Main
Background
Contact Information
Current Classes
Classes I Teach
Valencia Links
Math Links
Photos
Background
For those who may be interested, here is a little background
into my education and
how I got here...
Way back when I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted
to do with the rest of
my life. Lack of anything approaching musical or athletic ability meant dreams
of being
a Rock Star or playing in the NBA weren't going to happen. So I just went with
the flow
and
enrolled in the local community college...
Indian River CC.
My SAT scores placed me in a
Precalculus course during my first semester. I hadn't
thought of myself as having any particular
talent in mathematics but I did pretty well in
that
class. The instructor noticed and he
happened to be in charge of their Math Lab.
Once I
was done with Calculus he offered me a job
there, which turned out to be the
first step on the road that led to teaching.
I earned my AA degree after a couple of years
then decided to attend the University of
West
Florida, a state school located in
Pensacola. I still had no real idea what I
wanted and
majored in Electrical Engineering for a year before I realized that
career
wasn't for me. I switched to Math so that the year
wasn't completely
wasted. I had been
working in the UWF
Math Lab so I was familiar with the program.
Two more years passed until I had a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.
Then of course I wondered what to do with it. No thoughts sprung to mind so it
was
back to school.
I stayed at UWF, enrolled in the Math graduate program, and
after a
semester was offered
a Graduate Teaching Assistantship. I taught my first
class,
a College
Algebra section, in Fall 1998. I had no real teacher training and I
wasn't very comfortable
speaking in public so the experience was interesting to
say the least... but I
really liked it.
I spent lots of time preparing but it didn't feel like
work. I kept teaching
while I earned
my Masters degree, then I stayed at UWF
and taught full time for two years.
After a while I felt
like I should return to school. I applied to the University of
Central Florida and moved to Orlando in Fall 2002. Once again I was a GTA
with my own classes. During the summers I went back to my home town to
teach
at IRCC. That was somewhat surreal, working at the same place
where I
had first been a student. This went on for a few years until in Fall 2007
I got a job at
Valencia Community College. I worked at the East Campus for a year before
transferring to West, where I currently teach.
Over twenty years, hundreds of classes, and who knows
how many students later,
and I still love this job. Every semester brings fresh ideas, new
challenges,
different people. I want to continue to improve my teaching skills and
help my
students succeed... hopefully this page provides some insight into how and
why I am here...
Aside from teaching, my main interests are photography, basketball, and music (all kinds). I especially like
to combine those... to see some of my favorite photos I've taken over the past
year, follow this link.