Lessons From 'Math Dude' Add Cool to the Equation
Podcasts, TV Show Aimed at Teens
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 4, 2007; SM08
Mike DeGraba is not your typical math teacher. To teach probability, he dresses up as a magician. For a lesson on multiplying polynomials, he becomes Groucho Marx. To divide monomials, he pretends to be a vampire.
What can you expect from a man who wears rock T-shirts to work and keeps his gray hair long and bushy?
His unorthodox teaching methods were just what Montgomery County school system administrators were looking for when casting the lead for their new math cable show and first-ever podcast. They call him the "Math Dude," and they're hoping his antics will get a 21st-century teenager interested in algebra.
"He's going to be a rock star," said Erick Lang, acting associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction of Montgomery County public schools.
Starting with the Class of 2009, all Maryland students will have to pass High School Assessment exams in algebra and data analysis, English, government and biology. School systems across the state are coming up with new ways to prepare students for the high-stakes tests. A chalkboard and textbook will no longer do with today's technologically advanced teenager, school officials said.
"We're looking at ways to make learning more interactive," said Jody Silvio, assistant to the associate superintendent for curriculum.
To film one five- to seven-minute episode, DeGraba delivers his lines in front of a green screen in a studio at the school district's headquarters in Rockville. Later, colorful computer-generated graphics are placed on top of the green screen. Sometimes, different backgrounds are added. In one episode about calculating the mean, for example, DeGraba looks as if he were standing in a bowling alley even though he never left the studio.
"It puts that cool factor to it," Silvio said. "It's that aspect that makes it attractive to 'tweeners.' "
"This is the medium for kids," said Aggie Alvez, the school system's director of communications. "The kids love the graphics. They love the irreverence of Mike. For some kids who don't get it, it's about the way it's presented."
Students -- including those in other counties and school districts -- can download the weekly shows from the school system's Web site http://www.mcpsmathdude.org. The episodes can also be seen on iTunes. In Montgomery, they air on the school system's cable channel three times a week.
"It's algebra on demand," Alvez said. "You can watch it 24-7. You can watch it once. You can watch it 100 times."
School officials are tracking how often students are tuning in. The show on calculating the mean has been downloaded 348 times, said Chris Cram, operations manager for Montgomery County Public Schools Instructional TV. Each episode covers a topic around the same time it is being taught in the classroom.
DeGraba, who taught math in the school system for 31 years before retiring in June, is not new to TV. For 14 years, he hosted "Homework Hotline Live," another cable show produced by the school system.
He has become something of a local celebrity. In addition to appearing on TV, he occasionally plays his bass guitar at local bars. He has been recognized at restaurants and grocery stores. Once, a parent approached him at FedEx Field in Prince George's County.
"People would say, 'You're that Math Guy on TV,' " DeGraba said.
When school officials asked him to host the podcast, he wanted to call himself the Math Guy. But the Math Guy title was already taken by someone on National Public Radio. So he settled for Math Dude.
Although the show is produced by a team that includes a producer and graphic artist, DeGraba writes all the episodes and chooses the costumes. When he's not in character, he wears one of his many T-shirts. Although it's a frumpy look, he puts a lot of thought into it. "I have it all mapped out so I'm not wearing the same one," he said.
DeGraba, 52, decided to become a math teacher because his own teachers left a strong impression on him. Although he is retired, he still occasionally works as a substitute teacher.
"I was good at math in high school," he said. "I had a couple of teachers who really made it alive with humor."
The Montgomery native tried to do the same during his years teaching in the county's schools.
Each October, he would host a Rocktober celebration and let students bring in posters of their favorite bands. "It had nothing to do with math," he said. "But I would turn around and get the lesson in."
When teaching the Pythagorean theorem, he made up a tale about Pythagoras running a deli in Athens.
"Kids remember that," he said.
Now he hopes they will remember his shows.
Each episode has gotten more technically sophisticated. On a recent day, he and his team shot the episode on multiplying polynomials. The scene would feature him as himself, talking to himself dressed as Groucho Marx.
"I said the other day, 'Can you put me and me on camera?' " he said.
It turns out they can.
First, they shot him as himself speaking his lines in front of the green screen. Separately, they would shoot him as Groucho. Later, the technical team would meld the two images on a computer to make one scene. "The green screen is a powerful thing," Cram said.
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