by Alyssa Mata
On March 1, 2016, Mrs. Kaelber, a former business teacher at Woodbridge High School, came out of retirement to “school” her son in teaching, marking the quickest return to active employment in known history, followed by an even quicker return to retirement.
Mrs. Kaelber said she put her retirement on hold when she heard that her son, Mr. Kaelber, who teaches in the math department at Woodbridge High School, was having a difficult time explaining why the students had to learn Common Core math. Though she insisted her retirement was only on pause, she came prepared to finish out the semester, saying, “I know he’s a grown man, but he’s still my baby.”
Mr. Kaelber said he didn’t want his mother to come back to teach, but he was left with no other choice when he realized his students “weren’t getting it,” and he couldn’t explain the overly complicated methods. Madison Brown, a student in Mr. Kaelber’s block 1 class, said, “Mr. Kaelber is such a cool dude, but when he does a problem on the board with all of these extra steps, his face turns red, then he starts to stutter, and then it all goes downhill from there.”
Mrs. Kaelber taught two of her son’s classes while Mr. Kaelber sat in the back of the room taking notes. “For the first time,” he said, “the lattice method almost sort of makes sense, and I guess I can see why people would use it. Kind of.”
Although this is Mr. Kaelber’s third year teaching, he isn’t embarrassed about having his mother teach his classes. “I love teaching, but these superfluous steps put me in a bad light with my students and my colleagues. That’s why I had to call the best, my mom.”
Mrs. Kaelber was honored that her “baby boy” called her, but said, “He needs to learn how to handle things by himself. I can’t baby him forever.”
Reportedly, the first lesson went well, but since it was a Block One class, most of the students were asleep. While teaching the second class—and Mr. Kaelber—Mrs. Kaelber noticed the blank expressions on the students’ faces and allegedly said, “ It’s useless. I give up.” She distributed PARCC sample problems and waited for the bell to ring before reinstating her retirement and wishing her son the best of luck.
