A Very Different Angle

A very different Angle

What is a left triangle?  One of the most valuable lessons I learned this year as a teacher was from this very question.  I was introducing geometric shapes to my class.  After introducing the right triangle to the class one of my students raised his hand and asked if there was a left triangle.  I took this as playfulness on his part and said there are no left angles.  He then asked why it is called a right triangle.  I told him that is what it is called.  He pressed me and I then said, “because that’s the way it is.”  He kept pressing and the entire class was becoming agitated and started picking on him.  I realized that I needed to stop things, which I did. 

I reflected that night on the events of the day and had a profound realization.  Something I vowed never to do; I did.  I said, “because I say so.”  What I really should have said was, “I don’t know.”  I then researched the root of the name right triangle.  From my research the words that came to play were rictus (straight) and erect, or upright. 

I returned to class the following day and called them to the carpet for a conversation.  I explained to the class that I made a mistake the previous day and should never have said “because I say so.”  I then proceeded to go over my research and explained to the class what I found.

A further revelation that I had was that the young man, an avid reader, was clearly not intentionally disrupting my class, he is sincerely inquisitive.  I pulled him aside later and asked him if he was interested in words.  He said yes.  I then explained to him what etymology was and showed him on the computer the research I did the night before.  Later, I gave him a dictionary in front of the class and asked him to be my go-to person on looking up definitions.  He was free to do so at any time.

Our school dictionaries are adequate, but nothing like what I grew up with.  I found an old dictionary (probably older than I am) at the library sale and got it for the class.  I took it to school and showed the young man the multiple meanings of words, how to see the etymology of the words, and told him that it was his dictionary to use in class.

During testing, students put books aside to read when they are done.  I found a change in my class that surprised me.  On any given test day, there would be 3-5 dictionaries on the table to be read when done with testing.

My final act in this story was to write a note in the dictionary and gave it to the young man. 

The day I stop breathing will be the day I stop learning.