Meet Don
“I’ll move to Miami and teach high school math if you give me the toughest school you have” Don told the Director of Human Resources for Miami-Dade County schools. Later that day, he was hired to teach mathematics in Liberty City in one of America’s toughest schools. With a B.S. in Mathematics and no formal teaching training, Don set out to change the students in his class with a whole lot of love, a little common sense and a style that is anything but common.
After having spent the previous year teaching in the highest rated high school in Georgia, Don learned through his experiences in Miami that kids are kids. They all want and need the same things: love, structure and direction. When these three elements are present, learning takes off!
Results? The passage rate on the math portion of the FCAT, the state graduation test, doubled over two years! Why? Though there are several reasons, Don’s contribution was a well managed classroom in an environment where 80% of classroom time is spent on classroom management, a New Teacher Training Program Don created and implemented, setting extraordinarily high standards for students who could not read, write or add well and coaching his peers to success.
Don has been where you are- a classroom teacher. The same principles and strategies that work with 42 high school kids in a book storage room in inner city Miami in one of America’s hardest schools will work right where you are. Don knows how it feels to be punched in the mouth by a student, surrounded by a group of hostile students (not his own!) in the hallway and have his life threatened by kids who would just as soon cut him as look at him. BUT, he, too, knows the joy of hearing one of his students say,“Mr. B, this is the first time in 11 years of school that I’ve been able to learn. Thank you for giving me a safe place to learn.” In fact, his passion led him to earn the title of New Teacher of the Year.
Less interesting stuff- Don graduated with honors with a B.S. in Mathematics. He enjoys basketball, cycling, reading, playing the drums, his guitar and a challenge.
