This week's Student of the Week is Anthony H. Who has a picture of this young man that you could send to me?

Anthony has come a long way over the past few years. I remember when I first met him. He wanted to challenge grade 10 Math and move straight to Math 11. He came to see me around 10 times to discuss this option. "Wow, this kid's eager" I thought to myself.

So he wrote the challenge test and did well so he ended up switching to my PreCalculus 11 class. FIRST DAY in my class. FIRST TEN MINUTES in my class: I'm at the front, teaching something (about parabolas, no doubt) to the entire class, when suddenly I sense this presence behind me. Like, RIGHT behind me. I turn around and there is Anthony. He's a foot away from me and he has his workbook in his hands and I'm super confused.

Me: Uh... yeah?
Anthony: Can you help me with #3? I've decided to start on the homework.
Me: What!?! Now?!?
Anthony: Yeah. It's a bit complicated. How do I...?
Me (interrupting): I'm teaching the rest of the class right now. SIT DOWN!!!

I remember sharing a few incredulous glances with a few students in the first row over that one...

Rough start but I've come to love having Anthony in my class. He's got a wicked sense of humour and he's not afraid to tease me (as much as I tease him). He's hard working and responsible. Interesting and easy to talk to.

He's also sneaky: while the rest of you put your hand up and wait for me to come to you for extra help (which sometimes takes a long time), Anthony picks up his books and comes straight to me (effectively budging to the front of the line). I suppose this is the same behaviour he exhibited on his first day in my class. Oh Anthony...!

Thanks for all the laughs, Anthony. You are a real character and a bit of an iconoclast. Put your smarts to good use and keep on smiling! All the best to you!

This week's Student of the Week is Fernanda R. Thanks to Seraphina for the photo. This is quite possibly my favourite photo from my entire teaching career. I think I'll put this up on my wall when I retire (honestly). And it's not even staged! 100% authentic!

For strong Math students, it's kind of smart to finish PreCalculus 10 when you are in grade 9. Then you can do PreCalculus 11 in grade 10, PreCalculus 12 in grade 11, and Calculus 12 in grade 12. One Math class in grade 12 is a lot easier than two, after all.

Well, this was the path that Fernanda took (I believe that she took Summer School after grade 9 to get ahead) and I'd say it was a good move for her. The BAD part of it, however, is that it meant she wasn't in MY Math class the last two years. This is NOT good. Having Fernanda in my class is definitely my preference.

Happily, Fernanda is back in my classroom this year... she's one of my Peer Tutors (you lucky grade 9's!). So thankful to get to spend time with you again (every second day), Fernanda.

Fernanda may be a small body but she is a BIG personality. She is clever, she is funny, she is charming, she is inquisitive, she is oh-so-very kind. One of my favourite traits of Fernanda, however: she is one POWERFUL young woman (the world needs more of those). She doesn't take crap from anybody. She stands up for herself. She speaks her mind. She is confident and poised. I love it!

Fernanda, I know you often spoke longingly of your home in South America. I'll be honest: I feared you would leave our school before reaching grade 12. I am so happy that you have remained at KG all these years and I am truly thankful to have gotten to know you over that time. May you never lose your "spark"... it's hard to define what I'm talking about, but it's very rare and very special. Love you, F.R.!!

The word “factoradic” jumped out to me when I peeked over a new math friend’s shoulder and saw it in the title of the paper she was revising. What a great word! I had no idea what it meant.

My new friend showed me with an example: the number 2019 is 2(6!)+4(5!)+4(4!)+2!+1. Or more formally, it’s 2(6!)+4(5!)+4(4!)+0(3!)+1(2!)+1(1!)+0(0!). (That last term is a little silly, but we’ll want it later.) Whew, that’s a lot of digits and punctuation marks! The exclamation point is of course the factorial symbol, not an expression of excitement about numbers. For a positive integer n, n! is the product of the integers 1 through n.
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To write a number factoradically (or in the factorial number system, as some people call it), you express it as the sum of multiples of factorials with the rule that you can’t use a coefficient larger than n for the n! term. That is, you are not allowed to write the number 6 as 3(2!). You’d have to write it as 1(3!) or just 3!.

Mention the word “math” and visions of high school arithmetic, thorny trigonometry and those prickly calculus derivatives often come to mind. But the world of math goes far beyond chalk-etched numbers and quadratic equations on a blackboard. It’s also an art. Yes, an art.
And the National Museum of Mathematics is counting on its latest exhibit, “Math Unfolded: An Exhibit of Mathematical Origami Art,” to show math buffs and art fans alike how geometry, algorithms and math formulas can create exciting works of art through the science of origami.

In a competitive global market, careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are continuing their meteoric rise in strategic importance, making America’s long-documented math phobia more of a liability than ever. If math-capable students shy away from careers involving calculation and computation, that weakens the U.S. workforce and hurts its position in a global economy.
Math anxiety is a nagging fear of or apprehension about math, and it affects the classes college students select and the careers they pursue. 

This week's Student of the Week is Gray G (that's him on the left. Thanks to Kaili who provided me with this awe-inspiring snapshot of the two of them. Look at the raw emotion! The bold self-expression! The passion!)

I felt bad about missing Gray's birthday last week when I was absent due to illness. So it's only right to make him Student of the Week this week (gotta make it up to him somehow).

I remember when I first taught Gray. It was PreCalculus 10 but he was in grade 9 (I'm not exactly sure how that happened, to tell the truth). He was pretty much a goofy grade 9 guy (as many of us were in grade 9). Missing homework assignments, forgetting workbooks at home, laughing at all sorts of peculiar things (and at inopportune times). He wasn't "trouble" in any way, but I wouldn't call him the world's greatest scholar.

You've come a long way, GG! 

Now Gray is one of the leaders of our (wonderful) Foundations 12 class. He answers questions confidently, he does super-well on Math tests, he shows up every day and on-time no less! I am so thankful that he is in my class!

One thing that has NEVER changed about Gray is his cheerful disposition and friendly personality. Gray has always been so obviously comfortable talking to me about... whatever. Some students seem nervous when they talk to teacher (or any adults, for that matter), as if they need to be super careful about what they say. Not Gray! He's super easy to chat with; interesting, opinionated (in a good way), a good listener. 

Gray, It's been very rewarding to see you grow into such a confident, intriguing, and self-expressed guy. May you never lose your big, bold smile and your sense of humour! I wish you success and happiness in the years ahead (and I'm confident that you will find it)!