Math teacher reaching out through remote learning and song parody

You will never mistake Dan Dougherty for a vocal music teacher. But there’s no mistaking how dedicated the Lincoln Southeast High School math teacher is to his students and to making the best of the current situation.

Last weekend Dougherty recorded himself at home singing a parody of “Sweet Caroline,” by Neil Diamond, with the title switched to “Remote Learning.”

“The inspiration is my students - trying to do different things and talking about math class,” said Dougherty, who has taught at Southeast for 35 years. “I have always tried to do fun things with my math classes over the years.”

This isn’t the first time he’s used music to grab the attention of his students and keep them engaged. Other notable hits over the years include “I Graph the Logs” (“I Write the Songs,” by Barry Manilow); “Math Man” (“Piano Man,” by Billy Joel); and “We are the Teachers” (We are the Champions,” by Queen). 

In his latest release, he belts out lines such as, “Reeee-mote learning...bah bah bah...learning never seemed so good,” while his two daugheters and wife provided backup, “So good! So good!” Also, “Quarantining...social distancing...emailing me...ZOOMING YOU!”

He also used to create MTV (Math TV) VHS tapes, where students would create their own music videos about math. Doughterty still has former students contact him about those tapes they created.

“I have been blessed to work with great colleagues, students and parents,” he said, later adding: Go LPS!”

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