Milestones

My road in life has taken me all over.
Passion for reading.
Passion for writing.
Studied English because it was the one subject for which I actually had some ability.
While operating a crane in Boston, I realized that I could finance grad school.
I enjoyed working the crane with close friends, but was getting too old physically; change needed.
I taught in a Yeshiva in Miami Beach which was an eye-opening experience.
Then I worked at a school with an economically deprived population in W. Palm Beach, Florida.
I met my wife, a SoCal girl, and she suggested applying to LBUSD...and I got in!!
Keep following my journey

Career

English Teacher, Grades 9 & 10

I teach at Laguna Beach High School.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Education
Writing
Teaching / Mentoring

Day to Day

I enjoy sharing my passion for literature and language with my kids. I try to remember that some kids view English with the same disdain and fear that I felt for math and science when I was a high school, so I feel that my job is to make English class just a little bit less painful; it's MY job to try to create lifetime readers, and to avoid teaching in such a pedantic manner that I cause my students to hate reading and writing. A lifetime reader will enjoy a fuller, richer life.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for high school students

Read, read, read. Reading is the best way to understand good writing and to enhance your critical thinking. The language of Shakespeare, Milton, and the King James Bible, if you are willing to take the time to study it, is among the most magnificent gifts ever bestowed on humankind. The English language can convey a person's greatest fears, deepest secrets, profoundest anguish, and undying love and do so with a beauty and rarity normally reserved for painters. Whether poetry or prose...read.

Recommended Education

My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:

certification
Certification/License
Single Subject Credential

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Myself:

"I was particularly lucky to have parents who did not push me in a specific direction, but simply wanted me to be happy and fulfilled, no matter what career I selected. I wish I could say the same of all my students; I see many of them pressured."

Challenges I Overcame

Financial