Name: Kathleen Weaver
Title: Computer Science Teacher and Teacher Tech
Company: Hillcrest High School
Contact Info: Any of the following:
Email: kweaver@tenet.edu
URLs: www.metronet.com/~kathleen
www.click-l.com
www.txcs-teach.org
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): Was dissatisfied with my job, especially since I had no control over what assignments I had or what direction they went in. Enjoy working with teenagers and decided to go back to school to get teaching certificate and then teach high school. All around me discouraged me, because they didn't think I would like it, but I do.
How I organize my day: Arrive very early for tutoring, organizing labs, and doing non-teaching related assignments. First class period is conference/duty when I assist other teachers with equipment, or do non-teaching related assignments such as organize testing, or work on other major projects for the building. Rest of the day is curriculum driven. I teach 5 subjects, webmastering, Visual Basic and 3 levels of C++.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): 9-10 hours a day in the office. Another 4-5 hours a day "keeping up with computer science", either taking classes myself -- am working on my masters, researching the web for curriculum items.
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: Hanging around teenagers makes you think and ask the same questions they do. They send me off looking at things differently.
My problem-solving strategy: Bounce ideas off of supervisors or my students.
What I do to relieve stress: Train dogs.
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: One of my math professors from TWU -- Dr. Hogan. He believed in finding as many ways as possible to explain something. That the more you knew the better teacher you were.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: Set an example, give direction, give ideas. Help them stay focused. That goes for both students and co-workers.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: Had a very stressful job. Boss wouldn't let me change assignments, and didn't enjoy working on the assignment I had. I quit, took another job where I had even less choices. So quit to teach, best move I ever made. Pay is lousy but the benefits are great.
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: I wish I'd gone back to school to get my master's sooner. I'm seeing a very big difference in how I teach, how I look at things since I went back this year, and it's being reflected in my students abilitlies.
What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: Honesty and work ethic are the most important. Treating people fairly and making a difference.
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: I am actually teaching my students a skill that they can support themselves and/or a family with which will allow them to change the cycle and become productive citizens.
Biography: Received a commendation from a local police department for the work I did in training their officers and setting up things in a user friendly matter. My goal now is go get a Master of Science, majoring in computer science from the University of North Texas and to continue to build my computer science program and to encourage others to teach computer programming at the high school level.
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Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/kathleen_weaver.html