" Our class had a lot of fun working on these stories.  Here are some of the comments my students made about the project:

•  "It was fun that we were able to choose the way we got to present our story."
• "It was a really fun experience."
• "We had lots of freedom about how we presented our story, without judgement from our teacher."
• "We got to make up our own stories."
• "It was fun to incorporate writing and math."
• "I enjoyed that we focused on Indigenous knowledge."
• "I felt like we were doing something productive."
• "It was fun because we could do more math in a more creative way."
• "We got to do things we've never tried before like editing a movie and doing a powerpoint."

And from my own point of view, I loved the interdisciplinary aspect of the project and that my students had more ownership over their work.  It did take up a lot of time, but I definitely felt it was worth it.  I would do it again for sure!"

"Thank you so much for coming to Brockton to share your presentation with us today. It was such a delight to connect with you and to hear your stories again. I know hearing from our staff and students who participated that they also felt the same way. I look forward to all future opportunities to connect with you in the future!" 

"Veselin, I cannot thank you enough for sharing your time and knowledge with us.  It is always a huge treat for me to have you in class, and an important reminder and model of what purposeful, powerful, engaged teaching looks like.  When you see the reflections the kids wrote, you will see how much they enjoyed it, too. You are an inspiration." 

"Hello Veselin, your presentation and Math stories were inspiring to us teachers. The students "loved the way he made it personal" and enjoyed the patterns. The patterns in West Coast First Nations Art was well received by my Aboriginal students! I hope to see you in the fall. The whole team is enthusiastically IN for another workshop, just send us the date! Hope to see you in the fall!" 

"Thank you so much Dr. Jungic. The students and teachers thoroughly enjoyed your puzzles and word problems. It’s always so wonderful to have an expert come in and show their passion about their specialty and get others excited about it too. The students loved your toys and all the interesting interns you brought along as well. Thanks again and hope to have you back again soon." 

"Thank you so so much for your time and teachings today.  You are amazing with children and had them all so engaged. I really enjoyed watching you teach today." 

"I really enjoyed your math presentation and the students did as well.  It was amazing to listen to their thinking and reasoning. Thank you so much for getting them excited and engaged in math!! I will probably be getting in touch with you about having you come back next year!" 

"Hello Dr. J, Thank you so much for sharing your Math tricks with our class. They were engaged and challenged on how to look at math through a different lens.
Hopefully we can get to the tub of math toys next time. Thank you again for your mastery." 

"I wanted to tell you how much our teachers and our students appreciated your visit today. It isn't often that we have an entire school excited about Math and you have inspired us to think about Math in a different way. I'd like to share with you a story that comes from our Kindergarten classroom. When I asked the students if they enjoyed their Math class today, a Kindergarten student told me quite firmly that, "We didn't do Math class today because today numbers were fun!". 

"It was lovely to see that even in the grade four-five class students that struggle with Math shine today with their problem solving ability. You are always welcome to return to our school and share more of your wonderful wisdom with us!" 

“The activities were interactive, engaging, and easy enough for everyone to do, yet challenging enough to keep everyone attentive…When making patterns in their stepping stones in Art the next morning, one of the boys yelled out…”Hey, this is Math!” 

“The kids loved the idea that math could be in anything, and could be anywhere. They started to say things like “I have a pencil, what is the math of my pencil?" … They were obsessed with finding the math in everyday objects and places for the two days following your visit.” 

“The amazing thing about this presentation was how engaging it was for ALL students – the Math whiz, the average student and the Mathaphobic.” 

"The Mobius strips were really cool"
"I’m thinking now about going to SFU because they also have a really good dance program"
"It was fun, I really enjoyed it"
"It was great"
"It wasn’t really about math – well, it was but it wasn’t that sort of math"
"I liked the way he did the puzzles"
"The Mobius strip activity was fun"
"It made me think about careers"
"It was different than I expected (better)"
"The problems were good because they looked hard to begin with but then there was a simple solution"
"Most kids don’t like math so they weren’t really looking forward to it but it ended up being really fun because it wasn’t math math, it was real-life math"
"He was really funny – he didn’t just talk in a boring way"
"It was really good even though it was a bit slow at the beginning because there was a lot of talking"
"He needed to explain why the Mobius strips were math"
"The Mobius strips were lots of fun but I would have liked to know more about why they were so crazy"
"I would also like to know more about the shapes at the end – it would have been good to learn something about them"
"He worked really well with everyone and I liked his accent"
"Maybe a bit shorter when talking about SFU"
"I liked how he didn’t give the answers – he let everyone say answers and he didn’t say “this is this” and “that is that”
"I liked that I asked if we could do another multiplication question and he had the number puzzle and some people figured it out and others didn’t and that was OK"
"The rabbit puzzle was really good because you can count things you can’t see"
"It was really messing with my brain! (Mobius strips)"
"The games and hands-on parts made math fun"
"I learned about bigger numbers (I didn’t know there were numbers larger than a billion)"
"The SFU conversation was good because I want to go to university"

“Today in math I learned something big, that math can actually be fun!” (Cassandra, student) 

“The workshop ... helped me know that math isn’t only about addition and subtraction and all that stuff, that its used in every day life.” (Andria, student)


“Thank you for teaching me math can be fun!” (Oceanna, student) 


“I never thought I would say/write this, but ever since you came to visit, I have been a bit more into mathematics/math than I used to.” (Sarah, student)

“It was really good, especially the Small Number and the Old Canoe story.” (Sukhleen, student) 

“I appreciate the hands on activities shared but more importantly, the positive Aboriginal role models that present.” (Bethany, teacher) 

“It was interesting to see how you visually demonstrated how the concepts of symmetry were important to the First Nation’s cultures. Our class is made up of about 40% aboriginal students and the emphasis you made on the various aboriginal cultures was a connection that we talked about later on that day.” (Brad, teacher) 

“[The camp] … helped me gain new friends that are actually some of the closest people to me I know, even if we’ve only been friends for a month.”

 "The program taught me that I had the ability to do math the entire time I just didn't believe that I had that much potential."

"I want to continue to learn more and increase my knowledge of math. My expectations of myself are higher and I know that I'm capable of being brilliant student."

"The program taught me that English isn't just about reading and writing, it's about speaking what you believe and showing how you feel."

"This summer has been great I have learned so many new things and made many new friends. It has been an awesome month! I wish would been going on longer."

“I just wanted to say how great the math conference was; absolutely first class!! The sessions were well run, and the way it was structured with hands on activities alternating with great lectures was great.” (William Harasymow, Aboriginal Education Assistant, Frank Hurt Secondary) 

“Thank you so much for the day. I found it to be extremely stimulating. Our grade 11 student asked if he could be considered to go again next year when you hold the workshop! That says you accomplished what you set out to do.” (Betty Wilson, Sliammon Nation) 

“One of the best results was the talk between the students on the drive home. They spent at least 45min discussing what university they want to go to, what they want to study and what they want to do for a living. The conversation was so rich.” (Justin Moore, Math & Science Helping Teacher, School District 33) 

“I truly enjoyed myself. I felt I learned a lot. They inspired me to go to a University. I hope to go to SFU because it seems like a great school.” (Gwen, student) 

“Throughout the day we listened to many different speakers, each one presenting a different perspective to math and science. The presentations made me think outside the box and think of different careers involving math and science.” (Maggie, student)