Elizabeth Jones, formerly Miss Bitzan, is an electrifying math teacher with an incredible skill for involving students and bringing joy to a normally boring subject. While she is not a very well-known math teacher, partly due to her classroom being in that ominous-looking hallway out of the math wing, she leaves a great impression on the students she does have. From an assortment of her favorite cow jokes to making students genuinely enjoy math, Mrs. Jones is one of the teachers that will stick with me.
Most people taking a math class either love it or hate it, with little in-between, and Jones is definitely one of the math lovers. “For some reason, I just know there’s something about a puzzle, there’s something that could be worked out and completed, and math is a lot like a puzzle,” she said.
Not only this, she believes in the logical aspect of math, a primary reason why she enjoys it and believes it is useful. “Maybe I’ll go with logic on this one. […] I think that that’s an important life skill to be able to reason, and reason well, and explain how you arrived at a solution,” Jones said.
Past experiences guided Jones to choose North as a school she’d like to teach at. “I know North is a really great school. So when I was in high school I went to Shanley High School and so I always knew, competing in sports and activities, that they were a fun team to play,” she said.
North was a good experience for Jones while she was pursuing her teaching degree. “I student taught here at North, and after my student teaching experience here I knew I wanted to teach here.”
While it took her a long time to decide exactly what she wanted to do, she is extremely pleased with her final decision. “I love North, yeah, you guys are good students to have and that’s really why I became a teacher,’ Jones said. While she loves her students, I have also loved her as a teacher for both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.
Not only is she an Algebra teacher, but she also is an assistant coach for the JV Girls’ soccer team and has left an impression on them as well. It makes sense that she is a coach, given her love for sports throughout her life. She was on the basketball and soccer team, but would also enjoy playing pickleball outside of school. Her love for sports also follows from the fact that she was constantly outside during her childhood. “Well, growing up I think I was outside every day. Rain or shine or snow. I loved being outside,” Jones said.
Although I had placed my trust in her and was under the impression that she had been honest almost this entire interview, she lied! Previously, she promised to go to Prime Cut Meats—a butcher shop that I work at—in our discussion in the hallway. However, she pranked me and has not gone there yet. When I questioned her about this, she answered “Hmmm… I don’t know. We’ll get there though.” Sounds like a no to me.
Just like the bold and daring move of her essentially rejecting the invitation to my workplace, she has had multiple rare experiences that many people have not gone through. Now, you may be wondering why I said electrifying at the beginning, this is because she was in fact struck by lightning.
This shocked me, and also her, because it was lightning. I would say that confidently too if I were struck by lightning. She was on the interstate in her car, and it just randomly happened. Not only this, but there were some other one-of-a-kind experiences that left me in awe. One that wasn’t quite so crazy but still threw me off was that she has been hit by a baseball at a Twins game. What came up so suddenly and surprised me even more was that her grandma was in the C.I.A., which she said like it was not a huge deal.
While it’s only her third year of teaching, she has impacted so many students. She made me enjoy math and enjoy being in her class, which is very difficult to achieve especially with the pressure of her first year of teaching. If she had one message to students going into Algebra 2, that would be that “Algebra 2 is a difficult class that will require a lot of work, but it will be worth it! This course will prepare you well for the next step, whatever that may be. I pray every student who enters my classroom knows ‘You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you will ever know.’ -Summer Snow.”