News February 2010 »

By  Taylor Conlin

Born in Barberton Ohio, Alison Anson, daughter of Mike and Margret Dundon had a fun childhood with 4 sisters. Her mom was a stay at home mom and her father was a design engineer. She knew she wanted to be a teacher when she was in 7th  grade, most kids aren’t that lucky, most wouldn’t know until their late high school careers.

           Anson is a math teacher at Muscatine High School, she teaches Algebra 1(freshmen and sophomores), Algebra 1 Enriched (freshmen and sophomores) and Consumer Math (juniors and seniors). She believes that for a student to understand math they should apply it to a real life situation, and that they will be more willing to learn if they see how it will benefit them.
           “When a student says, ‘Oh I get it!’” Anson believes this is the most rewarding part of teaching. She also doesn’t get emotional when she sees her students move on, move away, or graduate because she doesn’t believe it’s goodbye, “they usually come back at least once to say hi,”said Anson.

“My husband is very supportive in my job. When my kids were in school this gave me the opportunity to drive my kids around and he loved that,” said Anson about being a teacher when her kids were in school. Although she didn’t start teaching at the high school until her kids had already graduated, she did teach at West Middle school as a math teacher. She said, “I didn’t want to embarrass them by having their mom work where they hung out with friends.”

All though she thought at one point she wanted to be a science teacher, Anson became a math teacher at Muscatine High School where she works today helping students understand the meaning of math.