I don’t normally do these kinds of things, but this week has been far from normal! I was tagged by Carol to share 7 random things. It goes something like this:

The rules are:

– Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
– Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
– Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
– Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random things about me

1. I love the Bible. The Word of God used to not make any sense to me, but I asked God to help me understand it, and He did. I love learning about Him through it. I plan to start up a Bible study up with some friends in the spring of 2008.
2. I am a quintessential computer nerd. I was the co-president of the Computer club in high school. I was on a team that went to the Texas Computer Educators Association State Programming Competition. We won 9th place in the state. I knew I was going to be a band director, so I chose not to take the AP Computer Science test. My Comp. Sci. teacher and principal found the money somewhere, paid for me to take it, and I got a 5 (highest score). I didn’t earn a single credit for it.
3. I hate debt. My net worth has gone up over $12,000 in the last two years simply as a result of spending less than I make and consciously avoiding and eliminating debt.
4. I am a logophile. I love words. I love creating my own words based on other words I know. Being on stage in front of a class for 50 minutes each class, this is a great skill. I use big words in class quite a bit. One of my 6th grade students won the UIL Dictionary Skills competition a few years back. I made very sure that she was aware that I was personally responsible for her winning it. :)
5. I love art. As a band director, I get to be creative and expressive so much of the time. It’s great. This creativity spills over into other areas of my life. I began really seriously getting into graphic design in the fall of 2006. I love how far web development has come in the past decade. As I learn more about CSS, I learn about all sorts of cool and creative things I can do. I have already begun redesigning this website to make it more welcoming. To get yourself prepared, get yourself set up with Gravatar.
6. One of my favorite things to do is just sit and talk with friends. It all goes back to my love of learning, but when I talk with people, I learn about them. I also enjoy just watching people and seeing how they interact. Try it. Go to the mall, and just sit on a bench for about 10 minutes and watch.
7. I love music. I actually like creating it much more than I like listening to it. I enjoy meeting other musicians and learning from them. Again, there’s the silly old love of learning showing itself.

Now I’m supposed to tag 7 other people, so here goes:

1. Pat
2. Miss Profe
3. Jane
4. Betty
5. Miss A
6. ms_teacher
7. Mister Teacher

Joel Wagner

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.