Math teacher, weather man, and music connoisseur, Ted Arison’s thundering personality creates an environment that allows for students to enjoy math class.
“The environment is always very positive and he always encourages everybody to speak up if they’re confused,” Carmen Huber, senior, said.
Though many students know Mr. Arison as the friendly math teacher who stands in the hall with a bright smile every day, many do not know what led Arison to his C hallway classroom.
“He makes jokes about everything he makes math funnier, he adds humor into the math” Hudabiya Yousuf, junior, said.
While in high school Arison always enjoyed his math class but never expected himself to become a math teacher. Arison continued his studies at NIU originally majoring in pre-business due to his father being an accountant, yet his interest changed when he took a meteorology class.
“I have always been interested in weather my whole life, I had this general education weather class my freshman year and I LOVED it,” said Ted Arison, teacher, said “I mean I follow weather like people follow the Cubs or Soxs”.
Arison continued his education in meteorology and graduated with a major in it. Unfortunately, the meteorology job field is slim so Arison thought of other jobs he would be interested in.
“I had a math teacher when I was in highschool who made me think ‘hmm, I could do that,’” Arison said.
Arison went back to school and achieved another bachelors in mathematical education and was at Plainfield Central ready to teach. Arison has always prioritized creating a classroom that students can be comfortable in but still learn the material that is being taught.
“His teaching is really good. He is super in depth and will slow down and explain something further if you need to,” Brie Plowman, sophomore, said.
After a few years of teaching, Arison inherited the AP stats class and was inspired to be able to truly teach students the material.
“When Mrs. Bond retired, she wanted me to take over AP stats, and mind you it was a big step, if you’re a teacher you don’t simply walk into an AP class you really have to put some time in” Arison said.
Arison makes sure to try and create a classroom where students leave truly understanding the material that was presented.
“The best features are how he teaches, he teaches in a way others could understand. He does it visually instead of letting us do it on our own and he gives us breaks and shares his album of the day” Angelina Ayala, sophomore, said.
Along with teaching students about math, he also introduces new music through his “album of the day”. Everyday he spotlights an album to his classes and he informs them about the album’s history and features of the music.
“The most memorable thing is probably when he does his album of the day everyday, he not only tells what the album is but also gives us a little background info,” Huber said.
Arison still shows his love for weather by having a weather segment within the Fielder Friday and informing his students about it frequently.
“He’s a meteorologist if you don’t know and he just loves the weather and it’s very interesting to hear him talk about the weather,” Plowman said.
While Arison does teach students about a range of topics, he still just wants all of his students to understand and succeed.
“I feel like sometimes maybe I am doing something right in the world,” Arison said.
