I know it has been a minute but whoa has time flown by... here is the latest Math Memoir from someone who isn't on anyone's radar as a "math person" but helps us to see that we are all math persons since we do math even when we don't realize it and sometimes when we do and we are working on something fun. This is from Emily Haxton, Junior AP English Language & Composition and  Sophomore Honors English, at Lewis & Clark High School in Spokane, Washington, USA. I think it’s safe to say that most people assume English teachers are not the best math students.  I’ve actually heard my colleagues say as much, so it’s no wonder the stereotype exists.  But I am an English teacher who embraces math in my classroom.  It can be extremely helpful for some of my concrete-sequential learners to think about language structures and arguments as formulas, so I’m often coming up with math analogies to help solidify their understanding.  Since I’m comfortable with ma...

When I was in 6th grade, I hated math. We were studying the lateral are of different figured and I felt like I coulf understand a thing because my teacher was HORRRIBLE. Years past and I started liking algebra but nothing really special until last semester of 8th grade where a new math teacher came to our school who totally changed my view towards math. Since 9th grade, some friends and I became really interested in math and we constantly asked this new teacher to show us more math (he is a matematician, currently getting his master in physics so he rocks). Eventually, we created the math in our school. It was sooo cool to have like minded people solvig problems and learning more advanced stuff. We, well, did not win anything due to *stuff* but it was an awesome experience and I actually got through all rounds in the National Olympiad but I could not particiapte in the last one so yeah, I won nothing hehe.I am currently in my 2nd semester of Electrical Engineering.

 I am loving getting to read everyone's stories... keep them coming.

 This Math Memoir was submitted by @golda.abs on instagram.

I will be starting a series of Math Memoirs from people who have submitted them to me via Social Media, email, and students, former and current, who have given me permission. I have students write their math memoir in my classes to start school so I can get a feel for a student's math identity. Write about your math experience. Start with your first memory learning math (my mom used to play card games like Crazy 8's, Memory, and Rummy with my brother and I) and continue up through today. How did your experiences with math mold how you feel about math and your math abilities to this day?  Here is my math memoir. Stay tuned for others from around the world!

What started on my personal FB to teach my friends about mathematicians as a distraction from the unknown of COVID school 2.0, a.k.a. 2020-2021 School Year, has turned ONE! In that year, I have been able to not only teach my friends about mathematicians but to help inspire teachers around the world think about how mathematics is represented to all students so they can see themselves as "Math People." I have also got to talk to many cool folks on IG from around the world who just LOVE math like I do. People who are inspired to see mathematicians aren't all young savants from wealthy European families during the Enlightenment... they are old, young, gay, straight, black, brown, good at school, the bad kid in school... they are just people. We have grown to be 1000 followers strong (ok, 999 as I type but still give me this). There have been 357 posts celebrating mathematicians throughout history, as well as honoring #pride, #aapiheritagemonth, #blackhistorymonth, #womenhisto...

Mathematicians are often touted as the smartest people on the planet but then you hear about the best and brightest winning the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Medicine, Economics... Peace... but not MATHEMATICS. I haven't really thought too much about it until I started to research for this post. I knew Mathematicians had their own awards and just left it at that. Well, let's take a look at what was up with Alfred Nobel and then talk about the biggest math prizes. Source: Wikipedia Alfred Nobel Born Alfred Bernhard Nobel 21 October 1833 Stockholm , Sweden Died 10 December 1896 (aged 63) Sanremo , Italy Nobel was a Swedish chemist and inventor. He holds 355 patents with dynamite being the most well known. After being criticized for making a fortune off of the production of armaments, he decided to leave his fortune to the Nobel Prize Institute to change his legacy. His last will and testament set aside monies to establish the Nobel Prizes. These prizes were to b...

Even if you are not a teacher you probably know that the fundamentals for a good classroom are to develop relationships and to build a safe environment for students to take risks. In the math classroom, students are coming in with loads of math baggage that are both traumas and successes. Getting a student to trust you to take care of them as they try hard and new things and to support them through mistakes is a daunting task. Here are some of the things that I do that help students see themselves as mathematicians in my room (and hopefully out in the real world) as well as trust me to take care of them as they grow as mathematicians. Set your intentions in your introduction and classroom décor. Student Created Einstein Bio Student Created Mary Jackson Poster I want the students to see mathematicians on the walls that are both famous but also diverse so that they can make connections with the people who created the math they will be learning. Often Math is presented as this magical thi...

The news of Wally Fell being chosen by Jeff Bezos last week had me wanting to learn a little bit more about the ladies of NASA who trained to be astronauts but never went. When the US government first started their race to space they believed that men were most physically suited to what they anticipated would be necessary in space. In addition to that, Dwight Eisenhower thought that military pilots would also have "the right stuff" due to the training they had already went through. The initial narrowing of the potential applicants came out of the desire to keep costs down because testing and preparing a lot of candidates would be very expensive. William Lovelace was a flight surgeon and  chairman of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science who developed the testing standards for NASA's male candidates. He was also curious how women would do on the same tests. In 1960 he brought in Jerrie Cobb, an accomplished pilot, to be the first woman...

This week let's look at the men who supported Katherine Johnson during her life. James Goble Col. James Johnson Born in 1913 in Marion, VA Died in 1956 in Newport News, VA from a Brain Tumor Worked at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. Taught at Carnegie High School in Marion, VA and Tazewell County High School in Bluefield, VA. Married to Katherine from 1939 until his death. Had 3 daughters: Joylette, Constance, and Katherine. Born on July 2, 1925 in Whaleyville, VA Died on March 13, 2019 in Newport News, VA Attended Hampton Institute where he earned his commission to the Army and served in the Korean Conflict. Worked as a Postman in Hampton, VA for 40 years. Volunteered with ROTC at Hampton University. Married to Katherine from 1959 until his death. Source: Newport News Daily Press Obituary, Wikipedia Source:  Newport News Daily Press Obituary, Wikipedia

If you have ever read about mathematicians or physicists from the late 19th and early 20th centuries you have heard of the University of Gottingen. Created in 1734 by decree from King George II of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, classes started in 1736. These early classes were held in a nearby monastery or in the professors' homes. While the university has had a reputation of educational excellence for most of its history, including 44 Nobel laureates, it has not been without a few scandals. One such scandal was when 7 professors, Die Göttinger Siben, were expelled for protesting the revocation of the liberal constitution by the King of Hanover in 1837. Die Göttinger Siben included the Brothers Grimm who were philologists at the university. During the early 20th Century German became the international academic language with many PhD dissertations having German titles even in English speaking countries. It was considered that your academic training was only complete once you ...

Wives of Carl Friedrich Gauss Johanna Osthoff Friederica Wilhelmine (Minna) Waldeck Born: May 8, 1780 Died: October 11, 1809 in Brunswick, Germany Married Gauss in 1805 Had 2 sons and one daughters. Died in child birth with the youngest child, Louis, who died a few months later. Her death sent Carl in to a depression. Born: April 15, 1788 Died: September 12, 1831 Johanna's Best Friend Married Gauss on August 4, 1810. Had 3 children: 2 sons and a daughter. Source: Wikipedia Source: Wikipedia

Ever wonder why we have learned about all of these genius MALE scientists and mathematicians in our classrooms? Or why so many of the same people seem to have discovered everything? The reason is the Matilda effect and to a lesser extent the Matthew effect. Source: Wikipedia Historically women were discouraged from education and it was especially believed that Math and Science were not fields suited to women. That didn't stop women from wanting to study math and science (if it were me it would make me wonder what was so special and want to prove them wrong). Women who studied math and science were called witches and often killed for their work... if you don't know the story of Hypatia you should google her. Even after women were "allowed" to study and research at Universities the men they worked alongside received the awards and recognition. Marie Curie receiving the Nobel Prize with her husband was the exception not the rule. In fact, many women were accused of plagi...

I totally dropped the ball last week when I missed Sunday without introducing you to another math spouse. Here are this week's spouses: Spouses of Mary Somerville This is Admiral Greig, Lieutenant Greig's dad... I couldn't find any pictures of him so this will do. Married Lietuenant Samuel Greig, a cousin, in 1804. He didn't believe women should be academic. Mary studied without his knowledge. He died in 1807. They had one son together. Dr. William Somerville Married in 1812 to another cousin, Dr. William Somerville. She was his second wife and he her second husband. Inspector of the Army Medical Board and member of the Royal Society. Physician for the Chelsea Hospital from 1819 on. Encouraged Mary's studies in all fields. They had 3 daughters and 1 son. He died in 1860. 12 years before Mary. Source: Wikipedia

I don't know about you but every time I see this meme, shared on Social Media, my blood boils. I think it says a lot about our current culture and state of education but that is for another day. Instead I want to talk about how much we use Algebra and don't even think about it. I would love to hear if you have examples to add to my list. When you calculate the time you need to leave your house or need to wake up so that you make it to your destination on time...  ALGEBRA! When you perceive the distance to something you are trying to grab or the location something will drop if it is thrown or falls. This is a calculation that even a 16-month old baby is capable of doing instinctually. It is also  ALGEBRA! When you channel your inner Kobe to make a garbage can shot from across the room. Your brain is calculating the distance to the can, air resistance, the weight of the trash, the trajectory, and the force required. But your calculations don't stop there. Your brain is also e...

A few years ago, I came across the blog post, The Mathematicians Project: Mathematicians Are Not Just White Dudes , and I was inspired.  I took this idea and challenged my math peers at the high school I teach at to try and incorporate more mathematicians in their daily lessons. I then created a project for my classroom based on this blog post. I want to share with you my version of the project as well as examples from a student (with permission) during 2020 quarantine. Feel free to take use as is or change for how you need it. I would love to see how you adapt it for your classrooms as well as any student examples. When I first did this project the kids clamored to be the first to get the "big names" (Einstein, Euler, Turing) although I did notice my students of color took more time to find mathematicians like them. I had Brahmagupta and Mary Jackson chosen that first year. I also noticed the ladies in my class mostly chose women (Emilie du Chalet, Hypatia, Sally Ride). I h...

In addition to my daily Instagram posts, I want to use the blog to feature cool maths and maths adjacent things. Because I am a maths teacher I will also feature classroom ideas too. Let's start with Mathematician Spouses. I will feature a different one each Sunday.  First up, the 2 wives of Albert Einstein . Mileva Marić Einstein Elsa Einstein Löwenthal Einstein Born December 19, 1875 in Titel, Austro-Hungarian Empire (Present Day Serbia) Died August 4, 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland Parents were Milos Maric and Marija Ruzic-Maric Married Albert in 1903 and they were divorced in 1919 a few months before he married Elsa. Three Children with Albert: Lieserl (she may have died or was given up for adoption, it is unknown), Hans Albert, and Eduard "Tete." Second woman to finish a full program of study at the Department of Mathematics and Physics at Zurich Polytechnic. Was a peer of Albe...

Hi! I’m Megan McLean, a Math and Engineering teacher at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. I’ve been teaching for 13 years. In that time, I have taught in the US and also in South Korea, which was an amazing experience. In my former life, I was a Mechanical Engineer having gotten a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho (GO VANDALS!). I became a teacher because I wanted to inspire students to see themselves as mathematicians and to help develop in others the love I have for math. A couple years ago, I realized that whenever I would talk about the mathematicians who created the math we were doing in class, there were a lot of similarities in the people that I was displaying on the board. In my class, no two students were alike. But every mathematician I was displaying looked the same. Not long after that, I attended a talk from an engineer from Turkey. She spoke about how, as a female engineer from the Middle East, that she was often not taken serious...