Extracting Square Roots
I walked into the classroom yesterday and asked my Pre-Algebra students to turn to the lesson entitled “Extracting Square Roots.” This class is unlike many other students when it comes to math. I have never met a group of students that love math! Which makes teaching so much fun and in some ways easier because the student wants to meet you halfway. However, yesterday, faces that normally looked excited now seem exasperated.
For some reason, extracting the square roots of large numbers was more difficult than expected. For forty minutes or so, I labored to explain and demonstrate the proper method in square root extraction. The process can be very tedious. Attention to detail is necessary. Patience is definitely helpful. Yesterday was undoubtedly one of the harder days for this class.
I wonder how we’re doing when it comes to “extracting potential” from our students. It can be frustrating at times, at the very least difficult. Yet like square roots, it can be tedious, attention to detail is needed but our patience will yield our desired fruit! Satan is as a roaring lion, seeking to devour our young people. We must do all that we can, by God’s grace, to show our students that they are loved by God and that He desires to use the potential He has instilled in each and everyone of them.
Today, my students came in with a little trepidation because of yesterday’s experience. I very patiently demonstrated the method again, making sure they understood each step. Then it happened- the light bulb came on! The smile on their faces made my day as they realized where they were stumbling and made the necessary adjustments to properly extract square roots. And that’s just math!
Imagine the eternal impact when we learn to extract the potential out of our students. So don’t delay and start today and witness the effect one young person can have when they wholly yield their life to Christ!