MADISON, Alabama — Mr. Nate Pahman is a math teacher at Liberty Middle School in Madison, and he has over twenty years of an experience as an educator.
"I was surprised when you walked in," Mr. Pahman said. "I seen my boss first, and I didn't see the camera so I was very surprised."
He teaches Algebra in a way that his middle schoolers can understand. His goal is to make learning exciting for his students.
"If any of their classes is boring, they're not going to want to learn about it," Pahman explains. "One of the things I make a point of doing is collecting up their cell phones before we start class. Because I tell them, their education is number one to me, and then learning the focus of the day should be number one to them."
His students don't mind giving up their phones because they have so much fun in class.
"When you walk into class you get excited to learn, and you kind of feel like it might be a fun day here," student Alex Adkins said.
His students enjoy interacting with each other during class.
"He really gets our peers involved as well," student Lora Prince said. "So, when we have a question, we don't just have to ask him, he lets us ask our peers as well. Which is really helpful."
Along with teaching Algebra, Mr. Pahman is also a chess instructor.
Principal Shannon brown says working with Mr. Pahman is an honor, ""He truly understands that until you can get to the heart, you'll never be able to get to the brain, and he's definitely mastered that."