They were working together in a group on the other side of the room.
“Do you know how to FOIL?” I heard one of the students ask another.
“No,” she said.
Well, that’s not true. She knew how to FOIL once upon a time, since she passed Algebra 1. Nevertheless, that was two years ago, right?
“So,” he began to explain. “FOIL is…”
At this point I got distracted by a question from someone else, and the group’s conversation faded away. Then I heard her speak up.
“Oh my god, I did it!” she said. “I did FOIL. Mister, I know FOIL!”
Of course, this was only the first part of solving the problem, since this is Algebra 2 not Algebra 1. I heard the other student continue to teach her…
“Ok, now after FOIL, what you do is…”
Sweet, sweet music.