Acknowledgments

Limitless Mind: Learn, Lead, and Live Without Barriers - Eugenia Cheng 2018


Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful to all the people I interviewed for this book—teachers, leaders, parents, writers, and others. They opened their hearts and shared their stories. In doing so they were vulnerable—they told me about how life was before they learned about these ideas. Many of the people shared that they tried to be “perfect” and were afraid of not knowing—they had been told by others they were not a math person or another type of person, and they were discouraged from learning to high levels. They also shared their journey of change, and in many cases the ways they were now inspiring others. Not all the people I interviewed made it into the book, as space was short—but I am deeply grateful to them all:

Cherry Agapito

Caleb Austin

Terese Barham

Sara Boone

Angela Brennan

Jennifer Brich

Jim Brown

Heather Buske

Jodi Campinelli

Mark Cassar

Evelyn Chan

Holly Compton

Kate Cook

Stephanie Diehl

Robin Dubiel

Margriet Faber

Kirstie Fitzgerald

Shelley Fritz

Mariève Gagnè

Marta Garcia

Karen Gauthier

Allison Giacomini

Rene Grimes

Margaret Hall

Judith Harris

Suzanne Harris

Leah Haworth

Meg Hayes

Catherine Head

Susan Jachymiak

Lauren Johnson

Theresa Lambert

Linda Lapere

Zandi Lawrence

Lucia MacKenzie

Jean Maddox

Sunil Reddy Mayreddy

Chelsea McClellan

Sara McGee

Shana McKay

Adele McKew

Jesse Melgares

Gail Metcalf

Crystal Morey

Jenny Morrill

Pete Noble

Marc Petrie

Meryl Polak

Beth Powell

Justin Purvis

Nancy Qushair

Sunil Reddy

Evette Reece

Kate Rizzi

Daniel Rocha

Tami Sanders

Jennifer Schaefer

Michelle Scott

Erica Sharma

Nina Sudnick

Angela Thompson

Carrie Tomc

Laura Wagenman

Ben Woodford

I am always extremely grateful to my family for any book I write, as they have to put up with me not being there for them. I have two amazing daughters, Ariane and Jaime, and they light up my life every day.

I am also grateful to my youcubed cofounder and good friend Cathy Williams—she is always my thought partner, in some cases she draws pictures for me, and often she puts up with my most crazy thoughts—and encourages them. Viva La Revolution, Cathy!

Also important is the dynamic team at youcubed; I could not have written this book without them. They helped me with interviews, and with their ongoing support for all of our work. They are: Montserrat Cordero, Suzanne Corkins, Kristina Dance, Jack Dieckmann, Jessica Method, and Estelle Woodbury. My doctoral students Tanya LaMar and Robin Anderson also gave invaluable support and help.

Beyond the many teachers I interviewed for this book, I am inspired by teachers on a daily basis. There may be some who give fixed ideas to children, but there are many others who believe in all students, who spend countless hours preparing engaging lessons for students and who go above and beyond what anyone should reasonably be asked to do for their job. If we gave more decisions to teachers about what and how students should learn, we would be in a much better place than we are now. Thank you to all the teachers who I have had the honor of talking to and learning from over the last few years.