Hello!  My name is Marcus Mueller and I am an instructional paraprofessional at Bennett Elementary.  Teaching MATH in an elementary school setting has always been my passion and observing a student having one of those "aha"-moments simply warms my heart. I firmly believe that elementary school years are particularly critical for children because early positive (and unfortunately, negative) experiences can greatly influence a child's future academic success and their attitude toward school.

I received both my BS (Mathematics) and MS (Computer Science, Thesis: "Assessment of Guided and Exploratory Software for Second Grade Science Curriculum") from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and I also have a Colorado K-12 Substitute Teacher License (for more, check Linked in.)  Prior to joining Bennett Elementary School, I was a high impact math tutor at Kruse Elementary (2022-2024); I also volunteered at Kruse for many years (2006-2024), mostly during math but also as needed.

When I am not at work, I enjoy hiking, volleyball, woodworking, cooking, photography, traveling, reading and, of course, math puzzles.

One of my favorite children’s book is Erich Kästner's 1929 novel "Emil und die Detektive" ("Emil and the Detectives"), a fictional children's detective story. I love this book because Emil arrives in the big, cold city of Berlin, money stolen from him on the train, and he feels alone because no one seems to care about his misfortune. Yet, a lot of interesting things happen on the way as Emil makes new friends, “plays” detective with them and tries to catch the thief who stole his money. While the adults are too busy with their own problems, Emil’s new friends are the ones who have compassion and are ready to take action.

[Wet Leaf after Portland, OR, Rain Shower]

[Wet Sand, Ocean Water Runoff, NW Oregon]