I’m Fawn — friends and family call me Fawnzie —
and my last name Nguyen is pronounced “win.” I’m probably not related to that person you know with the same last name.
I now work with a great team at Amplify. I spent some 30 years in the classroom, a career path that I love enough to honestly say that I’d do it all over again in my next life — but with a salary comparable to a neurosurgeon’s. I cook, garden, take care of 8 hens, and clean on a steady rotation.
Eventually, I’d like to write a book. About my escape from Saigon with my siblings. How that near-death experience makes me weep each and every time I hear our national anthem. Writing wrangles my thoughts in ways that are much healthier than the alternatives.
I started blogging in late 2011. My first post was all about the Thanksgiving dinner that I'd prepared. Then, realizing that not too many teachers were sharing student voices from the math classroom, I started writing a lot about how I adapted lessons and how my students interacted with them. I’m grateful for all the opportunities to speak at math conferences and facilitate workshops across the country.
I live in a 664 square-foot stucco abode in Oak View, California, with the love of my life, Thomas. He had me at, “I can build things.” Our two cats, Tugboat and Charlie, occasionally pay us a visit. My joyest of joys — Nicolai, Gabriel, Sabrina (ages 31, 29, 27) — are strong-minded, beautiful, out of the house.
Thank you for dropping in.