There's one final student that I have taught five times over the past five years... and his name is Joseph K! However, Joseph took a different route than all my other 5-time students. I taught Joseph Math 8, Math 9, Math 10, FOUNDATIONS 11, and Pre-Calculus 12.
So how did Joseph end up in Pre-Calculus 12 after taking Foundations 11? He decided in March of last year that he wanted credit for Pre-Calculus 11. So, armed with a workbook and the on-line videos, he taught himself the entire course in a few months... while also completing Foundations 11 (incidentally, Joseph figures that - since he used my Pre-Calculus 11 videos - I actually taught him SIX times).
Which brings me to the two things that I will always remember about Joseph:
Oh well, I may have failed to elicit a lot of effort from this guy, but I have always enjoyed having Joseph in my class. I love his calm, laid-back nature and good sense of humour. I wish you all the best JK - hope you find an area of study that inspires you and that you will discover the joy of working hard in pursuit of a elusive goal. Sorry if I made my math classes too easy for you...
So how did Joseph end up in Pre-Calculus 12 after taking Foundations 11? He decided in March of last year that he wanted credit for Pre-Calculus 11. So, armed with a workbook and the on-line videos, he taught himself the entire course in a few months... while also completing Foundations 11 (incidentally, Joseph figures that - since he used my Pre-Calculus 11 videos - I actually taught him SIX times).
Which brings me to the two things that I will always remember about Joseph:
- this guy is VERY good at math. Oftentimes over the past five years, Joseph would come up with a way of solving a problem that I had never seen before. He picks things up very quickly and makes logical connections. Very impressive!
- this guy does not like to do a lot of work. Or, at least, I was never able to inspire him to do a lot of it. Every year I say to my grade 8's: "the most important thing to be successful in Math is to do your homework. You MIGHT make it through grade 8 without doing any homework, and you MIGHT make it through grade 9, but sooner or later not doing homework WILL catch up with you". I think that I will need to add "unless your name is Joseph K" to the end of this little speech from now on. I'm not sure how he does it (maybe he pores over the math videos at home every weekend?) but somehow this guy has made it through five of my math courses by doing (by my best guess) less than 20 hours of homework total.
Oh well, I may have failed to elicit a lot of effort from this guy, but I have always enjoyed having Joseph in my class. I love his calm, laid-back nature and good sense of humour. I wish you all the best JK - hope you find an area of study that inspires you and that you will discover the joy of working hard in pursuit of a elusive goal. Sorry if I made my math classes too easy for you...
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