My life as an educator has been a varied and rewarding journey. In July 2003 I emigrated from the United Kingdom, married and settled to live and work in Columbia. I was educated in England, gaining my BA in Ancient and Modern History from Oxford University in 1999. Subsequently, I trained to teach History at Nottingham University and then served as a History Teacher and second in department at Fairfax 11 – 18 school in Birmingham, England for three years.
In January 2004 I joined the Social Studies staff here at OMHS and have taught Regular, Honors and AP History classes, in US, World History and World Religions. It has been my privilege to teach History every year that I have been teaching. Education has always provided me with a satisfying challenge and I love to see students enjoy history, develop their thinking skills and increase their knowledge of the past and what it means to us today.
For the past four summers I have been working as an Assistant Principal in the Howard County Comprehensive Summer School program. The opportunity to explore leadership, and to serve students of Howard County has been an honor. It is a particular blessing to be able to look out for OMHS students over the summer as well as during the school year.
This year I will continue to develop the Peer Leaders of Oakland Mills (PLOOM2.0). We are going to resource student leaders in the school building through workshops, but more importantly, we are continuing a mentoring program to empower incoming freshmen and rising sophomores. I think this is an exciting way to build community and invest in the future of our village.
Technology, and its use in education is almost as much of a passion of mine as history itself. I try to embed as many contemporary tools into my instruction as I can, but also ensuring that learning technology does not take precedence over learning history. While I do not contribute as often as I have in the past to online networks, I still read a wide variety of RSS feeds, and see myself as a life-long-learner in our new collaborative, connected world.
Oakland Mills means more to my wife (who also works at Oakland Mills High School) and I than any community we have ever experienced. Five years ago we bought a town home in the village near the school. You will often see us walking with our daughter and our dog ‘Dicey’ around the playing fields or shopping in either Oakland Mills or Owen Brown village center. We love being a part of the school community and hope to stay here for many years. In fact we hope that our daughter will attend schools in this community. Where else could we find the same sense of belonging?
