Teacher

Andrey Viktorovich Morozov

Andrei Viktorovich grew up in a small town, the son of an engineer and a librarian. The house was full of books—not just fiction, but also popular science publications, problem sets, and physics and mathematics textbooks. His parents truly loved their son, but were consumed by work: his father spent days at a time at the factory, and his mother often spent late hours at the library. His upbringing boiled down to simple rules: "be independent," "figure things out yourself," "don't bother adults." Seventh grade: a friend who was a failing student. His buddy, Sasha, couldn't master fractions. Andrei began explaining them using examples involving pizza and money—and Sasha not only solved the problems, but earned his first "B" grade. The summer after ninth grade: work and discovery. To help his mother, he got a job as a laborer on a construction site. There, the foreman, a former engineer, demonstrated how geometry helps calculate roof pitches and distribute loads. Andrey's grandfather, an old railroad worker, loved to challenge his grandson with "brain teasers": how to divide the tracks between stations, how long it would take to repair the track, taking the weather into account Cake - Andrei Viktorovich had never received a cake for his birthday in his entire life.

In geometry, he doesn't force students to memorize. First, he writes out the theorem. He draws it, then suggests which part of the theorem leads to the next part. The students must figure out how the result leads to the proof of the next part, and so on, until they come up with the proof of the theorem themselves. After his teaching, they understand the proof of the theorem simply by seeing the theorem itself.

In algebra, he doesn't just force students to memorize formulas. He teaches them to think outside the box and understand all the components of a formula. He helps struggling students and is always willing to explain anything they don't understand after class. He offers free math tutoring after class. His approach is atypical: instead of focusing on successful students, he focuses on the slower ones. This sometimes even creates the strange impression that the poor students are his favorites.