My first decade and a half in education have been quite a whirlwind of adventure, growth, and learning. My wife Heather and I decided to pull up our roots and venture abroad, and we have not looked back. Our three years of teaching ESL in South Korea taught us to love the international lifestyle and to step outside of our comfort zones. We then moved to Egypt where I worked as a classroom teacher at The American International School of Egypt- West Campus. While there, I grew as an educator and as a leader. Relationships with students were always at the heart of my teaching.

It wasn’t until moving to Bahrain at Riffa Views International School that I really began to open up and develop the desire to disrupt the traditional school ideals. Having great leaders in my time at RVIS has helped me develop my own passions for designing authentic learning experiences, developing agile learning spaces, and building constructionism into my classroom. I then was hired for the opportunity of a lifetime to help plan, design, open and manage the second location of LEVEL 5 within RVIS. This helped shape my next role as in the Cayman Islands.

For three years iI took on a role designing learning experiences for STEAM classes in the Cayman Islands with elementary students and taking on the role of EdTech coach in later elementary and middle school. In addition, stepped into a new teaching role as a High School design teacher. These experiences have helped me develop my teacher toolkit even more.

I am excited now to take on a new challenge in a new country at a new school. I will be working as a Technology Coordinator and STEAM teacher at Dostyk American International school in Atyrau, Kazakhstan! I am excited to see what new adventures await!

Just Because: Rethinking Educator Lifelong Learning