Mr. Arntson's Bio
I've been teaching for 31 years, 30 in California and 1 year abroad in Madrid, Spain. I have a master's degree in early childhood reading & literacy and I'm currently an alumni board member in education at University of California - Irvine. I'm married with two amazing children. I love surfing, snowboarding, playing sports, music and traveling to faraway places.
I chose education as my profession because I wanted to "be" the teacher I needed in elementary school. As a young student, I often found myself not finishing those boring worksheets, staring at the clock, and hoping for the bell to ring for recess, so I could throw the football or shoot some baskets. When I started my educational journey, I focused my teaching goals to be something that my 10 year old self would enjoy: a challenging, caring, creative environment; where a student is encouraged to dream "outside the box", understand there are many different ways to BE SMART, while nurturing their curiosity to be a life-long learner and a valuable member in our society.
"Make school engaging and fun, kids will want to come!"
I'm a risk taker when it comes to trying new modes of teaching and learning, and I'm not afraid to fail. I've piloted Minecraft Education, where students explore new ways of learning in a virtual world that exposes them to lessons on empathy, mathematics, even projects like "Sustainable Global Goals", where they try to solve 1 of 17 problems governments are trying to solve in third world countries. Years ago I led the creation and implementation for students to bring their devices into the classroom BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), which helped to spread the word that technology can bring an "extra" motivation and engagement to the school curriculum. Lastly, I've been an ambassador for Kahoot!, a game based learning platform that shows students what they know about a subject or topic, and it also helps teachers understand what their students haven't mastered yet!
I am truly blessed to be working with such dedicated teachers at Country Hills, who love to teach children and want them to learn the most they can in a caring and supportive environment!
I am truly blessed to be working with such dedicated teachers at Country Hills, who love to teach children and want them to learn the most they can in a caring and supportive environment!
