No more students for this year. I’ve spent a full day cleaning up and re-arranging my space for my incoming intern (for whom I’m very excited for).
Amidst the broken calculators and stray linking cubes, I found a note that a student wrote me from my first year of teaching. It served as a brief reminder of why I attempt to curate a community of mathematical action with my students. It isn’t the easiest way to teach, but has a limitless ceiling.
Dear Mr. Banting,
You called me a “genius” in math class once, and that night I went on the web to search up the word and its definition, and I came across this quote.
People are in the misconception that geniuses are born, rather than made.
After reading the quote about 5 times, I realized its meaning. I remember in grade nine I used to be impatient for math class to start. I would treat every question as a fun challenge, and along the way, if I didn’t get the answer, at least I learned something new. But for some reason, I don’t know, I lost my passion in the following years. And then you came along and challenged me with rich questions and I realized that somewhere deep down, it still excites me to be challenged with a math question.
In short, students like me need genius teachers like you to make a difference… Thank you for making a difference for me.
This, to me, cuts through the year-end mess.
NatBanting