Teacher finds the best way to math to teach 2nd-grade students — and it involves the Philadelphia Eagles

Every teacher has their own way to add a creative spin to their lessons. They might tweak a complex topic into a story or they may like to include props like puzzles, visual aids, crafts or gadgets to make the lesson more engaging, relatable and memorable. One mathematics teacher in Philadelphia is coming under limelight these days for an unusually creative method she uses for teaching. “Eagles-themed Education: 2nd-grade teacher Amber Kiley and her students have used Saquon Barkley’s rushing yards for lessons about math, football, and life in general,” reported Matteo Iadonist (@6abcMatteo) of 6ABC Philadelphia, after visiting Amber’s classroom in the Lawncrest campus of MaST Community Charter School II.

A week ago, The New York Times reported that the “Philadelphia Eagles” are returning to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years thanks to a record-setting NFC Championship.” Funnily enough, their historic win is helping Amber’s students to learn lessons about place values up to the thousands, as well as addition, subtraction and life in general, as Matteo wrote on 6ABC’s website. After today's lesson, the students at MaST Community Charter School II enjoyed a pep rally led by Eagles Cheerleader and 1st-grade teacher, Cassie Boone,” he added.

In an interview with Good Morning America (GMA), Amber revealed that this is her “first year being a teacher” and so she wanted to do something “special and different.” Explaining her process, she told the outlet, “I decided we'll start tracking his rushing yards and I didn't know how they were going to take it but they loved it what number are we adding.” In addition to this lesson, the students were also shown football highlights as a part of their curriculum. “The Eagle spirit runs high in this school,” the reporter at GMA said in the video as he looked around in Amber’s classroom where everyone was decked up in green Eagles jerseys.

The school also shared a Facebook post titled “Eagles Pep Rally at Lawncrest” with dozens of photographs depicting how the entire school was cheering for the Eagles, whether students or teachers. Some students were holding banners to support the Philadelphia football team while a group of teachers posed in their green jerseys against a backdrop of the screen that flashed the message “Let’s Hunt!”

Amber’s innovative method isn’t just teaching math lessons to the kids, but also inspiring them to cherish their community. “It goes even beyond the sports part of it. It's fostering that nice community environment here we tie our football into our community so they are learning about the community around,” the teacher told GMA. She even uses the innate qualities of the Eagles players to instill positive values into her students. She described that the game has taught her class “to be kind, to not be selfish, to never give up, to work as a team, to get going when things get tough and it’s not always going to go your way.”

The teacher’s “Eagles-themed lesson” was loved by people so much that the GMA reporter revealed that Fanatics had offered to give their striking black Eagles-themed T-shirts to every student in her class. As the interview concluded, the entire classroom exploded into an “Eagles chant” following Amber and Boone. “They’re now ready to be good at spellings too,” the GMA reporter said.