I’ve been doing a LOT of reading about blogging lately. More precisely, I’ve been reading about blogging ever since I received the inspiration from Mrs. Stugart to create my own teaching blog. (props: Stugart Sense ) One of the interesting concepts I’ve learned from this website is the idea of auditing other blogs. The first blog that I’ve chosen to audit is titled dy/dan, authored by Dan Meyer. Read the rest of this entry »

About Me

I’m a young guy who is just trying to make it through his first year of teaching in an inner city high school. Meanwhile, I’m also trying not to fail at my first year of marriage. In my excessive amount of free time (yeah, right), I thought it might be entertaining to others if they were able to read directly about my trials.

About My Career (So Far)

I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English, licensed to teach English (grades 7-12) in the state of Tennessee. Being told that “they need teachers EVERYWHERE,” I assumed that the job search would be a cakewalk. Three months later, I finally found an interim teaching job in North Nashville. I would be teaching 5th grade Language Arts for two months while the “real teacher” was on maternity leave. This middle school had 87% of the student body on free lunch. I would have blogged about this school teaching experience, but I came home with a headache every day.

When the teacher chose to return, I set out for another job search. This search didn’t last nearly as long…like 2 weeks. I found myself accepting a job at Stratford High School in East Nashville. At this point it may be interesting to note that I do not actually live in Nashville. I live about 40 minutes away, in Murfreesboro. It’s quite the daily commute, but it’s worth it…so far.

Welcome!

My name is Bryan Cook, and I have just wrapped up my second week of instruction at Stratford High in Nashville, Tennessee. I teach English IV, as well as a (currently untitled) elective literature course which focuses on studying film as literature.

This is my first attempt at blogging as a classroom teacher. Hopefully this site will become a venue not only for my thoughts, but also for conversations with many of my students and colleagues.

If you choose to make a comment, please include some way to identify yourself. I would love to know that someone in the “real world” is reading this blog!