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.