I’m Allison Krasnow, a math teacher at Willard Middle School in Berkeley, CA. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to humanize mathematics.
Pi Crust
An accomplished novice wonders about the challenges of depth over breadth. For musings on parenting and technology, check out bedtimebits.wordpress.com
Pi Crust 
Hi Allison,
I saw your Mom yesterday and she forwarded your work to me- I am very excited to see what you are doing- if you remember- I always thought you should be a Math teacher!!!
It is fun to enjoy your passion which comes across so clearly.
I would love to see you the next time you are in town. I am retired from D65 and am coaching first year principals- it is a very well designed program and I love it. Please – keep doing these wonderful things that give confidence and skills to students who need that everyday.
Best wishes,
Barb Hiller
Would Ms. K be willing to put an RSS feed link on the old blogarooni (it’s under Dashboard/Appearance/Widgets)? I’ll guarantee one additional reader per post.
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“Dear Mrs. Krasnow,
My name is Tiara Vasquez, I don’t know if you remember me, but I definitely remember you as my favorite math teacher in my entire school career. In seventh grade, ’07-’08, you taught me Pre – Algebra and then the following year you taught me Algebra I. I have tried to relocate you a few times before this with no success until today, because there has been something I’ve always wanted to tell you since I graduated high school.
You have always been my number one favorite math teacher for many reasons. Out of all of the math teachers I have gotten placed with, honestly, you are the only one who once taught me that math does not have to be all seriousness. We can have fun with it and make games out of it. From there I have learned to look at math in more of a way of looking at a puzzle or riddle that just a problem needing to be solved. Because of this outlook, I have managed to enjoy my subsequent math classes. Another reason why you have always been my favorite math teacher is because you always made math enjoyable to learn and apply to everyday activities.
Shortly after starting my high school career, I fell in love the idea of being able to construct floor plans and ideas for residential buildings and making by hand large furniture to put inside the houses. This opened up the possibility of wanting to study engineering and architecture. After deciding that architecture was something I wanted to do, I decided to take some AutoCAD classes and Woodshop classes to see how I liked dealing with mathematical projects like building tables, or configuring parts for an even bigger project. Something inside me would click and a light bulb went off the moment that I would start to take the measurements and figure out how pieces fit together, or how to make them fit together using MATH! I got more enjoyment than anything else being able to use my knowledge of math to create something beautiful that someone else can use. A sort of proud feeling would wash over me, making me think, “Wow, I made something with my own hands, using a couple of tools, and some equations.
Since finishing high school, I have decided that I want to study carpentry, interior design, and AutoCad instead of Architecture itself (mostly because I couldn’t pass Physics with anything above a C or D). There’s a carpentry union that I am thinking about submitting an application to so I can study in the workforce with hands on projects and finally attend my dream school, Wentworth Institute of Technology, in pursuit of a Bachelors in Carpentry and a Masters in Interior Design.
It’s because of you that I crave to achieve these goals. You taught me to enjoy learning and to enjoy mathematical problems, as well as to enjoy solving my mathematical problems. If I had never learned to enjoy math or the concept of learning so much, I would not have come this far. Thank you,
Tiara Vasquez
This post is excellent! Great ideas, for using both Edith students and colleagues. In the interest of sharing, routinely during the year (about twice a month), my high school students and I gather at the front of the room on the floor, and read a biography of a current working mathematician from this book: Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World by Mariana Cook. It’s a giant book (length by width, NOT thickness, though. Each mathematician has one giant black and white photo on a whole page, the Asianet page being their one page of text. Nice short snippets, then talking a little bit about how they came to be mathematicians, and also what is like to be one. It’s a very diverse group of women and men, including maybe 4 or 5 ish black math professors (and two are father and daughter.
Thanks for your great blog entry, Allison.