Hi, I’m Allison. Welcome to mathacognitive.
About Me
I was that girl. Smart, good in school, and somewhere around sine waves and that teacher I didn’t like but had two years in a row, I decided I wasn’t a math person. I was a social sciences person, I was going to save the world, and I didn’t see how calculus was going to help with that.
Years later, a volunteer gig in a GED class showed me there was joy to be found in teaching adults and the intellectual and interpersonal challenge of convincing them that they were math people. Or at least, capable math learners.
One career change later, I teach math, but really I think about brains and learning, about anxiety, efficacy and metacognition. In short, about the human side of math class
About my class
My students left school as teenagers, before that they mostly went to schools that struggled and where they struggled. They’re back as adults, and balancing work, kids, family, life and school. They’re determined (and awesome, in my humble opinion) but they’re not necessarily convinced they can learn math.
My job is to convince them otherwise (and then help them learn enough math to get a high school credential) in about two-hours per week with each group of students.
In the process, they’ve taught me about second chances, doing hard things (and how fun it is to achieve them), and more about teaching and learning and what it takes than I learned in grad school.
About mathacognitive
This blog is about the human side of math class. How students learn to be math learners, and what they teach their teacher in the process. Welcome.
This is my place to reflect on the big ideas teaching raises (and the things my students teach me), to share teaching ideas and resources. And — I hope — to virtually-connect with other teachers and learners (of math, of adults, of life).
Email: mathacognitive [at] gmail [dot] com