Mr. Van Smaalen, also known as just Mr. Van, is a new teacher here at Vallivue High School, teaching 9th and 10th grade math. He recently moved to Idaho with his wife and daughter from Southern California where he taught an Esports class. When asked what makes a good day at school, he said a good day at school usually consists of a few things. “If my students have good attitudes (not necessarily acting perfectly but are respectful to me and others), if I feel like I did well teaching my lessons and connecting with my students on those topics, and lastly, if the overall culture of my room feels positive.”
Mr. Van has a more laid back teaching style, he says, “I have very firm boundaries when it comes to respect but, beyond that, I focus on being a considerate and supportive teacher.” Having this approach to teaching makes Mr. Van a teacher students favor making them not afraid to ask questions in class! He does a great job explaining his lessons in a simple but effective way, allowing his students to process the work with ease without all the extra unnecessary confusion.
When asked what differences he sees in his morning students versus the afternoon classes, Mr. Van replied, “Morning students are usually more quiet because they are all still waking up and usually don’t like starting their day with math. Truth be told, all classes have their moments of being overly energetic or being very subdued.” He believes one of the most important topics that he teaches is integers because the skills are continuously being built and applied to more complicated topics, along with that building tables and graphing is another major thing being taught. When teaching these lessons he really enjoys using OneNote. He uses his digital writing pen and pad and projects the note and examples onto the tv. From there, he links the OneNote notebook on Google Classroom so students have access to notes at all times.
Mr. Van enjoys teaching because he gets to interact with his students and hopes to have a positive impact on their lives. He enjoys joking around with the class and incorporating fun while focusing on math skills. His teaching style leaves students feeling confident in their math school and also happy, compared to the stress and confusion other teaching styles of math might leave. When asked what the best and worst things about teaching are, he said, “The best part is connecting with students and having fun conversations with them. The worst part about teaching is having to discipline students. One of my least favorite things is dealing with behavior issues and having to contact parents or admin about those issues.”
Mr. Van is a great addition to the staff at Vallivue High School, teaching them math skills and allowing students to view the topic in a positive light!
