About
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I teach 8th grade Literacy (English Language Arts) and write in my spare time. My wife and I have four boys, ages 14-20. The middle two were adopted locally from infancy and the oldest and youngest were adopted from Ethiopia.
My screenplay Snoop won the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest, which led to a one-year contract with Hollywood-based Literary Manager Colin O’Reilly (who later produced Will Ferrell’s Blades of Glory). In 2010, twenty students joined me when I formed a collaborative novel writing club called the Synthesis Project. Together we wrote a YA science fiction novel, Beasts of Eden. The next year, a new group of nine students and I wrote a YA fantasy novel, The Heart of Atlantis. For the 2013-2014 school year, I taught a novel writing course based on the Synthesis Project. Though the course was successful, it was canceled the following year due to scheduling changes. I further developed my collaborative novel writing approach for the 2015-2016 school year, using the process to produce three novels, one with each of my Literacy classes. This I continue to do each school year because I have found collaborative novel writing to be a wonderful way to develop rapport, provide a memorable learning experience, and teach the elements of powerful writing as well as grammar, punctuation and other conventions. Currently, my classes and I have written, edited, and self-published 11 collaborative novels. A few of my favorite things: writing, reading, trail running, movies, music, tennis, hiking, Words With Friends (though not "having words with friends"), adventurous eating (bibimbap!), traveling and enjoying time with family and friends. |
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