The math whisperer

Last month, a Welsh teacher waited with baited breath while his class of 30 students counted down together towards the moment when they could open the result of their math exam. When it came, a chorus of gasps erupted from the class of mostly minority, low-income and ESL students as they realized every single one of them earned the same score -- A+.

Francis Elive, a teacher at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff, Wales, has since been hailed as the "math whisperer" since he managed to guide each and every student to the highest possible grade. According to teaching assistant Jo Kemp, "We call him the math whisperer because he instills the belief that they have practiced the hardest math they will ever have to face, so why be scared of an exam? It's the belief that they absolutely can do it, and the children think it's magic."