Personal background Significant events Reasons Preparing

Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, was my high school home. The mighty Mojo was a football powerhouse during the 70's; a book, Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger was written about that football program and the mystique and attitudes surrounding it. Now the fact that my parents, who still lived in Odessa at the time, wanted to burn the author at the stake indicates how this tome was received, but it is a really good read.

I followed a woman (not the one I married) to Sam Houston State University where I received a Bachelor's of Music Education in 1984. I felt that I was too young to teach when I graduated, so I followed another woman (not the one I married) to West Texas State University, now West Texas A & M University, to work on a Master's of Music Performance. After a year of graduate school, I decided that I was old enough to teach; I also didn't want to be poor the rest of my life as a piano-slash-tuba player. I moved to McAllen, Texas, to be an assistant band director at McAllen High School (my understanding of money was a little hazy at this time in my life).

FINALLY, in McAllen I met my wife, Melody. We decided that I was mature enough to be a head band director, so we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a head band director job at Manzano High School and a $5000 pay cut (I told you that my understanding of money was "not good").

After one year in a rather rough environment, my wife, bless her, pushed me into computers. I worked as a Systems Engineer for Electronic Data Systems until 1994, creating the software switches that allow you to get money from an ATM and shipping programs that send parts to your General Motors dealership from Flint, MI. The movie "Roger & Me" is about Flint, MI, and, yes, it is as bad as the film portrayed it to be. I ended up in Grand Prairie, TX, after begging for 3 years to move back to the big skies of Texas.

I worked at Tandy Corporation, now RadioShack, until 1998 as the Team Leader of Web Development. We created the catalog on the RadioShack.com site as it exists today. I became the Director of Web Architecture at Harcourt College Publishers in 1998 and created web sites, animations, online stores, and book information repositories for college textbooks until the office was closed in early 2002.

After going through all of the psychological phases of layoffs, I decided to return to the beginning. I loved teaching and made it a part of my job description at every company that I have worked. And here I am!

• 1985 - Played with a Mac that no one knew how to use at McAllen High School. Created a marching show that actually worked. Became interested in personal computers.
• 1987a - Got married and never looked back.
• 1987b - Bought first 8088 machine for way too much money. Destroyed and rebuilt that machine about 10 times in one year using Windows 3.1.
• 1988 - Took the leap and applied at EDS. No skills or background in computers. Hired because symbology of music is similar to computer programming.
• 1990a - Daughter Lee was born. Could no longer pretend that I was in college.
• 1990b - Rewrote the conveyor systems at General Motors in COBOL and Fortran.
• 1993 - Discovered that normal people don't know anything about computers; led a technology support team for software sales to banks and trucking companies
• 1994 - Created TCPIP socket programs in C and C++ for RadioShack. First understanding of the basic language of the Internet. Built the first web site for Tandy Corporation and presented to Board of Directors. First contact with REALLY rich people.
• 1996 - Learned Microsoft's Active Server Pages and Visual Basic to create web sites and applications. I like VB; it reminds me of COBOL - simple and quick.
• 1997 - Son Matt is born. I REALLY have to start acting like a grownup.
• 1998 - Built testing lab for RadioShack and wrote recommendations for Internet Development Team Structure and Development Practices. Quit the company, then proposals were accepted and implemented.
• 2000 - Created the first sales representative locator in the college textbook industry that actually worked. Cut customer complaints and calls from 2700 per month to 1 per month.
• 2001 - Created electronic books in PDF format that could not be copied or transferred. First time in college textbook industry that a company sold books in this format.
• 2002 - Built web sites for schools and volunteer organizations, such as Eagle Mountain Soccer and EMSISD's PACE program. Worked as a Technology and Management Consultant to different publishers, school districts, and companies. Paid more taxes than I have ever paid in my life.
• 2003 - Will be the Technology Applications and Computer Science teacher at Juan Seguin High School in Arlington ISD, starting in Fall 2003.

 

This kept me involved with grownups in the education realm. For kids, I am and have been a soccer coach since 1994. I have coached all of my daughter's teams, will coach my son's teams, and will be certified by the North Texas Soccer Association to teach up to 18 year-olds by the middle of next year. This has given me a weekly dose of "kid life", a continual reminder of how interesting and strange the world can be when you don't know that much about it.

I left teaching because the wisdom and perspective needed to be an effective teacher weren't there yet. 16 years later, I've had plenty of chances to figure that part out.

I have taught languages, packages, methodologies, and ideas to adults and it is time to return the knowledge to those who really need it - the kids. I enjoy seeing a child become larger than the teacher and move beyond what is expected. This doesn't happen as often as it should, and I would like to help it happen more often.

My concerns revolve around teaching what needs to be taught and documenting that fact so that my fellow teachers, administrators, and evaluators can understand it. My focus for TATC has been on the TEKS; I have not delved into it as deep as I need to for true effectiveness in a public school environment.

Knowledge of school procedures, grading, parking, documentation, classroom rosters, and attendance will probably cause me more stress than working with the kids. Anyone who can help me on that score is my deepest and dearest friend.