Mastering Your Math Mindset - a Conversation with Math Coach, Mona
“I’m just not a math person” is a common expression, but have you ever wondered why? Chicago teacher & math specialist, Mona, shares how she shifted from being a math avoider -> math master! With 15 years of experience as a classroom teacher, Mona shares some insights from allowing her students to struggle & apply problem solving strategies “thinking like mathematicians”.
A fellow podcaster, Mona’s passion in sharing her joy of math literacy with her students and other teachers has evolved since she made her own math discoveries as an educator (who knew multiplication as repeated addition could spark so much creativity!). As Mona says, “Teachers’ most powerful tool is themselves”.
This episode covers fostering a growth mindset around math in the classroom, transitioning into her new role as a coach, and some helpful tourist hacks on fun foods to try if you visit Chicago (hint: it’s not the deep dish pizza!). Mona’s can-do attitude in tackling math is contagious & will make you want to really dive into your math talks as a classroom teacher. Tune in if you are looking for some new ideas around approaching math literacy, & stay for the fun tattoo stories ;)
Mona’s links:
Instagram: HelloMonaMath
Website: MonaMath.com
Podcast: Honest Math Chat
Christine
Welcome to Making the Grade An Education podcast for current and former teachers to share notes, define success, and assess their own happiness in the classroom and beyond where your hosts, Christine, in Georgia.
Georgia
The problems in education may seem endless, but so are the possibilities. Listen, laugh, and leave our episodes empowered to define your own success as an educator and an individual.
Georgia
Hello fellow educators and welcome to Making the Grade podcast. We are your host, Christine Georgia, and we are so excited you're tuning in to share your teacher voice. Today we will be talking with our guest, Mona, about math, trauma, math stories and embracing the power of struggle. Mona is a former math avoider. She's a teacher and coach in Chi Chicago. Stick around to learn about the meaning of Mona's tattoo, where she got her passion for math and all about the time she chaperoned a pretty crazy overnight camping trip.
Christine
Teachers. Have you ever heard one of your students say, I'm not a math person. Or maybe you've even said it yourself. Today's guest, Mona, is here to talk about seeing yourself as a mathematician. As Mona says, math is more than just answer seeking, but instead it is a way of thinking.
Georgia
Thank you so much for talking with us today, Mona. We're so happy you're here.
Mona
I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Georgia
Great. So we are really excited to dive into all the ways you're helping the education community, everything you have to say about math and empowering mathematicians. I know that's a touchy subject for a lot of people, so we're excited for you to kind of break that down and make us and all our listeners understand how fun math can be. But before we get into all that, we love to play. Would you rather wondering if you've ever played or if you're up for playing?
Mona
I love it. Yes, let's play.
Georgia
Okay, cool. It's kind of like our little, our thing. We, we can't let it go. We love it, but it's so fun. We end up learning so much about our guests and doing it and it gets us thinking too. So good. Okay, I'll, I'll go first. I, I don't know a ton about, you know, the teachers that you're working with right now as a coach. We're gonna get into all of that, but hopefully you can answer this. Would you rather, do you prefer coaching teachers who work with the younger kids or teachers who work with older kids, like high school, middle school?
Mona
Ooh, that's a good one. It's a good one. Would you rather when like you can't pick one, right. That that's when you know you have a good one. You know, I think it's really interesting to work with, this is gonna be a, I'm not gonna be able to pick one. I'm gonna say that the, I'm gonna say younger because I have a child, I have a five-year-old who's gonna be in kindergarten. I have a, I have a three-year-old as well, but, and it's just so fascinating to watch him learn and when you're in those like young classrooms, you really see kids like start to blossom, but also helping teachers like, you know, use what their kids are bringing to the classroom. I think oftentimes we're like, you know, giving kids a lot of instruction on what to do in math when like if we pause and we ask them a question, they really know a lot about math. Like just innately just from sharing with their siblings and you know, being out in the world. So I love the little ones, but I have to give a plug for the older kids too, cuz you can see a lot of growth in their mindset with the older kids when you like start to work with them and create a more exciting and empowering math class. So that's my answer And non-answer.
Georgia
No, I, I get it. I feel like I'm always like, well I would put this, but also maybe that one, I think that's a typical Would you rather answer? But it's a really good answer. I mostly worked with little kids and I know what you mean about like, I don't know when they just kind of get something and like the lights go off and they're just so excited about it. I'm sure that can happen in the older grades too, but something about little kids like understanding something for the first time is pretty cool
Mona
And they're not like afraid to hold back on their excitement about learning. I think when you get older, kids are more like masked.
Georgia
Good point. It's like, yeah, they're, they're a little more self-conscious. They're like, oh, is it cool to like this? I dunno.
Mona
Yeah,
Georgia
Kids not at all.
Christine
Definitely. Awesome. No, I I I love that. I, I feel like the, the excitement of little kids is just like unparalleled and so that makes sense. All right. I was just thinking about when, when I, the last time I went to Chicago and the things that I did there. Are you, are you, do you eat hotdog? Yes. Do you do the whole like Chicago hotdog style or do you just like it regular because I remember I tried my first one there that hot, the Chicago style and I thought it was delicious. But do you do that all the time or is that just like a Taurus thing? Taurus
Georgia
Thing thing.
Mona
Well people here are really serious about no ketchup on hotdog. Like real serious. So yes, I eat ketchup on my hot hotdog. So I guess like, yeah, I think that a Chicago style hot dog is so good. Like peppers and a whole pickle on a hot dog is perfect and there's something about that bun with the poppy seeds that's very good too. So yeah, if a Chicago style dog is offered to me, I would go with that probably. But I don't care if there's ketchup on a hot dog. I'm not that serious.
Christine
I do kind of remember that being a thing. We went to, I remember we got, we went to this like fancy hot dog spot and I was trying to remember the name of it but the line was so long and like you could get gra on a hotdog and I went with, oh yeah, two of my friends
Mona
Hot dogs. Yeah. You went to hotdogs?
Christine
Yes. Okay. That was it. Yeah. And I just remember being like, oh wow, this is a lot of options. But I, yeah, no it was cool. It reminds me of in Boston, like the like Italian sub or Grindr just with like all the hots and everything on it and some of them will have that same bun and it's just delicious so. Okay. Well I'm glad we know your take on processed meats.
Georgia
Wait, that made me think of another good one and it's also food related and you might know where I'm going with it, but deep dish pizza or non deep dish pizza.
Mona
Oh yeah, it's like a debate in my house too cuz my husband loves deep dish pizza
and I'm just like, hmm, it's a lot of cheese. So yeah, I'm more, I'm more not deep dish pizza. Hmm. What people don't know is the big pizza lu maltis and all the like places that make deep dish Chicago style pizza also have really good thin crust pizza. Not like New York style, like thin crust cut into squares. So try that, try that. If you're in Chicago and you don't want deep dish,
Georgia
I am definitely more into that.
Christine
I love square slices. Yeah, like Sicilian style. That's like a big thing around Boston too. You can just get like a square slice from a lot of popular spots. Now I want pizza. I
Georgia
Know also, I do not like ketchup on my hotdog. I know nobody asked me, but I wanted to throw that out there. Good to know.
Christine
Ketchup.
Georgia
I, I like mustard, I'm a my hotdog but no ketchup, so yeah. Do you do
Christine
Pickles though? You love pickles?
Georgia
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Something about, I'm just not a big ketchup person in general. I don't know, just french fries guess.
Christine
Well I'm glad we covered all that important stuff but yeah, getting back to back to the classroom and how, how did you go from avoiding math to loving it and now empowering students and teachers to see themselves as mathematicians? And by the way, we just really love that mindset and you know, just this idea that you not only are practicing math or doing math in the classroom because you have to, but because you are a mathematician and thinking that way. So I just love that.
Mona
Yeah, well I feel like in our classrooms we spend so much time talking to our kids about like, you're a reader and you're a writer and someday you're gonna make a real book and here's our prac. You know, all those things. And when our little kids write their first book we're like, yay, let's have a writing celebration. You know, cuz you're a writer. But that joy is just not in math. And so I really think that like with more attention to, you know, being intentional about our math culture, we can have that same kind of excitement. But that wasn't your question. Your question was how I went from math avoider to doing what I do now. Right. Which is, yeah, like I think it's exactly like that void was in my life. Like I didn't experience joy in math as a student and I feel like, okay, so in math, as we all experienced, it was very much like, here's how you do it and now go do it.
Mona
Right. And there was a lot of rules and a lot of steps to follow and I'm just not a rule follower. I'm not a person who likes to be told what to do. I like to be creative, I like to talk, I like to have my own way, which my three year old is exactly the same, so I'm in for it. But I'm like, I never, I just never found my place in math. And so I adopted the, like I'm not a math person mentality that like I think a lot of girls and a lot of kids adopt. And so I say math avoider because I still went to college, I still have a master's degree. I still had to take all the math, right? Like so I did it, but I just avoided really doing it. I just followed the steps, I figured out how to get through, how to get my A's and move on, right.
Mona
But I never really understood math until, and this, I used to be embarrassed by this story, but I never learned math, truly understanding math until I taught third grade, which previous to that I had taught first and second. And you know, like math is pretty basic, but what I, when I reflect back on it now, like I didn't fully understand, you know, the progression of understanding of addition and subtraction. And when I was standing in front of my third graders, there was one day and I was talking to them about multiplication and we were talking about arrays and groups and I was just like, what multiplication means groups up. And I just had this whole like identity crisis of like, why didn't anybody teach me like this? You know, why, why didn't anybody tell me multiplication was group sub, it'd be a heck of a lot easier in my life.
Mona
So yeah, so I really kind of, it all started when I was teaching third grade and I had a really great math coach and she showed me a different way of teaching math that was centered on students thinking and let them be creative and let them talk. And it was really then about taking all my best practices from all the other parts of my day and putting them into math and being really intentional about that community we created and why I kept doing it, right? Because math wasn't my favorite part of the day either. I kept doing it because I saw that it was working, kids were excited about math, they were, you know, engaged. I was having less behavior problems. So I was like, okay, we're onto something here. And yeah, so that's where I'm at now. And now I'm like, everybody needs to know this. Like, I can't keep this to myself anymore. This was probably like four or five years ago. I was like, okay, enough. Like it's in my classroom, it's working, everything's going great. How do we get this out to everybody in the whole day? The whole dang world is, I like to say
Georgia
I love that. That's, that's so interesting. And I think you just, you truly do hear it so many times people being like, I'm not a math person, I don't like math, math is hard and you don't really hear that about other subjects. Right. But math is so, it's a bad rep, it's important. Yeah. But it's so important. Like I often think about it now for some reason it's all I'm thinking about when we're traveling or I work in real estate a
bit and like how important math is and, but it's, it's like you said back in the day when you're taught like this is, this is this theory, you must memorize it. You're not really taught how to like memorization embed it. Yeah. Like not embedded into your life. And you know, working with little kids, especially you're, you have to teach them about letters and numbers and everything really in a hands-on way. Like, you know, this is why we're doing, oh you're using blocks, like let's count them. And I think that the way that you're talking about math is kind of doing that across all grade levels, making it fun and making it useful and not just something, another thing to memorize and,
Mona
You know. Yes. And cuz math really is also way like about way more than just numbers and calculations. Like we all carry phones in our pockets. It's not about getting the answer I, it's about like the way you think about problems, the way that you can reason and like talk to others about a problem and work together to figure it out. And those are all things that our students do at home, they do in their community. And so when they come into our classroom, they already have a lot of expertise at those kinds of things. And when we give them those opportunities to talk about it and reason and practice, then yeah, we can really see them, you know, engage with math in new ways if we provide those opportunities for them.
Christine
Two things really stuck out when you were talking. One was that you had a great coach, I think you said coach, right? That kind of inspired this within you. And I was thinking back to when I was in college, that was the first time that I felt like I had a really profoundly efficient math teacher. And it was kind of this mindset of like, you can do this. And it was calculus of all things. I was like, I don't know how to do calculus, it's so hard. And he was just like, no, you, you absolutely can and you will. And everyone will come out of this classroom understanding calculus. And I just remember like really truly feeling that. And after that I was like, maybe I, maybe I can get math. And the other thing was the, the epiphany you had in third grade, very similar.
Christine
I was also in a third grade classroom when I remember having that same thought of, you know, a lot of people bash new math and like, what is this new math? I don't understand. Why can't I do it the way that I've always done it? But when you see the transformation, I, I had this epiphany as a teacher watching my students. I was like, wow, math talks really does work. I remember the math coach coming in and saying, this is what we're gonna do. And I was like, are my kids really gonna be able to, you know, like I, I had a special ed perspective and I was like, they're, they're learning their facts and I, I don't know, I, I'm willing to try it. And I was blown away. Like at the end of the year all of the students in the classroom were going up and they're like, I have a group of 10 here. And it was just this amazing experience. It was so engaging and I just loved it. So I just, I was thinking of that well while you were talking, just how if, if people saw it, I think they would believe it themselves too, you know, a little bit more. But
Mona
Totally.
Georgia
Another thing you said that sparked my memory of earlier today, I was literally talking to someone, a former teacher, I met him today at a coffee shop and we got to talking and he said, forget what we were actually talking about. But he said, it's so much more important to know how to find answers than to know an answer. And you know, I think that's kind of exactly what you're speaking to. And the opposite of kind of the old school thinking about math of like knowing the answer and knowing the memorization of it versus understanding how you got there. That's a much more important skill to have in life in school anywhere. Yes,
Mona
Totally. Yep. I love that someone in like the real world said that to you.
Georgia
It's, it's crazy. It happened today too. He was a really cool guy and we're, I'm actually hoping he's gonna be a guest on our podcast. But yeah, so you were teaching and then now you've transitioned to coaching teachers and helping them kind of have this math culture in their classroom. Do you wanna tell us a little bit how you got there and what you are doing now?
Mona
Yeah, yeah. Well I am four days away from being done teaching, actually I'm wrapping up this school year as a teacher. Congratulations.
Christine
Congrats.
Mona
Oh, thanks. Yeah, I've been coaching teachers in lots of different ways for like the last four years and I did a split role where I was a co-teacher and a coach and I, I've just done lots of different kinds of coaching and I think the, what am I doing now? Oh, so yeah, so moving into next school year, I'm really gonna be doing like free some freelance consulting and coaching with schools that are ready to empower their math learners and take number talks and take problem solving and take all the, those parts and really create a, you know, a strong math program that is empowering to students and teachers and families so that we can like stop the bashing of math so we can start owning that mathematician as our identity. So yeah, excited to kind of like close the door on teaching for now and see what's out there for me.
Christine
That's so exciting. Cool. Congratulations.
Georgia
Yeah, thank you. Very exciting. I feel like there's nothing like the last few days of school and there's definitely nothing like the last few days of the school when you know, it's your last time in a classroom for whether it's a year or indefinitely or who knows. But there's something about that, like, this is a special time.
Mona
I, I told my students today and a child then said, congratulations on your retirement. I,
Georgia
Oh my gosh,
Mona
Thank you sir.
Georgia
That is so funny
Christine
I'm 65 years old
Mona
Is now you have to show a video of us chatting.
Georgia
You wish, don't wish. But
Mona
It was great. I was like, I love it
Georgia
No, it sounds like what you're moving into is just kind of gonna align better with what you're really passionate about and what you're, you know, just the next phase. You're still think that's really cool. Yes, that change.
Christine
Yeah. Awesome. In so in working with, you're gonna be working with teachers now in districts in awesome. So in working with districts and teachers and thinking about the tools that they have, you know, within their classroom and the things that they can be doing within their math blocks, I guess what would you say? I think you had said something about how the most important tool the teachers have is themselves belief. Yes. Yeah, I have it. Right. I was like, I need to get that right because it's important and it's very well said. What, what do you mean by that?
Mona
Yeah, I think no matter what curriculum you have or if your state is following the common core standards, whatever, you know, your resources your school has, the teacher you that we're speaking to, you are the most important tool in your classroom. Like, AI can't do our job, right? Because you bring the magic. And I think that's a big part of why I want to empower teachers because I want them to see themselves as mathematicians first. And you can, you can come along on that journey with your students as I did, but really shifting your own mindset to like, oh no, I can do math. Like I'm not, might not still have my multiplication facts all memorized to be honest with you, but I have several strategies to figure them out quickly. Right? And so, you know, I think really the teacher as the model is such a like, you know, a thing we do in our classrooms, whether we write with our students or we talk to them about the books we read, same thing as problem solvers.
Mona
We have to talk to our students about either our struggles with math or you know, just how we are using math in our lives and that kind of thing. But also the most important tool are u is the teacher's instructional strategies, right? The curriculum doesn't come off the page and teach itself to kids. Like you bring that magic, you bring that to the, to the students. And so how you use those tools is you know, your craft, your teaching craft. And so I think that's really like what I teach teachers is this applies with any, any curriculum, anything you have or don't have in your school. But really learning instructional strategies to engage students in those math discussions and knowing the learning progressions as the teacher. So you know how to bring students from where they are to just that next step, right? And so, yeah, so I guess like that's the exciting thing to me is that like a lot of times teachers say, yeah, but I have this curriculum, what do you know about this curriculum? I'm like, I know what I know what I know about curriculum, which is it's curriculum, it's got the same, they all have the same problems, they all have about the same things, right? Let's talk less about curriculum and let's talk more about like what you do and what you're working on and how you're bringing that curriculum to life.
Georgia
True. You're the vehicle that like, you know, and we can all think back to teachers we've had that, you know, just, we loved being around because of the way they presented information and then the ones who just kind of didn't utilize their, I don't know, their power to kind of make that information come across in a fun way or in a way that was digestible for, for you.
Mona
Yeah. And I'm all about student-centered classrooms, so it's like not being kind of that sage on the stage, but instead being the guide on the side. Like I've already, I feel like I've already said in the, in only the like 20 minutes we've talked of like, but helping students bring what they know to the table and get and solving problems and reasoning and you're there as like the coach of when to ask that right question and how to bring everybody into the discussion and how to help them keep going and get through those roadblocks that they're gonna come to when they're problem solving and leveraging the knowledge in the room for everybody to learn from. And not you being the giver of knowledge, but really thinking about that community and how can we all be here and sharing what we know to get smarter together.
Christine
I love that idea.
Georgia
Definitely. I think that, I think that a student-centered approach across the board would do wonders for education and, and for just for helping kids to grow up and feel like empowered and strong and like I can figure it out. I do know what I'm doing versus that mentality of like, I'm not good at that. I can't do that, that's not my thing. So yeah. Great. You're doing, you're, you're making a difference in what, in helping teachers have that outlook and kids have that outlook. Yeah, we like, we like to ask all of the teachers that we interview, what they think would make the education system a better place right now because there, there is a lot of turmoil and problems and I think everything you're speaking about is a great step in the right direction. And just wondering if beyond math or in addition to all the wonderful things you've already said, do you have any insight? It's a loaded question, but as to what would make education better in this country?
Mona
Yeah, I think it's like, number one, teachers have to be treated like professionals and that includes pay and you know, support and even just like being able to go to the bathroom or take a sick day or all the things that we feel like we can't do, but also be invested in in ways that are going to make them feel like valued as a profession, right? So not just, I, I feel like we all have to do those continuing education credits, but that's on us and shouldn't that be like the education system being like, we wanna lift you up, we wanna help you be better at your job and be a better profession. So, you know, just, I think that that whole idea of valuing teachers, if we want our g our great teachers to stay in the classroom and we want young people to keep coming with energy to the profession, we have to treat teachers like a valued profession. No professional.
Georgia
Yeah,
Christine
I agree.
Mona
I feel like that one's a hard one not to, not to agree with.
Georgia
Yeah, no, I know anyone who doesn't agree, I I don't think they're listening.
Mona
That's true. That's true.
Georgia
But yeah, exactly. You know, like kind of what you're saying about investing in the kids and making them feel valued and important and empowered like that, in order for a teacher to have that mindset for their kids, they need to feel that way about themselves and it's hard to do that when you're not feeling valued or appreciated or invested in.
Mona
Yep, yep. Yeah,
Georgia
Definitely.
Christine
Another question that we ask everyone, thinking back to when you first started in your career and versus now that you're kind of taking this, this pivot, what would you say? How are you making the grade now versus then?
Mona
Yeah, so I think in the beginning of my career I thought a lot about like what, like what am I gonna teach? What lesson are we on? What do they need to learn? And I didn't think a lot about how, how are we gonna get there? How are they improving, how will I engage students? How like that process thinking and it was very solution for folk not solution. It was very like end product focused. Like they need to learn how to multiply. So I would show them how to multiply, but that wasn't thinking about that whole reasoning in between, right? Of how do you multiply and why is that important and how can I help students develop that understanding? Even down to like lesson planning, you know, it was like okay I'm gonna, I'm gonna do lesson one from the curriculum, not like how am I going to engage students in lesson one?
Mona
What protocols am I gonna use? When are we gonna pause and look at one problem for a little bit longer? How am I gonna assess students? So I think that's how I have shifted in my approach to just thinking about what good teaching is and what good learning is. I feel like I have two answers to this one though i's at the beginning of my career thought I was responsible for creating the community. It was like me who had to, you know, make the relationships and do all of that. And now I take a very different approach of like we're all in this together and we, you know, we are not successful as a class. I tell my students this every year, we are not successful as a class if one person leaves today without understanding or you know, it's our job to make sure everyone understands it's our job to make sure everyone feels included and has fun and is happy at school, right? And so I think that's another part of success is doing this in community and teaching kids very authentically how to collaborate and be in a community because we do that every day and it's not gonna end, right. They're gonna go to their job and be in another community. So kind of integrating that piece as well.
Georgia
I like that a lot. I think everyone could be, not everyone, but a lot of people could be a better at engaging with society and speaking part, part of a group versus an individual. And so yeah, if that starts in grade school, it's gonna go with them throughout life, like you said. Cool. Great.
Christine
And I feel like it just, it gives you credibility and them buy-in in a sense too, you know, it's like, okay, I, we're all doing this together and it makes them want to come to class and contribute more. You know, it's, it works both ways. I love
Mona
That. Absolutely.
Georgia
I'm sure, I'm sure it helps with that inclusion piece, you know, cuz it's so easy for kids to pick on the kid who doesn't get it or whatever, but if they're seeing it, it's like, oh we are a group and if John didn't get it, we're gonna help them get it. You know, then they're gonna feel more comfortable saying if they don't understand it next time or you know, it's just more likely that they're gonna be supportive of each other versus totally each other.
Mona
Yeah, it almost becomes the motivator to participate. Like I have to share my thinking because I know I have to because it's gonna help someone, right? And so sometimes we have those kids who know the answers or have great ideas but they sit back and they don't participate. And so when you create an intentional community of mathematicians or whatever, it really, it is the motivator to participate.
Georgia
Totally. Well since this is your final year in a classroom in the way that you've been in a classroom so far as a classroom teacher, we would love to hear maybe, maybe from this year or I guess from any of your years teaching some of your most memorable, memorable moments. Funny moments. I don't know any, any kind of moment that comes to mind. Crazy. I'm sure there's a lot. I'm sure there's a lot. But
Mona
Yeah, I've been a teacher for 15 years so there is a lot and there's also a lot you like black out, right? You never wanna remember that again. Oh my god. But definitely like today is a, is a day I will remember forever because this is the day I told my class I'm not coming back next year and wow the looks on their faces and the gasps, right? And I was really prepared for them to like be emotional and then I just kinda like looked at all of them and started laughing cuz their faces were all like shocked and whatever. And I just kinda like giggled. And then they all started applauding. Oh. And then like I told you, the one kid was like, congratulations on your retirement and can I ask you a question about your retirement? And so they had some really sweet questions and you know, they wanted to know, you know, I told them I was going to not be, I was still gonna be teaching, I was just gonna be teaching teachers and they wanted to know like where my classroom was gonna be. And I was like, well probably at my house, you know? And, and then I got to tell them a little bit about like what teacher classrooms are like, which you know, like a lot of coffee, a lot of chocolate. And they thought that was really funny. So we had a good time today with that.
Mona
And then I guess like another funny memory, I don't know if it's funny, it's like kind of traumatic. I used to take kids camping at my previous school. We did a lot of overnight camping trips each year and I took our, my colleague and I, colleagues and I took 53rd graders camping in tents and we just got everybody settled in for the night and look, I'm like finally settled into my sleeping bag and my tiny little tent, you know, and I look and I open my phone and I have like a little bit of service so I open up the weather app cuz you know, weather and there is just a giant red storm coming to right where we were on the map. Yeah. So we like really quickly got everybody awake and kind of got their shoes on and had 'em grab all of their stuff and they stayed in, it wasn't even the, it's not a lodge, it's like an office for the farm we were camping on and I slept on a counter if I, I don't know, I didn't really sleep but that's where I perched because there wasn't much room on the floor.
Mona
And yeah, we woke up the next morning and it had definitely stormed and there was a tree limb on a tent so it was really good that there were no kids in there. Oh god. And we have, we had a really good laugh and a good story to tell for a long, long time. It gave me credibility among my colleagues though cuz I was like, I took kids camping in a giant thunderstorm. Remember I saved their lives. Yeah.
Georgia
Tree funny. Took down
Mona
The tent.
Georgia
Yeah. It's so funny what you just said about like, you know, that experience being kind of traumatic. I mean, it's not funny but you know, like I feel like a lot of field trip stories are traumatic and, and you also said we, we tend to like black out about some of our most funny and crazy memories in schools. And Christine, that reminded me of last week when you posted it on Instagram, like share your crazy field trip story. And I, I'm like sitting there wrapping my brain knowing that I have a brilliant crazy field trip stories and I can't like think of one because I feel like my brain is like protecting me from those, those situations.
Mona
Definitely. That is absolutely what happens. I'm like, I'm trying to like think of those stories so I don't lose them. Right. Because so when you, when you all ask that, like in preparation for our, our chat today, I was like, I need to think more of these cuz these are funny. Yeah. Yeah. Even people outside of education think they're funny.
Georgia
I wish I wrote them down like the days that they happened. Cause you think you'll remember it forever and then you don't,
Christine
You did a, you did a lot of zoo once. So whatever happened at the zoo. I mean anything, you
Georgia
Know, I don't know, I just remember being like terrified the whole time that someone was gonna get lost. Like I couldn't And like you had some Yeah,
Christine
The little little ones.
Georgia
The little ones. And you had some parent volunteers who were very helpful and others who I was like, oh my god,
Christine
You lose the parents who has like seven kids. You're like, what? Yeah. Aren't you at the,
Georgia
Went to the gift shop. Sorry.
Christine
Got one Popsicle for my child and no one else. Yeah,
Georgia
So true.
Christine
Remember that happened once.
Georgia
Funny.
Christine
I love that. Yeah. No, those, yeah, you'll have to remember that forever. All right, well before, before we move on from teaching classroom, do you have any advice for teachers currently in the fields?
Mona
Hmm. I, I really like, I think it all goes back to like finding the things that get you excited and get, you know, because we put our passion into the things we're excited about. And so kids know when you're showing up and not engaged and not excited yourself. And so I, that is exactly why I started this little math journal journey I'm on is because it wasn't something I cared about or liked or wanted to put any energy into and I knew that it could be better. And so I guess I, that's the advice of like, if you're feeling like, yeah, math, whatever, this is kinda lame. I, I just do the curriculum and it's fine. Like go over and check out my Instagram and my podcast and like, let me be your source of like excitement and then start making that. You can start making that journey slowly. But you know, that's what I would say is that like, check in with yourself on how you're showing up in math and think about and reflect on like how that might be affecting your students.
Christine
Very good advice. Kids feel it even if you think even if they're little, they pick up on all those little things. I agree.
Georgia
Where, where can our listeners find you? What's, do you have your Instagram handle? Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the notes, but let us know anyway.
Mona
Yeah. Okay. And Instagram, you can find me at hello mona math and that is also my website, mona math.com. Cool. And I have an podcast myself, which is called Honest Math Chat. So I make episodes Mondays and Wednesdays so you can come and hang out there. I like to do like a little tiny one on Wednesdays so you get like five minutes so you can listen to it while you're like taking your bathroom break.
Georgia
Love it. That's so cool. That's you're, you're like, our goal right now is to do more podcasts, so strive to be like Mona in math and in podcasting. There you
Mona
Go. There you go.
Christine
And they pack a punch. We've listened. Yeah, they're very, very good tips in a very condensed, friendly, approachable way. So yeah, definitely.
Mona
Awesome. Thank you.
Georgia
Definitely listen and give her a follow. She's got some great content on there. Yeah,
Mona
That'd be so great.
Georgia
This has been so fun. And let's end on another non-teacher related thing. You told us about your tattoo and I think it's really cool. I just got my first tattoo and I wanna get more so very into tattoos right now, so yeah, let's, awesome.
Mona
Yeah. Okay, so I have, it's no bigger than like maybe the like a pencil eraser. It's very, very small on the palm of my hand because if you are from the Midwest, you know that everyone who is from Michigan holds up their hand and points to where they're from. As if Michigan is like, looks like a mitten, I should say Michigan looks like a mitten. And so people hold up their hand like a map of Michigan and point to where they're from. That's so sweet. Yeah, so when I went to college it was wild. Like everybody was like, oh yeah, I'm from here, I'm from here, I'm from here. So that kinda started to give me the idea of like, yeah, I should get, I should just get a tattooed on my hand. And my mom was always like, don't get a tattoo. Don't get a tattoo.
Mona
You know, like what's a good thing to say to an 18 year old. And then I was like walking around in Chicago one day and we walked by a cool looking tattoo shop and I was like, I'm gonna get a star on the palm of my hand. And the people I was with were like, what? The tattoo artist even didn't wanna do it. And, but it's, it's been here for quite a while, like over 10 years now I think. And it's just like a fun little reminder. So I live in Chicago but I'm originally from southwest Michigan. That's
Christine
Perfect.
Georgia
I love it. It's in a cool spot. I mean, so mine is like right here on my wrist. Oh yeah. And like I like it because I don't see it all the time, but when I do I'm like, oh that's a fun reminder. I have a tattoo, you know? Yeah,
Mona
Definitely.
Georgia
I think people get them hidden a lot, which I would maybe do that as well, but then I'm like, but you never see it. I dunno. Not as fun.
Mona
Yeah, totally. Totally.
Georgia
Do you think you'll get more?
Mona
I don't think so. I think this is it.
Georgia
Christine, do you think you'll get a tattoo ever?
Christine
The only one I've ever thought about, it's very random. I have a vein on my foot that's in the perfect shape of a heart and I always just thought it would be cool to get something over that and create something from that. But I haven't thought of anything that's unique enough yet. So I guess, yeah, I would definitely get something in relation to my dogs or children. So stay tuned maybe,
Georgia
Maybe next time we'll have you on the show again, Mona. Next time we'll have a tattoo. I love
Christine
You though. My favorite tattoo stories is one of our good friends is, is covered. And my favorite stories from his shout out to Andy, I hope he's listening, but my favorite tattoo stories from him are the ones where he goes to the tattoo shop and they're like, I'm not doing that. So if I do get one, I want someone to be like, no, I'm not gonna put that on your body that I want that because why not? Yeah,
Mona
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I felt really tough because the guy was like, I'm gonna do it really deep but it's gonna hurt. And I was like, okay, let's go have
Georgia
To tattoo I thought would hurt. Like, yeah, none.
Mona
That's
Georgia
So funny. Did it hurt actually that, did that placement hurt on your palm?
Mona
You know, I don't think so. It's probably one of those, another one of those blacked out memories, right? Yeah. Blacked out. Yeah. I was just really concerned cuz it's a star. I was really concerned that it wasn't like symmetrical and everything and he like kind of warned me, he was like, it can't be like super intricate on your hand. Right. And it's gonna fade and like he gave me all these warnings, but it, it turned out great. So you know, if you're listening, go get a tattoo.
Georgia
Yeah. More advice from Bon love and get a tattoo.
Mona
That's right. Teachers did your go get a tattoo? Did
Georgia
Your kids ever, did your kids notice it? Did they ever ask you what it was? Oh,
Mona
My students, yes. And I used to work at a school, I used to work at a school that was named Polaris, so they definitely thought that my tattoo was for the school. And so, yeah, so, you know, occasionally kids will look at it. I work at a, a deaf and hard of hearing school as well, like right now. So I have, I have, there's a lot of students that sign and so they notice your hands a lot so they, they ask me about it.
Georgia
Got it. Very cool.
Mona
Awesome.
Georgia
Well thanks for sharing. Yeah,
Mona
That was fun.
Georgia
We'll put everything in the show notes for how you can find Mona and connect with her. She seems very friendly and amazing as you can tell. So if you have any math questions, I'm sure she's happy to for you to slide into her Dms and ask away,
Mona
But yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I love chatting with people about math and my dms.
Georgia
That wraps up our show for today. Remember to always listen to your teacher voice and measure success with your own ruler. Thanks so much for taking the time to listen. If you like what you heard today, share with a teacher who needs this in their life and don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our show. If you like what you heard.