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SALT LAKE CITY — Sometimes being the class clown can be a good thing, especially if you are the teacher.
Abe Yospe, a first grade teacher in the Jordan School District, is not only an educator, he's an entertainer too. A morning in his classroom includes a game show, complete with buzzers and teams to review what the students have been learning. Mr.Yospe plays Alex Trebek, and his students are the contestants.
He also cracks jokes as he teaches, in an entertaining, engaging and educational way.
"I've always said that being a teacher is like being a comedian, only you can discipline your audience when they heckle you," he said.
Mr. Yospe has been teaching for eight years and moved to Westland Elementary at the request of the principal, David Vicchrilli, who loves Yospe's teaching style.
Being a teacher is like being a comedian, only you can discipline your audience when they heckle you.
–Abe Yospe
"He is engaging. He gets them excited about doing the things that help them to learn. He's a facilitator of learning as well as building a good foundation. So, he gives the kids the opportunity to explore, to understand, to put into their own style the things they need to understand," Vicchrilli said.
Mr. Yospe is an ALPS teacher, which is the Jordan School District's accelerated learning program that students test into.
"He motivates them. His style just motivates them and they like to learn," said Vicchrilli.
Mr. Yospe dresses up, does impersonations and characters. For example, Yoda comes out to help with writing.
"He has a big light saber fight with them and they have to be trained to be a Jedi before they can even come up and do writing before the class. So they all want to be picked to come up," he explained.
Thankful Thane and Halloween Dude appear in the fall. Quakerbott - a dragon puppet he got from his mom, who is a kindergarten teacher in the Salt Lake School District - is around at the end of the year to help with reading and math.
"(Quakerbott) will say to them, "Hey, grr, maybe you should try that one again!' And they take it better than me coming over," said Yospe.
Yospe likes comedy; his tweets (@Cheeseboy22) are followed by Hollywood and late-night comedy writers. He jokes about first grade, his family and about life, and says his mom is his inspiration.
