You gotta love someone whose first name and last name rhyme! Kudos to Kai's parents for their inspired choice.
I first taught Kai in Math 8 and have done so every year since... except grade 9. As hard as it is to believe now, I remember that Kai was not the easiest of students to teach in grade 8. He was obviously a good math student but he had a tendency to socialize too much, get others wound up, avoid working in class, etc. I am sure it was a classic "bored in Math because he finds it too easy so he acts up instead". I remember having a talk with him one day about how "you're a real leader in this class. Kids look up to you. If you behave, if you work... they work.". It really made a difference... for about a whole week!! hahaha
Anyway, it's not like he was a disaster grade 8 student but he was certainly not super quiet and reserved... which is how Ms Sidhu described him to me in her Math 9 class. WHAT THE HECK!!!! How did this happen?? I remember clearly her saying to me: "some of my grade 9's are so withdrawn. I can hardly get them to talk. Like Kai". Huh!?!?!?!
WHOA!!!!!! Gotta interrupt my own blog post here. I am listening to music on iTunes and look at which song RANDOMLY just came on. I have over 28,000 songs in my iTunes library and THIS song just happens to come on when I am typing Kai's Student of the Week post?!? Scary!
It's actually pretty amusing watching Kai and Lucas C work together in Math class now:
Kai (intense): What did you get? What did you get?
Lucas (laid back): I got root 2 over 2.
Kai: NEGATIVE! NEG-A-TIVE!!!
Lucas: Wait. I don't think so.
Kai: YES!!!!!! IT'S NEGATIVE BUD-DY. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?!?
Lucas: Oh.... yeah. Negative.
Kai: SHEESH!!!
I believe Kai was the first member of the Class of 2020 to call me "Wadge". As in, dropping the "Mister". This seems to happen to me, wherever I teach. It happened all the time TWENTY years ago in Squamish and it persists to this day. Kai was an early adapter of this. I'm not sure if I should be offended (no respect?) or flattered (less formal?). Either way, I notice many of you have joined Kai in this trend now.
It's ALWAYS been great to teach you, Kai. Even in grade 8! You were NEVER rude or disrespectful; just a typical grade 8 boy. Having said that, I am super proud of you for the sort of student and person that you have become. You are so personable, intelligent, and determined... I know that great successes await you in the future. I consider myself very lucky to have taught you (four times!) and I wish you well. Love ya, K.L.!!