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stoutfellowOne of my geometry students is a young Chinese fellow. He has struck me, mostly by his demeanor, as having a good head on his shoulders; today, after presenting a number of theorems, I tossed out a calculation problem that could be solved using them. About half the students got out paper and started scribbling; he just gazed at the blackboard. After a short time, he piped up with the correct answer.
After class, he came up to me with a geometry problem - nothing we'd do in this class, but still, geometry. He wrote an equation on the board and told me the book told him it was true, but he didn't see it. I made a fairly obvious suggestion as to how to proceed; he replied, "Yes, yes, I did that." I made a please-proceed gesture at the board, and he went to work. When he stopped, there were two terms left; one was what he wanted, and the other... wasn't. He said, "This has to be zero, but I don't see why." I pointed out that there was one more term he hadn't worked out. He went to work on that one. I smiled, nodded, made encouraging comments - I could see what was coming. Finally, he said, "That's all I can do." I smiled and nodded at the board, and he looked again. "Oh. Oh! THEY CANCEL!" By this time I was grinning like a monkey. He thanked me profusely, wished me a good evening, and headed out.
There are times when I love my job.
After class, he came up to me with a geometry problem - nothing we'd do in this class, but still, geometry. He wrote an equation on the board and told me the book told him it was true, but he didn't see it. I made a fairly obvious suggestion as to how to proceed; he replied, "Yes, yes, I did that." I made a please-proceed gesture at the board, and he went to work. When he stopped, there were two terms left; one was what he wanted, and the other... wasn't. He said, "This has to be zero, but I don't see why." I pointed out that there was one more term he hadn't worked out. He went to work on that one. I smiled, nodded, made encouraging comments - I could see what was coming. Finally, he said, "That's all I can do." I smiled and nodded at the board, and he looked again. "Oh. Oh! THEY CANCEL!" By this time I was grinning like a monkey. He thanked me profusely, wished me a good evening, and headed out.
There are times when I love my job.
