Favorite Edulastic question type?

It’s got to be the graphing. You can’t graph anywhere else like you can in Edulastic so I’m going with that!

Favorite snack while using Edulastic

Butterfinger. And I always get it all over myself because it falls into millions of pieces.

Coffee or tea?

Coffee- all the way. I actually prefer Peets Coffee which I order in from California.

Favorite Book:

Bible

Best tactic to get the class quiet?

Usually I start singing and then everyone is quiet because it’s bad and they want me to be quiet. Yea I sing everything. I can’t sing at all but I try!

I’m in Tennessee so usually I sing old country. So sixties and seventies country- Conway Twitty or Jim Croce or something like that.

Must-have classroom decor:

You know I’m a man so I usually don’t decorate too much. Well, one of my students drew this picture of me with a coffee cup. It says on the coffee cup that I’m not a teacher, I’m a facilitator of learning. That’s one of my mottos.

Favorite time of the school year?

For me, the start. I am in charge of running our summer schools so during those times I transition into an administrative role. Once I get everything up and running I’m good to know.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I’m a semi-professional bowler. I met my wife through bowling. I do that and I work in a jail ministry with my church. That’s pretty much my life.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?

Finding an awesome spouse. She’s an educator also.

Dream vacation spot?

Well my wife is allergic to the sun so that makes it hard. Probably Alaska- one of the five states I haven’t been to yet. It wasn’t a goal of mine but I’m so close, it might as well be. I’m going to California in May and that will be new.

Funniest student moment?

Hmm well one I can’t tell you, it would be a little gross.

I guess the funniest would be when me and one of the cheerleaders had a toe touch competition. You know when a cheerleader jumps in the air and puts her hands out and the feet go up to touch the hands? That’s a toe touch.

And I won by the way. Yep.

There is YouTube footage but it’s blurry so you wouldn’t want to include it.

Kindest compliment you have received from a student?

Oh gosh. You know I actually took in one of my students for a little while. He called me “Dad” for a little while while we were taking care of him. It’s a long story. 

And then I used to run our credit recovery programs. Some of the students said they wouldn’t have graduated without my help. 

To me, actually making a difference in their lives so they don’t continue that cycle of poverty, and now they got a high school diploma and can get a job making decent money. They wouldn’t have graduated without my help.

Tell us more about your teaching style and philosophies!

My class is taught in a blended flip format. I’ve been flipping my classroom for eight years now. I feel like that has been one of my strengths. I didn’t even know what I was doing at first just to be honest with you. I kinda fell into it and it worked because my kids thought it was cool and and they were learning so we went with it. I attest a lot of my growth and a lot of my success to that because it’s different- a lot of kids grow that way and I get to work with my kids hands-on. And it’s self paced so they work until they get to a test or Edulastic assignment.  I check their notes before they move forward to make sure they are ready for that. I have some students who are six chapters ahead of another student before the year is over. It’s also limitless. They can work as far as they want to. I have content built for pre-algebra all the way to AP calculus, so you know. I don’t believe in holding kids back. I believe in letting them go.

At one point I talked to a little girl. I said “Honey, you’re six chapters ahead of everybody else, what’s going on?” She said ” I don’t play a sport, I don’t play in the band, I like to do math, I go home and do math every night.” I said okay! And so I got to thinking about it and if it was an athlete or a musician, we wouldn’t hold that athlete or musician back. We would let them work as much as they wanted to and be as good as they could be, so from that point forward I told that little girl, I said, “You work, you do as much as you want to do.” That’s the standpoint I have now.

Thoughts on learning and access to information?

You know with YouTube and Google, knowledge is now everywhere. I am no longer the source of the information. In the former days when we had the sage on the stage, that was standing up and lecturing all day, that teacher had all of the information. The textbook had all of the information. The teacher regurgitated all the information, and then the students regurgitated all of that information back to them on a test. Well it’s no longer that way. Information is now everywhere. Kids can learn whatever they want to learn. It’s our job now to engage those students and to make life-long leaners for those students so they can have a better future.

I’m not one of those biddy teachers. We have fun and we learn.

I feel that it’s important that students have voice and choice in the classroom. The opportunity to learn the way that they learn. I use CK12 now more than I use to. They are a free OER resource. What I like about their stuff is that it’s free and if a student learns by reading, they have information they can read through. If a student learns by videos, they can learn that way. If they learn by kinesthetics, there are parts where they can take things and move them around. I believe we are beyond the days of a teacher standing up in front of the classroom lecturing and student regurgitating that information back.