My Favorite Teacher: "V" Is Vanderveer

In high school, a teacher can either be hated for passing out failing grades or adored for all their hard effort in teaching their students math. Although Mr. Timothy Vanderveer from Hesperia High School was hated, adored and looked like the basic nerd with a pocket protector, he became my favorite teacher for his dedication and challenges he presented to his students. I will never forget how to graph an absolute value equation because it will always form a "V for Vanderveer," as he engraved in our heads. Mr. Vanderveer encouraged strong learning skills, respected his students' intellect, and taught us the balance of studying and fun.
Vanderveer always pursued to teach all his students a strong ways of learning when studying. He would hold his fingers up vertically and say, "if the big bad wolf were to huff and puff on this wooden fence of knowledge, all the hard effort would be destroyed." He would then interlock his fingers horizontally and would say, "if the big bad wolf were to huff and puff on this brick wall of knowledge, it would be a stronger way of learning." Although I believed math was the easiest subject in high school, I felt I only learned enough to get through the class, but learning how to study building my knowledge like a brick wall was helpful. Helpful enough for me to remember calculus four years after when helping my sister with her calculus homework now and remembering calculus when I took it once again in college.
My favorite teacher was the head of the math department, graduated with a Ph.D. in math, and a grader of the calculus AP tests, but still respected the intelligence of every one of student and encouraged questions, even gave up his lunch hours for students to come in if they had any questions. He was my math educator for two years of my high school experience. He was my educator of math analysis and calculus. He valued math so much that the math analysis class was not called trigonometry class because he felt there was more than just memorizing trigonometric functions before learning calculus. He shared his college experiences and made sure we know as much as possible to not be teased by our math professors like he would. Although he would encourage questioning, he would expect his students to put the effort into finding out how to solve it, testing our knowledge to their extent until he would interrupt with the answer.
One rule Vanderveer taught his students was that there is time for fun once the important stuff like studying is over with. Vanderveer would value my band and colorgaurd on our half-time performance at every Friday night football game and still had his notes organized for the next week of class. He shared his college studying experiences and how he valued his wife for standing by his side during crazy hours of studying. He also valued his two kids in which he was highly proud of their success and even thought of us as his children he could further educate. Our success was his happiness. His words of encouragement always lifted my spirit and inspired me to strive to do my best in anything. Although most his students disliked the expository writing Mr. Vanderveer assigned for most theorems, I appreciate the extra challenges he provided for his students. The lessons he taught me, such as challenging oneself as well as having pride in my work, will always go with me. I someday hope to repay Mr. Vanderveer by completing my education, coming back and honoring him for all the priceless lessons he has taught me throughout the time I had the pleasure of taking his classes.