Alison VonAchen

Greetings!

My name is Alison VonAchen, and I have been teaching at Sanford since 2015. I graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor's in Statistics and Economics. I spent two years teaching mathematics as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. I also spent time working in health sciences education at the University of Minnesota before getting my Master of Education in Mathematics Education. My husband and I have two young children, and our family enjoys hiking, swimming, traveling, and eating.

I believe that all students can be successful in mathematics. I've worked with many students who self identify as "not good at math" who have amazing and clever ideas! If we (caregivers, teachers, and students) share positive math messages with our students and students put in some hard work, we will get to see their brilliance. I love seeing the different ways students think about and solve problems -- this is one of the best things about teaching math. I am always learning new things in our classroom. In our courses, mathematicians (aka students) will often be looking for patterns and then generalizing those patterns. Students may use calculators almost anytime and should feel free to use them at home. 

We are going to have a great year :)