“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
Greetings old friends and new...and welcome to my new blog site. The name "Willie the Blog" comes from my original email address...williethebard@msn.com. I selected this name because I am a freak for all things Shakespeare...my real name is, of course, Darren.
I am a 19 year veteran of Chicago Public Schools. I spent the first 19 years of my career teaching English at Kelvyn Park High School and am close to finishing my first year of teaching at Taft High School. The change in schools this late in my career has been exhilarating. I currently teach 5 sections of juniors and sponsor Taft's Shakespeare and Equestrian clubs.
I am really lucky in that I continue to love teaching and learning new things as a teacher. For this reason, I recently completed my ESL endorsement and am currently working on an Ed Tech certification (?). The last class I took was Coding II and Robotics. The content was pretty challenging, but I really enjoyed it. If you want to learn a wee bit about robotics, take a look at my final project. If everything works the way it is supposed to, on completion of my ed tech classes, I will receive my second Masters degree. My previous BA and MA are from University of Illinois @ Chicago, where I still enjoy close ties with many of my English Education mentors.
I am a 19 year veteran of Chicago Public Schools. I spent the first 19 years of my career teaching English at Kelvyn Park High School and am close to finishing my first year of teaching at Taft High School. The change in schools this late in my career has been exhilarating. I currently teach 5 sections of juniors and sponsor Taft's Shakespeare and Equestrian clubs.
Davis, Mike. "The Waking Dead." Rogue Magazine. 18 October 2018. http://roguemag.org/the-waking-dead/
The only things I love more than teaching are being a
husband, father, and dog owner! My wife, Michelle, and I have been together for close to 30 years. She is still helping me to grow up. The woman has the patience of a saint. Our son, Quentin Xavier Tuggle is 12 years old. He is my best buddy. I hope it stays that way!
The top picture is Michelle and I at the theater. She used to be a dancer, and I have been a singer and actor, so we both love to see live dance and theater. The middle picture is of Quentin and Michelle doing another of our favorites...dining out. This picture is from our NYC spring break trip. It is ok if you thought my son was a girl. It cracks him up when it happens. I have been forbidden from correcting people. The bottom picture is from last week when Quentin earned his black belt in seido karate. Michelle and I just got involved at the school and he completely outranks us!
and then there are these little puddins...
and then there are these little puddins...
So this is us! I look forward to getting to know you all!
Derek/Willie, thank you for posting and sharing with us about yourself. As someone relatively new to teaching but who made a major career shift to come to it later in life, I was really struck by your 19 years of experience in the same school and passion at moving schools this year. I work mostly with post-secondary transition students with disabilities but I have some interaction with the high school seniors as well. I wonder, what did you have to relearn after such a solid stint in the same position and what translated to the new position to help ease your transition? Did changing schools give you a chance to recreate your classroom environment, or did you mostly recreate your old room in your new school? I look forward to learning with you as well! -- Dom
ReplyDeleteDarren,
ReplyDeleteI see that you are a fellow CPS teacher. I teach at Mary Lyon by Belmont & Austin. This is my fifth year at the school (1year as a tutor+ 4 years as a third grade teacher). Working nineteen years at the same school is amazing! You must have loved it to stay that long. I hope I retire at this current school because the students, fellow teachers, and principals are the best! My wife and I just bought our first house last July. We were bummed out that we couldn’t find an affordable house on my salary within the Taft school boundary zone. Our goal for the near future is to eventually move into the Taft school boundary zone for the second house. One of my co-workers mentioned to me that Taft accepts students from outside their boundaries through open enrollment as long as the student has the grades & NWEA scores. You might know more about this is this true or are only students that live within the Taft school boundary zone admitted?
Congratulations on working towards your second Masters degree. I know that it is not easy to juggle family, work, and grad school every week. Some days feel overwhelming with working on work related action items, grading, updating Aspen, communication with parents, spending time with the family, and still managing to complete grad school assignments to your best ability. However, I want to earn a second Masters just like you so I am still in for a long ride pertaining to grad school. Congratulations on your thirty years of marriage. My wife and I are approaching our fourth year of marriage. It appears from your post and pictures that you are very involved with your family in extracurricular activities. How do you manage to juggle family, work, and school? Based on your 19 years of teaching what is the best advice you have regarding juggling family, school, and work?
Regarding technology, is there something that you currently use at school that you recommend? I am a huge fan of https://testmoz.com/ It is an online test creating website. I pay $20 a year and it allows me to create online tests which are then automatically graded with my answer key. This tech tool has saved me valuable time that I now use on other things such as planning or spending time with the family. Take a look into it and try it out for one year and let me know what you think of it.
Respectfully,
Daniel
Aw Darren- you and Daniel are kinda making me miss CPS! Similar to you, I had stayed in the same CPS building for 21 years of my career before moving to a new school. It was quite a difference between them. I'm looking forward to learning with you and following your ed tech journey!
ReplyDeleteDarren, it is great to meet you! You and your wife seem like a sweet couple! Such a beautiful family! It will be great to learn from you as I have only taught at the elementary level. I am sure you have great experiences to share! EL is such an important degree to have as it lends itself in so many ways. Differentiating instruction to reach all learners is such an important and vital part of teaching in today's classroom! It will be great to learn from and with you during this course and beyond. :-)
ReplyDeleteToni