Photo credit: Charlotte Whittington

Anne Mansfield gives advice to a student during a math class. Mansfield has always valued letting her students guide themselves through the lessons more, but sometimes, she said, guiding them through is necessary to make sure they fully understand.

Math teacher Anne Mansfield starts each class with a daily question. Today, that question is, “Build a snowman or snowball fight?” Her students line up excitedly and begin to answer the question. After the warm-up, which is a quick math problem, Mansfield turns around, smiles and greets the class before beginning the lesson. 

Mansfield started her teaching career 13 years ago. She has taught in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, and now, Los Angeles. This is her third year teaching sixth grade at Archer. Teaching has always been a passion of hers, Mansfield said, but math stood out to her in particular.

“My favorite subject to teach has always been math because it’s a universal language,” Mansfield said. “We all might find our answers a different way, but we all understand numbers, and so I really love that.”

In addition to her passion for teaching math, she said that she loves the enthusiasm and energy her students bring to class.

“I really love middle school in general,” Mansfield said. “Sixth grade is just a grade where there’s still a lot of wonder and excitement around school, and I really enjoy that.” 

Sienna Ginsburg (’32) is currently in Mansfield’s math class. She said Mansfield’s class is more engaging than math at her previous school.

“She’s fun. She has a lot of jokes, and she makes everything very interactive, unlike my old school. We kind of just wrote down notes,” Ginsburg said. “She’s like, ‘If you’ve solved this, waddle like a duck around the classroom.’”

According to the American Psychological Association, 112 out of 114 students who were surveyed said that humor made them enjoy the class more, and 81 participants said they learned more, in addition. Ginsburg explained that humor while learning improved the atmosphere of class.

Mansfield prioritizes students using their current knowledge to guide their learning and encourages them to figure out a hard problem with the support of their teammates. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Mansfield will step in to help them work through it.

“I really want students to cannonball into the math. I want them to feel like they are leading the charge — more than I’m up at the front of the room, guiding them step-by-step and talking and they’re taking notes,” Mansfield said. “I want them to feel really self-propelled within math.”

While engagement and humor are key parts of Mansfield’s teaching style, she also makes sure to be there to support students. Sixth grade English teacher Lauren Sekula said Mansfield is almost always available to help her students who are struggling and notices the positive impact Mansfield has on her students.

“It makes it so they’re not afraid to mess up, and they know this one piece doesn’t define them, and that they can have questions and not feel dumb,” Sekula said. “She wants them to also trust themselves. She has taught them how to get there, and they know what they’re doing, but if they don’t know what they’re doing and it doesn’t go well, there’s a next step.”

Mansfield said students need a space to make mistakes without feeling like they’ve failed. She wants to expose her students to errors and help them through the process of improving.

“They need to understand they’re going to make mistakes, and that’s okay,” Mansfield said. “Learning is a lifelong endeavor, not a short-term endeavor, so a grade doesn’t define you in this moment. It’s when you stop that you’ve chosen that that’s the end point for you.”

When walking by Mansfield’s classroom and seeing her teaching in action, Sekula said she was impressed by the students’ engagement.

“When I peek in, and she’s teaching and I’m not, it always looks like the girls are really engaged, and they’re up and moving around,” Sekula said. “She makes it so it feels like math — even when it’s hard — is accessible, and that mistakes are okay, and we’re learning through those mistakes.”

Mansfield praises teaching styles that are attentive to students and also passionate about learning. She compares herself to teachers in movies. 

“If I had to describe my teaching style as three famous teachers, I would say it’s Whoopi Goldberg from ‘Sister Act Two,’ Jack Black from ‘School of Rock,’ and Miss Frizzle,” Mansfield said. “There’s a lot of caring, there’s a lot of silliness, but there is a lot of knowledge.”