The subject of math can be torturous to people and can cause them to call math their least favorite subject. However, I call math my favorite subject. Since first grade, I have been in accelerated math. Math comes easy to me, however, it wasn’t until eighth grade that I fell in love with it--and that was because of my teacher.
Mr. Urban is a high school math teacher at Arrowhead High School. When I was in eighth grade, he came from Arrowhead to Merton Intermediate to teach a high school level class of Geometry. This means the school day for him started at 7:30am and went until 4:00pm. However, he was always at Arrowhead in the morning well before the 7:30am bell rung and he was always willing to stay after 4:00pm at Merton as needed. Not once did he ever mention his extra effort, because it was normal to him--but he was putting in hours of unneeded assistance to his students he wasn’t required to do.
In his Geometry class, my classmates and I tested like never before. Mr. Urban knew how to challenge us, yet make math enjoyable. He told us how he knew what we were capable of and believed in us--and as eighth graders, we didn’t have confidence, so this was reassuring. However, not every minute of class was set aside for learning. Mr. Urban made it fun. He is young at heart and loves to make jokes with his students. This made it easy to relate with him and it was easier to pay attention and learn because I looked forward to what he would joke about next.
When I found out I had Mr. Urban again as a senior for AP Calculus, I couldn’t wait. I knew we would have an exciting time. With a class of this academic rigour, it is obvious that it would be hard to make this class fun--but Mr. Urban has yet to have a day where I haven’t had a fun-filled, exciting class.
The last day of every week we have a quiz. But if we dress according to a theme, we get to take the quiz with a partner. We help him come up with themes, but he always puts a twist on them.
Whether it’s “Thriller Thursday” and all of the students have to dress as Michael Jackson--with his signature white glove or even “Fuchsia Friday” and all of the students wear fuchsia--the guys wearing fuchsia lipstick, we never know what to expect. These partner quizzes help us--we use teamwork in order to get the quiz done, as well as teach each other at the same time. Mr. Urban sees this and takes advantage of it because he knows it helps us and we get to have fun.
Not only are his activities exciting, but he also has jokes and sayings. He starts off every day with a picture on his SMART Board to lighten the mood, whether it is a dog riding a bike or a baby covered in chocolate cake. Then when he starts teaching, he has his own original sayings--my favorite is “c’mon c’mon” when we take too long to get something done. He is like Bill Murray minus the fame.
He may be a fun teacher, but I am also proud to call him a friend. He is open to help anyone with anything. There are days in study hall when friends and I don’t have work to do, so we go and visit with Mr. Urban. He is friendly and we  talk about football as easily as we talk about math. He is always there, regardless of the circumstances and he is always willing to have fun.
Unfortunately Mr. Urban is retiring, but I’m privileged to be able to have him this year. He is funny, smart, and helpful--but more importantly, he is also a father, an educator, and a friend. Thank you for everything, Mr. Urban. You are, and always will be my favorite teacher.