Welcome from Mr D!

Hi Everyone!  I have been teaching middle school for 20 of my 21 years of teaching in public schools.  I have taught in three states.  Two of the states were in the South and one of the states in the Northeast.  I have taught children of all economic and cultural backgrounds.   In the early years, I felt like a miserable failure as a teacher.  I have lots of stories.  :)  Some of them are funny.  Some of them are...well...not so funny.  Each experience, good or bad, shaped my philosophy as an educator today.  In this blog, I want to share some of those stories and the lessons I learned from them.  I want other teachers to be encouraged.  I want you to laugh.  I want you to cry.  I want you to be moved to continue searching deep inside yourself to find the best possible way for you to serve the middle school children you teach using the natural gifts you have as a human being. 

I love this age group, but they certainly aren't the easiest group to figure out.  Hopefully, some of the things I offer in this blog will help you serve the children in your middle school classroom at this critical juncture in their young lives.