Author Archives: mapons

As I’d wager is true for many mathematicians, I was ‘good’ at math growing up.  From learning to add and subtract in elementary school all the way through AP Calculus, nothing but A grades. Though I earned my fair share … Continue reading →

The different parts of a person’s life, such as family, friends, and careers, don’t exist in a vacuum. Disruptions in one area can have massive effects on another. For me, my personal life had almost catastrophic repercussions on my mathematics … Continue reading →

The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) turns 50 next year, and in celebration a commemorative deck of cards has been created. Using one side of the cards, several different variations of a mathematical game called EvenQuads can be played. … Continue reading →

I almost ended my study of mathematics after my bachelor’s degree. I am now grateful for the series of circumstances and decisions that led me to graduate school in mathematics, and ultimately to a fulfilling career at a school that … Continue reading →

In March 2020, I received news that seemed at the time to be a once-in-a-lifetime jolt.  A jolt that, as I soon would recognize, struck almost every teacher on the planet.  My instruction, including my finely honed classroom management and … Continue reading →

One of my earliest memories of mathematics is the struggle I faced in second grade learning subtraction.  I understood the concept and what I was supposed to do but I continually struggled with speed tests and doing computations in front … Continue reading →

Teaching in spring 2020 was like nothing I have ever experienced in my twenty-seven years in higher education. A coronavirus unknown prior to December 2019 swept the globe, spreading the infectious disease COVID-19 in its wake. First detected in the … Continue reading →

In 1987, I was married with two children and was teaching math at a U.S. military high school in Germany. Two years later, in November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and with all the political changes, I expected that the … Continue reading →

With the rapid spread of COVID 19, our junior year of college went from collaborating with our friends, in-person, on a daily basis, filling up whiteboards in the Math Resource Center, and stopping by our professor’s office to gain clarity, … Continue reading →