TEACHER'S CORNER: LEARNING MATH SHOULD ALSO BE FUN

CHAFFEE -- Math is best learned through application. Chaffee High School teacher Larry Cleair also believes it should be fun.

That's why Cleair, a 25-year teaching veteran, tries to mix in some of his favorite activities with his math and physics classes. On one day, his students could sharpen their skills for figuring percentages by recording their efforts at lifting different weights in a weight room. Another day, they might buy stocks using imaginary money to learn about the risks and benefits of the stock market.

"Mathematical knowledge is important, and I try to do the best possible job sharing that knowledge," said Clear. "I also try to share with my students the value of hard work, the need for mutual respect, and the joy found in serving people's needs."

Technology has added new dimensions to Cleair's methods of teaching. He participates in a distance learning project that connects his students via video with others in Charleston, Delta and East Prairie. And students now use calculators that have more functions than the computers used a generation ago.

However, new technology has not changed Cleair's ultimate role in the classroom. "Teaching is still about guiding young people to do the best they can with what they have to work with at the present time," he said.

Cleair enjoys the challenge of being a teacher and the reward that comes from watching a student mature academically and socially.

"It has been said that if you find something you love to do, you'll ever have to go to work for the rest of your life," he said. "For me, teaching is a joy."

In addition to his classroom duties, Cleair coaches girls track and the junior high football team. He and his wife, Beverly, have lived in Chaffee 22 years.

He is a member of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau Velo Club and the national, state and Southeast Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Outside his teaching and coaching duties, Cleair enjoys hiking, biking, running and weight training. He has worked as a hiking guide in Colorado each summer for the past 10 years.