Math teacher shows up on 12-year-old student's front porch with whiteboard after she asks for help

A math teacher is being praised after showing up with a whiteboard at the house of his 12-year-old student to teach a confusing math problem.

Rylee Anderson, a student in Madison, South Dakota, who is currently learning remotely after her school was closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, recently found herself struggling with the algebraic concept of graphing a function - so she emailed her teacher Chris Waba for help.

Rather than trying to explain the problem to Anderson over email, the 12-year-old’s math teacher decided to help in person, from his student’s front porch.

According to Anderson, she’d expected a call or email from Waba, but instead found him ringing her doorbell shortly after holding a whiteboard and a marker.

For the next 10 minutes, her teacher walked her through three math problems - from the social distancing safety of behind her house’s screen door.

"He made it easier to understand," Anderson told CNN. "I appreciated him coming over."

Speaking to the outlet, Mr Waba says he realised that Anderson was still having difficulties understanding the concept and, knowing that she lived right across the street, felt he could help her better in person.

"I'm a better communicator face-to-face than (on) the telephone and I think students learn better that way," Mr Waba said. "Teachers all across the nation have been thrown into a situation like this. I think we're all more comfortable being in front of our classes and that's where we'd rather be."

A photo of the moment was shared to Twitter by Anderson’s father, Josh, with the caption: "My 6th grader emailed her math teacher for some help, so he came over and worked through the problem with her on our front porch."

According to Josh, the response to Mr Waba's gesture, which has been liked more than 2,000 times on social media, has been incredible. "It has been non stop phone calls, emails, and requests from every top network across the globe, just like yours, to spread the good word about teachers," he told The Independent. "It’s amazing to see the power of social media, in a positive way. Very thankful to help promote teachers, without knowing anything like this was going to happen."

“Teacher of the year! This is awesome,” one person tweeted in response.

Another said: “Fantastic. Proud of our teachers.”

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