Math matters to instructor Charlotte Hutt
“It’s all about math!” exclaims Charlotte Hutt. “Math opens doors in life.”
“The more math skills you have the more opportunities you have to make a living and understand the world. Math empowers people to make sense of the world,” she noted.
Hutt joined RCC’s faculty in 1995 after teaching three years at Southwest Oregon Community College in Coos Bay and a stint teaching middle school math.
RCC graduate Jarrod Goode says Hutt, whom he considers a mentor, holds high expectations for students. Goode went on to SOU where he earned the university’s most prestigious awards.
“I also noticed that she really cares about her students and goes above and beyond to make their experience more enriching,” he said. “Charlotte Hutt was a good role model for me as a teacher to be creative and resourceful and respond to each student’s needs.”
Math matters, said Hutt, because almost all majors and programs require math. “And so do most jobs,” she added. Hutt said she enjoys “opening gates and opportunities” for her students. “The best part is helping students be able to do what they want in life.”
Hutt began her college career at Skagit Valley College, where she earned an A.A. She went on to receive her bachelor’s in Liberal Studies from The Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., and master’s in Mathematics Education at Oregon State University.
Jarrod Goode
Former Marine takes on challenge of teaching
“I’d always wondered what I was going to be when I grew up,” Jarrod Goode recalls, laughing. Turns out he’s going to be a grade school teacher.
The Rogue Community College graduate, who has an affinity for math and technology, is completing a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and plans to teach fifth grade. In the meantime, he’s put an affinity for math and technology to use teaching math workshops, writing computer programs, and collaborating on a math textbook.
Now 30, Goode had already covered a lot of ground by the time he enrolled at RCC in 2006. His four-year service in the U.S. Marine Corps included a tour of duty in Iraq. Working as a heavy equipment operator, he helped set up military camps in the early stages of the war. Returning to the U.S., he worked as a foreman with his family’s construction company and built 75 homes. Earlier he’d worked in sales. But Goode had long sought a career with heart, soul, and longevity. Then came a revelation.
“Through prayer I realized I was going to be a teacher,” he said. RCC was affordable and nearby by, so it seemed a natural place to start his studies. “I didn’t even think of going anywhere else,” the Grants Pass resident said. “I came to Rogue and enrolled. It was as simple as that. As soon as I got here, everything fell into place. The counselors bent over backwards to help me get classes I needed.”
His military service gave him access to educational funding through the G.I. Bill, but with a wife and three children ages 6, 7 and 9, quitting a good job and enrolling full time in school was unnerving. And his classes were intimidating at first.
“I began with Math 65 and I started freaking out,” Goode said. “I was in the tutoring center every day all term, and eventually I began to get confidence.”
Goode earned an A in the class and went on to excel in math. He graduated with a 3.96 grade point average from RCC’s Elementary Education program.
He now writes computer programs in Excel and has taught math instructors enrolled in Oregon State University workshop. In June he will graduate with a degree in elementary education from Southern Oregon University, where he’s won numerous honors. Goode will receive the 2010 Dankook Award, given to the top undergraduate scholar at SOU.
While attending RCC, Goode was named an Oregon Community College Association Outstanding Student Scholar, received numerous RCC Foundation scholarships including the Rogue Scholar Award, and he earned a Presidential Leadership Award. He even found time to serve as student government president.
Recently Goode returned to Rogue to collaborate with RCC math instructors Charlotte Hutt and Dorette Long on producing a pre-algebra text and virtual workbook capable of generating new problem sets. They showcased Education Excelets at the 2009 Teachers of Teachers of Mathematics conference at OSU.
Goode says Hutt, whom he considers a mentor, held high expectations for students. “I also noticed that she really cares about her students and goes above and beyond to make their experience more enriching,” he said. “Charlotte Hutt was a good role model for me as a teacher to be creative and resourceful and respond to each student’s needs.”
Goode, who has student taught at a number of local schools, especially enjoyed fifth grade at Abraham Lincoln Elementary in Medford and hopes to teach at that level. “I like fifth because students are at such an impressionable age,” he said. “They’re starting to mold perceptions of life and are making hard decisions. You can help them move in the right direction and help keep alive that excitement of education and knowing that education can be fun.”
Goode credits several other RCC instructors with giving him a solid foundation for succeeding at Southern Oregon University. “I absolutely felt extremely well prepared for SOU,” he said. “Rick Williams (Humanities) was an inspiration in my writing. Connie Denham, Eileen Micke-Johson, Deb Murphy and Pam Arbogast (Early Childhood Education) were awesome. And online classes were technologically rich, engaging, and convenient,” he added.
“All my background and experiences are coming together and are useful,” he continued. “I feel good about the future; my resume is packed to the gills.”
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