The Doctor is In

Last week started as a normal week. Monday, as per my normal routine, I came in at 6:45, made copies of the homework and classwork for the day, wrote my word study lesson on my easel, and set up my morning message.

Normal doesn't last long in an elementary classroom.

As students were writing in their daily journals about what their weekend was like, one student raised his hand and asked,

“Dr. Lin, may I get a drink of water?”

“Sure,” I answered. The student got up and began to walk to the door.

“Wait… what did you call me?” I asked.

The child stopped, looked at me innocently, and replied,

“Dr. Lin.”

He then proceeded to walk out the door as if there was nothing peculiar about what he just said. Not a soul in the classroom made any indication that what he said was strange either. I chalked this up to one child’s imagination until halfway through math class, as I was explaining how recognizing number patterns help us decompose math problems, a different student raised his hand and asked,

“Dr. Lin, how did you get 5 groups of 10? I only see groups of 7 and groups of 3.”

Why the heck are my kids calling me “Dr. Lin”? I had (and still have) really no idea, but from what I have gathered it all started with a few kids talking during recess or lunch about how I look like a doctor (or, their perception of what a doctor looks like), and it snowballed from there.

Now, my father is an engineering Ph.D so I asked him to come in to visit. This way, I could introduce my kids to the REAL Dr. Lin. Today, much like when my now ex-girlfriend surprised me with a visit on my birthday last year, the kids were mesmerized by the presence of a visitor. His visit during math was a big hit among the kids. Among other things, they found out that I used to get into mischief, that my dad served in the Army, and that there are other types of doctors besides the medical kind. It also didn’t hurt that my dad is a really engaging person with a great smile.

Relating math concepts to their everyday lives is an important element in getting children to understand math. After all, if math isn’t relevant to them, how can they be expected to understand it? As it turns out, my dad’s little visit presented an opportunity to relate real life mathematical scenarios to their lives when a student raised his hand to ask my dad a question.

“Dr. Lin, how old are you?” the student asked.

“That’s rude!” called out another.

“That’s OK,” said my dad. “I’ll let you figure it out. I was born in 1943. How old does that make me?

What a great response by Dr. Lin! Within seconds, my students were applying math to a real life situation, working hard trying to figure out my dad’s age. Did I mention my dad used to teach math (7th grade) prior to starting his Ph.D program? I guess some things just run in the family. As it turns out, this is not limited to the title that my students have given me.

I doubt I’ll ever go back to school and get my Ph.D, but who knows? I’ve said before that I’ll never be like my dad, and in my younger days I never wanted to either. As it turns out, I’m proud that I become more like him with each year that passes.