New math teacher, not new at HHS
The new instructor in the Hancock High School math classroom is not a new face to many students.
Chad Christianson has been coaching in Hancock off and on for several years, and he is the husband of kindergarten teacher, Ashley Christianson. Chad will be teaching math in grades 7-11 and will be the head football coach.
The “new” in regard to Chad’s presence in Hancock will have more to do with his classroom location and teaching philosophy. The math room has been moved downstairs to Room 111. It is a larger room, giving Chad more options in his teaching.
The curriculum will remain the same for this year but Chad hopes to look into new books for upcoming years. The current curriculum utilizes a lot of “spiral learning” which he stated was good for the kids who “get it” but more difficult for those who struggle. He hopes to find methods to make the course better for all students.
One of these ways is to bring in speakers and do hands-on activities. He suggested that this could include having the students do some virtual shopping and then bring in someone from the banking industry to talk to them about getting a loan, budgeting for payments and the bottom line when it comes to the final cost of the product. For example, how much does a 30 year mortgage actually make a home cost?
Chad also has some ideas for geometry activities such as creating designs within products around us, like a field or snow. He is not sure if he will get all these ideas worked in right away but hopes to do some in the coming years.
When it comes to the football season, Chad is fairly optimistic. He had 20 athletes out for the sport as of this interview and hoped a few more would join. He is hoping for a .500 season and stated that some of the tougher teams are not on the Owls schedule this year. This includes Bertha Hewitt, Hillcrest and Verndale. He anticipates that the toughest games would be with Chokio-Alberta, Wheaton, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley Brandon-Evansville.
Chad will be coaching the offense, Brandon Welle will coach the defense and Cory Bedel will coach special teams. The team will also have assistance from volunteer coach Ryan Young, who Chad’s cousin. Ryan is attending UMM and also works in Hancock at Buddies.
Chad was excited when the position opened up in Hancock even though he anticipated Dale Swanson’s retirement. His wife Ashley has been teaching in Hancock for three years and the couple bought a house here. They have one daughter, KayLynn, who is two.
Chad and Ashley met in high school in Verndale. Chad was on the Verndale football team and played against Hancock several years. He was not on a state champion team, however his team made state in his junior year.
After graduation they both attended UMM, where Chad played baseball. While there he also played baseball for the Morris Eagles and he was a key pitcher until an injury this summer put an end to his pitching career. At UMM Chad met Hancock girls basketball Coach Jodi Holleman and became the assistant girls basketball coach in 2005-2007. He helped coach the girls when they played at state and afterward allowed the team to shave his head.
For the last three years Chad has been teaching in Evansville and part-time in Brandon. He has also been helping with the Hancock girls basketball program and plans to continue as the assistant this year.
Chad is excited to begin what he hopes will be a long and rewarding position at the Hancock school and an equally successful stint as a coach in the Hancock school system.
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