Hectic life….

Yes, the title speaks for all…. It’s a hectic week. I sleep only 4-5 hours every day, and I need to work my way better in managing classes. I’m teaching grade 7 elementary math, 9 additional math, and 11 higher level. Yeah…. It’s kinda boring materials for grade 7, however I do have some difficulties to convey my messages to all those kids. Well, just imagine when you are talking the other 24 students are also talking. Who hears who? haizzz…. i really hope that things can get better.
Grade 9 additional math is a bit more fun to me. Well…. Revising my knowledge on trigonometry and playing with those identities are not bad at all. Also, the kids are good. However, I need to keep focus and not being too soft to them…. Else, I will endanger their “math” lives… haha….
Grade 11 higher level math is the most beautiful so far. Haha…. I am always happy when it comes to this. Not only because the materials are more challenging, but also because of the student! Yes, the student, not students. Haha…. I only have ONE student, and she is smart. Very smart indeed…. She learns fast and talks less. How I wish those younger kids were like her. She has the skills. Well, I myself always think that math is not just a subject for everyone. Math needs skills, skills that can’t be bought or sought, but skills that were already there since the beginning. If one wants to do well in math, yes they can practice a lot, but if one wants to do VERY well in math, no, no such kind of practices can make you into a very good mathematician. Math is about talent (I am talking about real math, not school math). And this girl has it. Unfortunately she kinda lack of experience, so she still doesn’t know how to relate one topic to another and thinks too straight. Compare to her, I might not have as much skills as she does, but I am pretty sure if we met in a math competition and we were in same grade in high school, I would have beaten her. Nah…. I’m not really sure…. But what I’m trying to say is she’s still raw. She still can’t recognize various tricks in solving problems. She learns fast, very fast, faster than me indeed…. But her ideas are scattered everywhere in her mind currently, so she doesn’t know which one to choose when it comes to tricky questions. So now…. What I’m trying to do is pushing her forward. Bring her up to higher level, and give more and more simple questions with tricky solutions. Haha…. With this, not only her who will improve, but also me…. I can learn and sharpen my instincts more…. But I have to be careful; this is her life, not mine. It was my dream to be a good mathematician, but I need to know her dream. I don’t want to push her too hard and make her lose her appetite of doing math. Math should be enjoyed, not pursued…. Math should be fun, not stressful. Math should bring happiness, not sorrow. Math should keep me alive at this moment to deal with all. Thank God, for His greatest gift….. and I again am falling for math….

-L