Author: McKinley Corbley
A middle school teacher from South Dakota is being praised for going above and beyond the call of duty to help one of his students with her math homework—all while respecting social distancing guidelines.
Last week, 12-year-old Rylee Anderson had been having trouble understanding how to graph and algebraic function. In addition to her school being closed amidst the coronavirus shutdowns, her parents weren’t home to help her with the equations—and her mom has apparently had a history of getting the algebra questions wrong anyway.
After Rylee emailed her math teacher Chris Waba for help, he responded with some written instructions on how to do the equations—but he could tell that she was still having trouble with the homework.
Since Waba knew that his student lived just down the street from his house in Madison, he grabbed a whiteboard and marched over to her front door so he could illustrate his points from the outside of the glass.
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He then spent the next ten minutes giving a one-on-one math lesson to Rylee as she took notes from inside her home.
“I’m a better communicator face-to-face than [on] the telephone and I think students learn better that way,” Waba, who has been a math teacher for 27 years, told CNN. “Teachers all across the nation have been thrown into a situation like this. I think we’re all more comfortable being in front of our classes and that’s where we’d rather be.”
When it seemed like Rylee finally grasped the concept, Waba bid her adieu and headed home. Before he left, however, Rylee’s father Josh Anderson snapped a photo of the heartwarming interaction and posted it to Twitter.
Although thousands of social media users have praised Waba for his dedication, he later insisted it was just part of the job.
“That’s what teachers are looking for, those smiles,” Waba told the news outlet. “That’s the joy of being a teacher and that’s what we do it for.”
This is just one of many positive stories and updates that are coming out of the COVID-19 news coverage this week. For more uplifting coverage on the outbreaks, click here.Josh Anderson@DakSt8Football
My 6th grader emailed her math teacher for some help, so he came over & worked through the problem with her on our front porch. @Chriswaba9 , our neighbor, MMS teacher & MHS Wrestling Coach. #KidsFirst @MadisonMSNews @MarkOsports @dakotasportsnow @dakotanews_now @stwalter20
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