You may have heard of or even be familiar with the name Dr. Rankin. He is our school’s Algebra II and Algebra III teacher. When I was a freshman, I had no idea who this guy was. But I heard about him all the time, whether it was from upperclassmen, or kids in my grade. Everyone had something to say about him. Now, this year, I’m taking Algebra II Intensified, and I completely understand why.
Before taking his class, I knew him because of his famous, or rather, infamous rants. He has the tendency to launch into spiels about things, whether it be about alligators, nuclear power, the education system, or taxes. They are known far and wide, and many people think they are the best part of taking his class. He launches into them out of the blue, unless someone has heard about his opinion on something and goaded him into talking about it. Now that I am in his class, they are the highlight of my entire day. There is something about his personality that makes the intensity of the rants hilarious. I think it probably has to do with how out of pocket they are, and the fact that you never expect them. It’s something that you have to experience yourself to fully understand the greatness of.
The second thing I heard about him was his peculiar teaching style. Instead of just teaching lessons in class, he also gives the option of taking the class essentially completely online. At the start of the year, I was excited about that, thinking I would have a free period. I was humbled after about a week, remembering how lazy I was and how much I hate math homework. Lucky for me, homework is only weighted 5% in his class. But, in order not to fail, I have to do it all anyway.
His different teaching style also introduced Quick Checks, which are quizzes you take every class period to test you on the concepts you learned last class. They are supposed to be extremely easy, and he even offers study guides for every single one. If you do the study guide, you can retake the Quick Check and get more time to take the quiz. You’d think, with this extremely generous policy, everyone would be acing these. You’d be wrong. Last year, everyone in my grade was constantly complaining about the most recent Quick Check that they’d bombed. It turns out those people were not doing the homework. Why do it if it was weighted so little? Because you’ll fail every single quiz, that’s why. Take it from a kid I know who’s failing because I see his papers given back covered in more red pen than pencil.
When asked if he thought it was Dr. Rankin’s fault that he was failing, he said “Not at all…I do homework, just not enough. He’s a great guy for staying after school literally everyday for kids who are failing because of themselves. He’s entertaining and I appreciate the fact that he prepares us for other math classes. Also, I’m not failing, just struggling. Greatly.”
My classmate, who asked to remain anonymous, has the right idea. If you’re failing Dr. Rankin’s class, it’s through a fault of your own. He hands out daily opportunities to improve your grade. You can retake any quiz at either Archer’s Period or after school every day. Earlier this quarter, I fell behind because of Thanksgiving break and bombed a few Quick Checks. Because of his amazing retake policy, I managed to pull my grade back up to an A. Every single time I walked into his room to retake a quiz, there was a line of about five people at his desk. He took the time and care to thoroughly answer and help every student in the line, even if they were just there to turn in a missing assignment. The fact that he is willing to spend a large portion of his day helping the people who are struggling in his class says a lot about his character, and what an amazing teacher he is.
