This page celebrates John Gnagey, who since 1978 has been teaching at Dunloggin Middle School, in Ellicott City, Maryland. His first students are now adults, but they can still hear Mr. Gnagey's advice: "Substitute! Simplify!" Year after year, new kids have learned to love Mr. Gnagey, and to love Math as well.
If you have ever been in Mr. Gnagey's classroom, you're not likely to forget it. Part of the experience is the physical environment he created, where everything around you invites thinking and exploring. But the major part of the magic is Mr. Gnagey's sense of humor, talent, energy, and the way he always makes you feel welcome!
All around the classroom is the number Pi, the Famous Transcendental. How far can you remember after the decimal point?
3.
141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944
592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647
093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559
644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165
... Well, if you want to see more go to Caltech's page with the first 50,000 digits of Pi
If you're more ambitious, search through the first 10 Million Digits of Pi. When you have searched to your heart's desire, go read a Math mystery poem. And if you're really hooked on numbers, visit the Fun with Numbers page, or play with other great links in Yahoo's Numbers Page
What's that sound that comes from Mr. Gnagey's classroom? It's the Gnagey song, complete with finger snapping sound effects, reminding us that when solving equations we should try to "Subs-ti-tu-te! Sim-pli-fy!" (Not a bad advice for life after 6th grade...)
If you share Mr. Gnagey's love for combining Math and fun, here are some neat Web sites to visit.
* The Magic Number page says: "I can read your mind"! Think of a number and let it try to guess it!
* MATRIX (MAthematical TRivia Xcursion) is a Math trivia game. Have fun!
* Math Puzzles challenge you in the exciting page maintained by Math Soft and MIT's Technology Review.
* Kids of all ages will enjoy the challenges in K-12 Problems, Puzzles, Tips & Tricks and have a great time in Math Forum: Middle School Internet Fun
* Just a Usual Day in Unusual School takes you into a 3-scene play where you're asked to use your skills in logical analysis. It's part of This is MegaMathematics, a site maintained by the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
* Interactive Math Miscellany and Puzzles - This site includes lots of games and puzzles, as well as pages dedicated to Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry links, reflections about Math, and much more!
* Recreational Math - For hours of Math fun, visit the many, many links in this page dedicated to the joy of Math! It includes fun Math sites from around the world, including a page just about Math Cartoons!
In Mr. Gnagey's classroom, when somebody says "Oops" it doesn't necessarily mean they made a mistake, or forgot something. Actually, it's more likely that they are talking about "order of operations..."
If you are a Math teacher (or if you just love Math!), here are some Web sites that will help keep your skills in perfect operational order.
* Math Archives is a huge site with all sorts of Math resources (including a searchable database of Math teaching materials, software and Web links organized by topic). Math Archives includes a Teaching Materials page with a treasure trove of teaching materials, lessons and tutorials, as well as links to a page exclusively dedicated to K-12 Teaching Materials!
* The Virtual Library: Mathematics is another site you must visit. It includes a special page crammed with resources for Math Education. Among many other interesting things, you'll find there a link that will take you to a page on how to teach and learn Math through the ancient art of Paper Folding!
* The Math Forum is a special place for Math lovers of all shapes and sizes. It includes a Student Center where students can Ask Dr. Math for help with a large variety of topics, at different educational levels (elementary, middle and high school, college). Students can also tackle the problem of the week, tailored to their educational level (if they can't solve it there's even on-line mentoring!), or work on teams to solve the problems in Math Magic. Every month a new Internet Math Hunt project is posted. Students can show their own work in the Student Showcase, which features "fractals, tessellations, way cool math projects, and the world's largest icosahedron!" In addition to the Student Center, The Math Forum also offers loads of teaching resources in its Teachers Place, as well as a page for Parents & Citizens interested in Math education.
* Other great places to find vast numbers of Math resources are the sites maintained by the Mathematical Association of America and the American Mathematical Society.
For those with more specific interests, here are a few examples of what you might find on the Web:
* The HP Telementoring project creates one-to-one e-mail mentor relationships between Hewlett Packard professionals and 5-12th grade students! Be fast, teacher registration for 1997-1998 ends September 30!
* The Geometry Center is a National Science Foundation center at the University of Minnesota, and if you're interested in geometry their page will keep you in great shape! For geometry buffs who want to move through some rather exciting spaces, two other sites to visit are Geometry in Action and the Geometry Junkyard
* Mac Tutor's Math History page is the place to go for those interested in the history of Math. Mr. Gnagey doesn't appear there, but if they created a Hall of Fame for great teachers we would vote for his inclusion!
*And remember… Constants are always there for you!
Decimal points decorated with Mickey Mouse images are all over Mr. Gnagey's classroom. But don't let this fool you, his is not a "Mickey Mouse" course... If you need a break from decimal points, go visit the real Mickey at the Disney web site.
Mr. Gnagey collects pens and pencils. And in spite of all those pens and pencils we borrowed from him and "forgot" to return, the collection keeps growing... If you're a collector, there are many Web sites to visit. For example, you'll find lots of references and resources in Bill Acker's Pen and Pencil page.
Mr. Gnagey loves milk and ice cream! No wonder, this was his father's business in Pennsylvania. When Mr. Gnagey was little he used to have tons of ice cream with his sister Carol and twin brother Eddie (don't confuse it with Edy's Ice Cream!). If you want to learn more about the Gnagey name, visit the "Extra" page, where you'll find out that Gnagey is the 84,527th most popular family name in the United States.
Mr. Gnagey's family is very important to him: his friends still remember when he missed the first day of classes in 1979 to be with his wife Judy for the birth of their first son, Billy. A few years later, Andrew was born. Both Billy and Andrew do their parents credit ... it must be all that milk and ice cream!
If you'd like to further explore the connection between Math and ice cream, go solve the problem in Algorithms and Ice Cream For All !
Do you have a story to tell, a picture to share or something special to say about Mr. Gnagey? Just send a message by clicking here. Your contributions will be posted on his electronic scrapbook to celebrate a special teacher and person!
Update: It is with great sadness that we received the news that Mr. Gnagey has passed away, after a brave struggle with cancer. He will live forever in the hearts of his students, and we hope that his example will inspire teachers and students everywhere!
This page is a work in progress and is maintained by Regina Bento. Please send comments and suggestions to rbento@ubmail.ubalt.edu. Page created on 9/21/97, updated on 9/24/97.