Simple math lessons add up to something pretty special when you’re in Andy Kotko’s first grade class.
Kotko, a teacher for the past 15 years, has been awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. In September, he and his wife will travel to the White House along with 212 other winners. He’ll also receive a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.
Kotko helped found the Academy for Advanced Learning, a public magnet school at Mather Heights Elementary School in Mather. Kotko, who graduated with a degree in physics from Sacramento State, says he believes in teaching students to solve problems, not regurgitate answers.
“You can take something very simple, and teach the kids to the point where they master it, and you slowly add another piece, another piece, and before they know it they’re doing deeply complex mathematics and they don’t even realize it,” Kotko said.
Kotko turned to teaching after realizing he didn’t want to sit at a desk all day as an engineer. Now, he says he’s motivated by the idea that teaching young students the fundamentals well can set them up for a lifetime of learning and success.
As for his current students – they’ve only been in Kotko’s class for three weeks. But when first grader Jack Baros was asked what he thought about the presidential award, he agreed that Kotko was pretty special.
“I would say that he’s awesome, and I would want to be in his class for first grade, second grade, third grade and fourth grade,” Baros said.
