After teaching young minds the subjects of math for many years at Crossroads, a new face is joining the high school math department just this year. Andrew Otten was embraced with open arms, and implemented a new hands-on math course upon arrival.
Otten has worked at Northview for 10 years and recently began teaching math at the high school along with co-teacher Taylor Jolliffe. Otten originates from a beef cattle farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he attended Rudger High School, participated on the Track and Cross country teams and played forward on the basketball team. He eventually attended GVSU to pursue being a teacher. After graduating, he got a job after his first interview at Crossroads Middle School and hasn’t changed districts.
“It’s awesome working with Mr. Otten, we are a really good co teaching team,”Jolliffe said. “He has a lot of experience teaching the Algebra 1 side of the class, and I bring the experience with the tech side with the 3d printers and lasers.”
Otten did not always have his sights set on becoming an educator. His original plan was far less traditional. When he was younger, he even had quite an untraditional dream.
“My first dream job was to be a professional whistler. When I got older, I realized there’s not much money in that career, but I loved it,” Otten said.
Working on a farm, especially as a kid, requires hard work from Otten. He attributes his work ethic in his teaching to the farm work conducted as a kid.
“You don’t think of work as hourly for a paycheck, you think of it as just getting the work done because you’re battling the weather and getting the hay off before the rain comes. You’re not thinking I’m done at 5:30 or 5, you just get the job done,” Otten said.
When Otten moved to the high school, he brought a new set of important skills for students, which he put in a new class: Math on Main Street.
The new immersive algebra class is a hands-on work environment where students’ assignments include designing objects and printing them from 3d printers while utilizing math techniques. This allows students to be more creative while solving math problems and get more hands-on experience. Freshman Carter Beimeres-Helbich is taking the Math on Main Street class and can attest to its benefits.
“My favorite lesson so far has been our shoe lesson, where we scaled and designed 3d printed shoes and it was fun,” Beimeres-Helbich said. “The fact that it is a more interactive class I do think people benefit more from that.”
Otten has only started teaching at the high school this year, but his legacy at the middle school positively impacted numerous students—one of those being sophomore Katelyn Allen.
“[Otten is] the kind of teacher that if he saw you and you weren’t having a good day he would stop and ask you if you’re okay,” Allen said.
Though Otten has just started here, he has big goals and aspirations for the Math On Main Street class and general hopes for his career. He hopes to make the class a full-time class, with six hours of it, by next year.
“I want to make it so that kids can get their Algebra 1 credit with less note-taking and more hands-on learning,” Otten said. “My goal is to build this class to be bigger and more available to students.”
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