My greatest inspiration as a teacher is my late elementary school principal. Dr. Julian King was the kind of educator who cared about each individual student, who saw not a student's grades or behavior, but abilities and needs. Dr. King was the first teacher in my career as a student who saw me not as a behavior problem, but a bored kid with a high IQ and a chaotic home life. Dr. King had my IQ tested, then set about making sure the school gave me useful and creative outlets. He turned my life around, keeping me from following in the footsteps of my two brothers. I don't know why it took me so long to realize I was born to be a teacher, particularly after the stellar example in Dr. King of what a teacher can mean in a child's life. Other people predicted a teaching career for me as early as high school, and I knew I wanted to work with young people, but I had to thrash around for years trying other disciplines before I could see the obvious. I was a perpetual student for a long time, directionless and underperforming because I had no goals. Once I got in front of a classroom, though, I felt I'd come home; it was only when I knew I was a teacher that I found focus as a student.

reading, creative writing, screenwriting, animals, herpetoculture, birdwatching, astronomy, aquarium-keeping, lifelong learning