I grew up in the US outside of Seattle, Washington where I lived most of my life. I went to high school and college in Washington where I met my wife Elizabeth during our time together at Pacific Lutheran University.
We were married in 2005 and bought a house in Tacoma, Washington where we lived and worked for 3 years until moving to India to work at the American School of Bombay. After another 3 year period in Mumbai we are now in Porto Alegre, Brazil working at the Pan American School of Porto Alegre where Elizabeth is the head librarian and I am teaching grade 9-12 mathematics.
We have both always enjoyed travel, languages, and everything associated with international life and learning about other countries and cultures. This combined with a love for education and passion for teaching made it a clear choice that we wanted to live and work in the international school system.
Some of my personal hobbies include playing and listening to music, movies, tv (especially "The Office") and anything related to soccer. I am a player, coach, and general fan of everything soccer related. We were lucky enough to go to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa which was a truly amazing experience. I've been playing the sport my whole life and always look for opportunities to play or get involved with a team where ever possible.
I also enjoy web design, programming, and exploring new social media and web tools online. I love technology and it is a big part of both my personal and professional life. I have always enjoyed learning and investigating new and interesting ideas which means a lot of my free time is spent reading articles, watching TED talks, or finding new an interesting things I can use in my classes. I have also been spending my time over the last several years developing a math resource website for parents, teachers, and students that includes mathematical content, practice problems, discussion forums, information on anxiety and confidence, and links to other math resources.
Growing up, I always loved working with people and volunteering in places where I could work with children. Whether it was being an aide in a classroom, working with the Special Olympics program, coaching, or being a camp counselor, I have always enjoyed being able to work with youth and, when combined with my love for mathematics, made teaching an easy choice as a profession.
After high school, I attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington for 4 years where I received a Bachelors of Science Degree in Mathematics with minors in Computer Science, Actuarial Science, Statistics, and Religion. I explored the idea of going into the field of Biostatistics for a while but ended up returning to my life long passion of working as an educator. Once this decision was made, I stayed a PLU to attend their Masters of Education program where I had the experience of working in a middle school setting as well as developing a literacy program for an elementary school. I graduated in 2005 with a K-8 certification in all subjects and specialized 9-12 certification in Mathematics and Reading.
I wrote my master's thesis on math anxiety, perceptions of math ability, and methods to enhance confidence and depth of understanding in math classrooms. This continues to be an area of professional interest and I have enjoyed the opportunity to put this research to use in my classroom with students (and parents) who struggle with confidence in mathematics.
After graduate school, I worked for 3 years at Gig Harbor High School in Gig Harbor, Washington where I was teaching mixed classes of students grade 9-12 using the Core Plus curriculum developed by Western Michigan University. During this time, I had the opportunity to pilot new collaborative "academy" models for 9th and 10th graders where students were shared by a core group of teachers allowing for greater communication about student needs and curriculum integration. I also had the experience of working through school wide discussions on revising class schedules and timings as well as heading a committee to improve literacy skills and reading scores grades 9-12.
My wife and I decided during our final year in Tacoma to attend an international job fair and take the chance to live and work abroad. We accepted jobs at the American School of Bombay where I spent 3 years as a middle school math teacher. Apart from sitting on numerous academic committees, I was also the head of the 6-12 math department for 2 years which included significant work in course restructuring and alignment and a general 6 through 12 curriculum review process. I have attended several international conferences and workshops as well as presented at two international conferences on "The Web and Evolving Math Education" and "Teaching with Video".
I also attended an AERO standards workshop during my first year at ASB which led me to be actively involved in leading and supporting work with our PreK-5 teachers and consultant Erma Anderson to revise our elementary curriculum to better support this AERO framework and align topics appropriately within the EveryDay Math program and our PYP Units of Inquiry.
During my time at the American School of Bombay I gained a great deal of experience in a 1:1 laptop environment which allowed me to really engage with my passion for technology and to learn and explore myriad options for enhancing education through the use of technology in the classroom. We frequently used blogs, wikis, applets, video and audio recordings, and mathematical software to explore new ideas, collaborate, share, and reflect on our work. I still find myself weekly discussing and sharing new videos, sites, and ideas with other teachers on new and interesting ways to engage students in mathematical learning that is relevant, challenging, and builds their 21's century skill set.
After our time in India we moved to Porto Alegre, Brazil to the smaller PanAmerican School of Porto Alegre. During this time I was the only high school math teacher and, working with my middle school colleague, was responsible for again implementing AERO standards in grades 6-12 and again doing a full 6-12 scope and sequence alignment which included not only course design and topic allocations but all of the documentation of fully planned units, assessments and resources for the school. During this time I also attended AP trainings on and developed the first AP Calculus course taught on site at the school. I worked very diligently during my time at PAS to build a culture for high level mathematics including the creation of a math team that now competes on an annual basis and developing a sequence of programming and technology courses for students interested in exploring computer sciences.
Being such a small school I found myself involved in a multitude of committees including topics such as scheduling, academic honesty, creation of an advisory program, and the technology committee which allowed me to bring my expertise with tech integration into the planning and design of a BYOD program that is now fully implemented at the school.
I am passionate about what I do and am quick to get involved and work to create the best possible school environment for students. I am looking for more opportunities to work with technology in the classroom as well as opportunities to make use of my strong math background in new and challenging ways.