need your support more than ever.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GENERALLY SPEAKING, one of the most dramatic periods of a person\u2019s life happens during the adolescent years when the prefrontal cortex of the brain region (responsible for things like planning, prioritizing, and controlling impulses) has not yet finished developing. Thus, teen spirit rolls through school hallways like thick cumulus clouds, manifesting through sassy eye-rolling, rule-bending, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n