Go4IB

When old students get in touch like this, you know you have done something right 🤗

The well earned snacks are on the way!

The Beauty of Not Making Myself Important

There is a special moment, just before a student understands something.
It is quiet, almost invisible — like a breath gathering itself before moving on.
And that is where my work begins.

When I am with my students, it is not about me.
Not about my knowledge, my opinions, my path.
I step back, consciously.
Like someone opening a door and quietly moving aside so the other can walk through.

I become spacious and soft.
I become a room, not a direction.
A gentle, aware presence — a teacher, yes,
but one who makes herself small so that the other can grow.

In this quietness lies beauty.
The beauty of not making myself important.
The subtle, graceful restraint that allows learning to even happen.
Because the moment I am not important,
the student becomes important.
Their uncertainties, their questions, their discoveries —
everything gets space.

I meet them where they are — sometimes brave, sometimes afraid,
sometimes somewhere in between.
And I walk with them. Slowly, patiently,
step by step,
not toward where I think they should be,
but toward where they are ready to go.

Sometimes I know the way already.
I see the shortcut, the obstacle, the place they might stumble.
But it is not about me being faster.
It is about them finding their own pace.

And so it happens:
They walk.
They understand.
They begin to trust themselves with what they once relied on me for.

And I stand beside them, lightly smiling,
invisible yet fully present.
Not important —
and in that, I find my greatest value.

Me at the hardware store buying tiles.
A young employee asks if he should help carry them to my car.

I thank him and casually ask: “How many m² are in each packet?”
He starts calculating:
6 packets = 4.5 m², so one packet = … 🤔
I smile and say: “Don’t worry, even I as a math teacher can’t do it right now.”
He laughs and suddenly lights up.

Turns out: when he was younger, he quit school.
But now — with a son at home — he doesn’t want to tell him one day: “I carried tiles all my life.”

So he’s back studying for the highschool diploma 🎓
He pulls out his phone, shows me surd problems,
and there we are — standing by my car, doing math together.

Why now? Because he dreams of studying psychology.
And for that, he needs his diploma.

To my students:
Don’t wait until “later.”
Every equation you solve today brings you closer to the life you dream of. 💪

Me at the hardware store buying tiles.
A young employee asks if he should help carry them to my car.

I thank him and casually ask: “How many m² are in each packet?”
He starts calculating:
6 packets = 4.5 m², so one packet = … 🤔
I smile and say: “Don’t worry, even I as a math teacher can’t do it right now.”
He laughs and suddenly lights up.

Turns out: when he was younger, he quit school.
But now — with a son at home — he doesn’t want to tell him one day: “I carried tiles all my life.”

So he’s back studying for the highschool diploma 🎓
He pulls out his phone, shows me surd problems,
and there we are — standing by my car, doing math together.

Why now? Because he dreams of studying psychology.
And for that, he needs his diploma.

To my students:
Don’t wait until “later.”
Every equation you solve today brings you closer to the life you dream of. 💪

It's DEFINITELY FINAL time of the year!! Having some last minute exam prep and enjoying the little breaks between the sessions. Wishing our students the best of luck for the math exam tomorrow! You've got this!!!!