Everyone’s dreamed at least once of having a kind and knowledgeable teacher who explains concepts in an intriguing and understandable way. A teacher who can lay out the dots for you and guide you through the connections, answering all your questions along the way and having reasonable expectations from you as a student. I’m so grateful to have such a teacher with me this school year, Mr. Silah.
When I enter Mr. Silah’s classroom, I feel like I’m drinking a warm cup of chocolate milk after a long, chilly day. I can sit down, have a snack, and just enjoy a calm atmosphere of learning math through different perspectives from classmates and Mr. Silah’s various problem-solving methods. Mr. Silah structures his lessons so that they draw on previous information and help connect everything we’ve learned, and his teaching style does so much for me–not only does it make math much more intuitive, but it reveals the beauty of mathematics and how reasoning and logic are the foundations of our world.
Mr. Silah breathes life into math, and I don’t only mean by his phenomenal teaching. The scattered math puns in our semester (I hope we end up ordering the “Keep it Real” t-shirts with the double-R symbol one day), the comments on Dolciani’s work (her spirit lives on in our classroom), the old but gold references we should know (D.B. Cooper’s story is fascinating, and what’s funnier is it was recalled due to the arrangement of variables ‘d’ and ‘b’), the entertaining UCLA stories (who knew there were courses on imaginary numbers), and so much more. I’m so grateful for having Mr. Silah, for having a wholesome period of learning fundamental math with fun moments.
Questions are not only allowed, they’re highly encouraged. Mr. Silah is very open to answering questions and often teaches concepts through application; he breaks down difficult problems and points out key details, revisiting them throughout the year to improve our retention and problem solving skills. One of his main beliefs is that repetition alone is not how mathematics should be learned–doing a variety of unique problems, especially those which involve applying different, seemingly unrelated mathematical concepts, is a far better way to practice math. His perspective and knowledge have shaped my views on math. One of his favorite phrases when doing chapters that involve specific aspects (such as subsets of complex numbers) is, “Math is the science of precision.” I appreciate the thoroughness and thoughtfulness in his lectures, and I personally feel Mr. Silah is a one-of-a-kind teacher. I believe that he has near perfect levels of flexibility, homework, classroom discussion, and tests.
Apart from preparing us very well for future advanced math courses, Mr. Silah rejuvenates my energy through the calmness and patience he exudes. I even think he’s really expanded my vocabulary with all the idioms and metaphors we use to understand and remember math in class!
For all these reasons and more, I am so thankful to Mr. Silah for being the incredible teacher he is. Thank you, Mr. Silah, for your altruism, commitment, and mathematical passion! I really appreciate you and hope to be your student for more years to come!
