About Me

Teaching Philosophy  

To teach English Language Arts for practical, personal, and professional purposes through skilled, considerate, and productive thinking at deep levels of cognition. 

I am no longer surprised to be an English teacher. I’ve been a student, a retail worker, an automotive-aftermarket customizer, a Harley-Davidson technician, a congressional aid, a transport driver, a craft brewer, a higher-ed administrator, an event coordinator, a small-business operator, a writer, a tutor, and much else (so far), but language has always been the means by which I engage the world. Now, as a teacher, I utilize all the skills and experience I have gained along the way to not only teach the practice of English Language Arts but also perpetually evolve my own abilities. Language skills are not just the ability to read and write: they harness powerful and well-practiced thought into myriad vessels, tools, and strategies which communicate and store ideas, notions, beliefs, weaknesses, strengths, our collective humanity, our stories, and so much more. Language reveals and develops what it means to be human—one of and among many. 

Well-honed language skills are more important than ever. The English language is a tool to realize our individual and social intelligence. By harnessing language, we build our thoughts into constructs and exercise those constructs into reality. We create through text and speech. We do it for ourselves and our interlocking, concentric communities. Of course, we learn to do all this through instruction and practice. Students by nature are geared to learn, explore, and utilize what adept language use makes possible. 

2025-26 will be another exciting year to be a teacher and learner on the educational frontier of our rapidly changing world. Each unique class and course demands flexibility, adaptability, fortitude, and persistent positivity to lead students into shared success. The core of what we do never changes: studying text to gain information, processing that information, and producing original thought and/or artifact in response. Everyone deserves access to top-quality education, and we who teach take on a responsibility to weave rigorously educated individuals into society. Every student brings something to the classroom, and what I bring as a teacher helps me guide and facilitate students into successful citizenry.  

“There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.”

― Marshall McLuhan