KW: You left school work only to return to it recently.

FA: The work was valuable to me, I felt fulfilled in it, but there were also difficulties. Other teachers reacted skeptically to my methods that were not contsantly repeated templates. And, I also had dreams of traveling. I quit my full-time job and started running the Math by Pan Fran platform with math courses. It was supposed to be something like Netflix for math, where anyone can learn with me with pleasure and at any time. I'm still developing it, I plan to add a course for final exam students soon. During this time, I traveled around the world, visited schools in different parts of the globe, and conducted lessons with mathematical tricks shows. It taught me a lot and gave me tons of energy. Meanwhile, students in my channels kept growing. I could see that my method was effective and increasingly popular.

KW: It’s hard to encourage young people to learn mathematics. What are your experiences?

FA: It's easier when you break stereotypes about it. The subject is perceived as difficult, its teachers as strict, often requiring specific methods. I teach that a good method is the one that leads to the correct solution. I don't want to limit kids' creativity, I believe it's their great resource and should be nurtured.

KW: Nothing about you resembles a stereotypical teacher, you have many other passions. How do these worlds connect for you?

FA: I don't look like a nerd, I don't wear thick glasses, I have a sense of humor and I'm crazy about sports. I translate this into mathematics: I say that it's for the brain what PE is for the body. It doesn't pay to take shortcuts. I can see from my students that I'm an authority figure for them, so I try to promote valuable life attitudes: good relationships, movement, healthy lifestyle, intellectual development. Sometimes I also lack time for all of these, but it's worth it, so I keep trying to combine it all.