Mark
One of the decisions which has made me the educator I am today is my decision to always put my kids first. By my kids I mean MY kids: the three boys who call me Dad. I am finding that a balance between daddyhood and teacherdom has made me more effective in both realms; when the two are out of balance, they both suffer. And of course, the two seem to overlap in many ways. I chose teaching not only because of my love of learning and the desire to help young people learn, but also because teaching as a profession offers me the kind of schedule that enables me to be invovled in my own kids' lives.
I teach in a suburbanish-rural community high school, and am very lucky to be in a community which consistently supports its schools. I've worked hard to develop my role as teacher leader. Mostly, I've steered clear of "titled" leadership and have instead tried to positively influence my peers through more informal means as collaborator, mentor, or team leader. Though I don't believe I should be obligated to sacrifice my life and my family for my job, I do work hard to devote my entire professional life to impacting student learning whether in my own classroom or in the classrooms of my peers.
I was born, raised, and public-school educated in Oregon. I grew up in a tiny farm town situated in the blank part of any given map of Oregon (out in the everbrown), then managed to be one of only a handful in my graduating class to go on to college. I attended Oregon State after a one year hiatus from formal education to work with the Oregon FFA Association. After earning my MAT from Willamette University in Salem, I started teaching secondary English in 2002 in the south Puget Sound. I earned my National Board Certification in Adolescent to Young Adult English Langauge Arts in 2006. Since then, I've been a NB candidate support provider (cohort group leader) both for my own district and for a state university.
I am open minded and, though opinionated, I know I have a lot to learn. I am always willing to consider (and adopt) new perspectives as I learn more--and I do not consider the willingness to change one's position on a matter in light of new information to be a sign of weakness. And, if I can teach that to my kids, and MY kids as well, I think I just might have done something right.
