About Me

About Me

If you are reading this, you must want to know a little bit more about me, my background, and maybe a little bit of what I believe. I believe I have found my purpose in teaching and coaching and I really try to go through life fulfilling that purpose. Some days I feel that I do a great job at achieving it and other days I fail miserably. No matter what, I try to start over the next day and do it all again. Hopefully I encourage others to do the same as well. I am a husband to my wife. I am a father to my children. I am a teacher to my students. I am a coach to my athletes. I am a brother to my siblings. I am a son to my parents. I am a member of my church and a helping hand to someone in need.

I graduated from Lemoore High School and then went on to Fresno State on a track scholarship where I competed in the event of pole vaulting. I was always good at math and so I started out majoring in Mechanical Engineering, then I switched to Kinesiology. Later, I realized I wanted to teach math and so I got my teaching credential in Mathematics. I fell in love with teaching math and coaching track and my life has never been the same since. Some people would think this is crazy, but I GET TO teach math for a living. I love it and dare I say, it is fun!

I started coaching Track & Field at Buchanan during the 2001 season. My first year teaching was the 2001-2 school year at Gateway (Continuation) High School and I taught there for 4 years. Looking back at my time there, I learned the difference between teaching students and teaching curriculum. At Gateway, you had to teach the student first and forget about the curriculum. It was relationship first, and curriculum second. In 2005 I started teaching at Buchanan where I learned how important it is to have a solid tie between what is taught, what curriculum is assigned, and what is assessed.

With that being said, I work really hard to make sure that I teach everything that a student needs to know in order to pass every single test. I also understand that students are unique and have different learning styles and what works for one, does not necessarily work for all. My expectations are that students will self assess how much material they are understanding and get help when they do not understand. I believe in explaining, practicing, and finally assessing to see how much was learned.

Lastly, I believe grades are earned and not given. I also believe that grades represent how much of the material each student mastered and was willing to work for. Grades are merely a mathematical calculation of the assignments completed and assessment scores. How much I like a student has nothing to do with their grades. At the end of the semester, there is no extra work and the grade posted is the grade earned. Students will be responsible to monitor the grades inputted into Zangle and make sure they are reaching their goals. I celebrate the A's and B's, but realistically, I hope for C's or better for all students. When students graduate HS, I never remember what Grade they earned. Rather, I remember their work ethic, character, integrity, and personality.