Who is Mark Vega?
On the right is a video (created 2014) to introduce myself and my Teaching Philosophy
I taught 3rd Grade for one year and middle school since the 2011-2012 school year. I have taught 8th Grade Math since 2014 and 7th Grade Math since 2018.
I have degrees in Science Business and Education and studied at UC. Berkeley, San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay.
Prior to becoming a teacher I spent the first 18 years of my career in information technology and left this field to act as primary caregiver to my newborn son. The time I spent caring for my son has truly been a life changing experience. Up until then, I’d spent the majority of my time and energy climbing the corporate ladder to build a successful software development career. The time with my son, and the perspective it afforded me, convinced me that I must go down a new path. While the idea of becoming a teacher had always lurked in the back of my mind, the real commitment to make teaching my second career came when my son entered school.
I have been married over 30 years to my wife, Julie and my son, Carlo is in college. My hobbies are art, construction and martial arts I am the president of Multi-Choices, a youth program geared to help at-risk kids.
I grew up in a migrant, low-income community and was selected for retention in the 1st grade. By the 3rd grade I was working. In high school I was “tracked” into wood shop and auto shop classes, was told by teachers and counselors I would never go to college and watched family members die from gang violence or drugs.
When I was 17 years old I severely injured my neck and doctors told me I might be in a wheelchair by the time I was 30. I had practiced martial arts, wrestling and boxing and intensified my workouts to include physical therapy.
After high school I became the first family member to receive a college degree (I am also very proud that my mother received her degree several years after I graduated). College was difficult for me because I did not like middle or high school. I took a math test in college and found out I had never really learned arithmetic so I had to retake all the classes I should have learned in middle and high school. While taking different classes and studying hard I found out I was actually good at math.