About+Mike

=About Mike= After graduating from the [|University of Scranton] in 1997, I moved into an apartment in Phoenix, AZ with an old college housemate. I taught at the Sequoia Charter School for a year, which was about as far from a well functioning school as one could get. The experience taught me quite a bit, though, and shaped much of my teaching style. I moved back home to Northeastern PA in May of 1998 and landed my current job at the [|Wallenpaupack South Elementary School] as a 5th grade teacher. During my time at [|Wallenpaupack] I have been involved in a plethora of district initiatives including improving mathematics instruction, classroom technology integration, data analysis, formative assessment, discipline, and staff development.

In 2008 I received a MS in Educational Administration from the [|University of Scranton]. This has opened new leadership opportunities for me, including my appointment as the Head Teacher at the [|South Elementary School]. Since starting as head teacher I am very proud of the improvements we have made as a school in our discipline program, the evolution of our math curriculum to stress a more conceptual approach to learning, and the climate of collaboration that has developed among the teaching staff.

From 2000 through 2009 I was blessed to be the first Head Girls Soccer Coach at [|Wallenpaupack]. You can find out more about our team and my coaching career at the [|Wallenpaupack Girls Soccer Website]. I have been a member of the [|National Soccer Coaches Association of America] (NSCAA) since 1999, and was the Wyoming Valley Conference league representative to the [|Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association](PSCA) from 2006 until 2009. After the 2009 season I retired from coaching to pursue other professional passions.

Those passions include improving public education through professional development. Since retiring from high school coaching, I have presented training sessions for teachers at educational conferences and within my school district. In addition, I have developed and taught an internal graduate credit course for [|Wallenpaupack] focused on technology integration and teacher collaboration through the building of a Professional Learning Network (PLN). Check the wiki home page to see where I'm presenting next.

Oustide of school, I am a hiker, semi-pro photographer and Disney addict. My favorite genre is nature/landscape, but I have done several portrait shoots. You can see my work in [|my portfolio]. I love to travel to new places and photograph them, but walking out my front door most mornings reminds me how lucky I am to live in a place where beautiful scenery is abundant.

I have two wonderful children, and an amazing wife, Lori, who is a teacher, award winning technology integrator, and the science department chairperson at [|East Stroudsburg North High School].