If you’ve stumbled on this site and snooped around a bit, you may be thinking, “Who’s this Brian, and what is this site about?”

Professionally, I’m a young teacher in an urban high school in New Jersey.  I graduated from RU with an M.Ed. in 2007, and since then I’ve been teaching high school Social Studies.

Along the way, I also got married and purchased my first home… but kids aren’t in the mix yet. It’s amazing how many times I get asked that question by my students.

While teaching is an all-consuming profession, I do find time to engage in a number of hobbies and pursuits. I’ve been known to indulge in gaming – both video games and tabletop games – from time to time. I enjoy writing and publishing things on the Internet, and to do so I’ve learned a lot about web design and web development. Then there are some other random aspects of my life – like cooking or learning to play the guitar.

This site is an attempt to roll all of those passions into one site, while dissociating them into separate spaces. As you navigate around the site, you’ll find four distinct places.

Teach Them Well

Like I said earlier, I’m a teacher by trade. It’s probably the single most time consuming aspect of my life, and therefore it takes pride of place in my online reflections.

In this section, you can read all about my life as a teacher – my quest to gain access to adequate technology, my search for useful resources, my struggle to help my students become proficient readers and effective citizens.

For a more in depth description of this part of the site, take a read through: What’s “Teach Them Well” All About?

Nerds at Play

As a child, I loved video games. I spent many – too many – a waking hour playing some computer game or another. Even in college I spent far more of my life than I like to admit playing World of Warcraft.

Although I’ve kicked the MMORPG habit (for the time being), I still indulge in games from time to time. When I do, I like to write about the experience. Sometimes it helps me reach clarity about how I really feel about a game, and sometimes I think I’ve got a little nugget of wisdom that should be added to the Internet’s repertoire.

You can expect to read about whatever video game I’m currently playing, or my return to tabletop games – like Warhammer Fantasy.

Check out the “Nerds at Play” About page for some more insight.

Nerds at Work

I originally intended to be a software developer/engineer. Somewhere along the way, I changed paths.

I did not, however, give up on computers and technology. As this blog might suggest, I’ve still got a keen interest in the internet, online publishing, web development, web design, and other related fields. It’s more a hobby than a profession, but it’s a passion nonetheless.

This site is a place for me to think through problems that I face in this online work, and to share the knowledge I’ve gained. When I first created it, I wrote a lot about PHP programming – and it really helped to crystallize whatever I was learning or working on.

In the future, I’ll probably focus more on web design and graphic design, but I wouldn’t rule out a return to scripting and programming. I would, however, rule out game design. It once was a dream, but I think I’ll just have to give that up.

Check out the “Nerds at Work” About page for some more insight.

Life of Brian

This final category is, well, whatever’s left over.

Some things deal with the maintenance of the site, but don’t fit neatly into one of the other spaces. Some things deal with my other hobbies – like cooking or music.

And some things are just bits of search engine bait that might not appeal to the average subscriber to one of the topic-specific feeds.

Heck, who knows what it’ll be about. I guess you’ll just have to read it.

When I went to college, I originally thought I’d be going into a computer related field – like software development. Early on,  I switched majors and I ended up pursuing education… but I never entirely left behind my desire to work on tech related projects.

During the Fall of 2007, I brushed up on my web development knowledge – specifically PHP programming and HTML/CSS design – and created an education themed website. The intent was for it to be a tool for teachers to create web quests and to share lesson plans. It worked (and some teachers still use it to create web quests), but I soon ran out of steam and lost the motivation to upkeep such a far-reaching project.

At about the same time, I created a website to share my growing knowledge about web development and web design. As I developed Babel, I was constantly learning new things about PHP, HTML/CSS, and JS. It seemed like a waste to keep these things to myself – and writing up what I had learned helped cement it in my head.

At present, both of those projects are defunct. This new blog incorporates all of the material I’d written for the original web dev site (at least, it eventually will).

Most of my online pursuits are now focused around publishing – writing for my education blog and at third party sites like Associated Content - but I still fiddle around with web development stuff from time to time. In particular, I’m constantly looking for ways to improve the design of this site, and I’ll likely write about that quest in depth.

My name is Brian, and I’m a teacher. Contained in these pages are my thoughts on education and things that I’ve found useful in my practice as an educator.

Where Do You Teach?

I teach in an urban school in New Jersey – or as we call it in NJ, an Abbott district.

I’d say that my little city is typical of what you’d expect in an “urban” area.

High poverty – about two-thirds of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The population is mostly non-white – in our case, about 90% African American and 10% Hispanic. Crime levels in the city are relatively high, and it touches the lives of our students. There is, as you might expect, some gang activity.

Despite these statistic and characteristics, it is not the type of city school portrayed in movies. While there is crime in the city, I’ve never felt unsafe at work. I’ve been around the city at night for sporting events, and there’s no impending sense of doom.

It’s a bit strange to think of the juxtaposition between the dangerous neighborhoods that some of my students pass through on the way home and the seemingly normal environment we share during the day.

Academically, the school is also what you might expect from the label “urban.” We’ve been classified by NCLB as failing, and our test scores are typically not good. Although our graduation rate as reported by the state of New Jersey is pretty high, our Senior class is significantly smaller than our Sophomore class.

Despite what the data might suggest, it’s a gross over-simplification to call the school a “failure.” Many of our students graduate, and many of them continue on to college. Our students perform community service – they organized a blood drive last year. The school has a percussion ensemble that’s been featured in the local newspaper and on the ABC Eyewitness news. The animation academy has turned out some successful professionals.

We certainly have improvements to make, but there’s plenty for us to be proud of.

What Do You Teach?

I’m certified by the state of New Jersey as a K-12 Social Studies educator.

I currently teach United States History I, in several different variations.  I teach a handful of honors students, a few classes that have a mix of regular ed and mainstreamed students, and a section for LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students.

Although strictly speaking, the curriculum dictates that I should teach my students American history from 10,000 BC to around 1900, I like to interpret that broadly. I’ve been known to find ways to connect some seemingly irrelevant topics to our curriculum – like the Kent State shootings, world hunger, and the 1990′s Rwandan genocide.

Where Did You Learn to Teach?

Although I was formally trained – and it was very helpful – I’d say that I didn’t learn to teach until I got my own classroom in September 2007. There’s only so much that college and student teaching can prepare you for.

I attended Rutgers University and completed the Grad. School of Education’s 5-Year Program. This allowed me to spend five years at Rutgers, earn a B.A. in Political Science and an M.Ed. in Secondary Social Studies Education. It’s a great program, and I’d recommend it to anyone thinking of going to school to be a teacher.

In the fall of ’06, I student taught at the Grade Nine Center at Old Bridge High School in Old Bridge, New Jersey.

What Do I Write About Here?

That kind of depends on my mood.

Technology. I grew up with technology, and despite the constraints that I face every day I’m determined to incorporate it into my classroom. A lot of what I write will focus around resources that I’ve found online, and about how I make do with the physical resources I have in school.

I think we all wish that we had an unlimited budget to outfit our room with computers and gadgets, but we don’t. More often than not, though, we can get by with what we’ve got, if we have a little determination, a little courage, and a little know-how.

Topics in Social Studies.  Well, it is what I teach.  I wouldn’t say that this is a content-specific teacher blog, but I’ll no doubt write about some of the topics that teach in class as well as some of the methods and lessons that I’ve found to be successful.

One purpose of the blog is to share what I’ve learned through my teaching with other teachers and prospective teachers, and I think it would be kind of strange to not write about my own content area.

Struggling with Literacy.  The difficulty that my students have reading and writing troubles me daily. Since my days at Rutgers and Old Bridge, I’ve found the topic worth exploring, and it is now more relevant than ever.

Ultimately, I may end up doing some research into this area of education, and I’d like to keep track of some of my initial thoughts, questions, and observations while I teach.

Being a Student. I plan to return to Rutgers soon to begin a doctoral program. Although I don’t plan on leaving the classroom anytime soon, I would like to continue my own education and delve into educational research. This would also provide me the option down the line to teach at college.

There’s no better way to work out what you’re learning than to reflect on it in writing. When I begin my classes and my research, I’ll probably end up writing about it here.

What’s With the Name?

It’s a reference to the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song – Teach Your Children Well. They may have been singing about parents and children, but for me it seems to perfectly describe the teacher-student relationship.

We may not always understand each other, but you should never let that push you apart. Whenever your students do something inexplicable, just, “look at them and sigh, and know they love you.”

Good question.  What is this all about?

I’ve always loved games. As a youth, I idled away many an hour – sometimes too many – playing video games and computer games. From the original NES in 1989 to a shiny new computer in 2008, I’ve almost always had a platform on which to play some type of video game.

The Dominance of WoW

My last major obsession with games was World of Warcraft.  I think many people share that problem. Thankfully, I managed to put it down and walk away.

This left me with a bit of blogging vacuum, though. While playing WoW, I started a blog to discuss my progress and share with others my tips and insights on playing (specfically on how to play a Paladin). With no more WoW, I was left with nothing to write about!

Nerds at Play is thus a continuation and extension of that old project. I ported the old articles over, so if you look in the archives you’ll see plenty of stuff about WoW. Most of it is outdated now that WotLK came out, but some may find it interesting and/or educational.

No WoW?  What Now?

My goal is somewhat similar, but the scope is now larger. While I don’t play WoW anymore, I still spend some time gaming. When I do, I love to share that experience with others.

In part, writing about the game helps me achieve some clarity.

• Do I like it? Why?
• Am I good at the game? Why? Or… why not?
• How could this game be better?
• What do I wish I knew before I played Game X or completed this portion of Game Y?

These are questions I ask myself constantly, and writing about them gives me a chance to reflect on them. In particular, I like to think about what makes me good or bad at a certain game so that I can get better. At the same time, I can share my learning experiences with others so that they can avoid the same mistakes.

So… What Games Are We Talking About?

At the moment, I’m enjoying Fallout 3.  However, I don’t think that’ll last forever.

I’m looking forward to Jagged Alliances 3, and I’ll have plenty to say about it when it comes out.  In the interim, I’ll probably find some other computer games to kill some time.

I also enjoy tabletop games – particularly Warhammer Fantasy.  After a short hiatus, I’m getting back into it, so part of my gaming will certainly be unplugged.

Basically, the topic of the blog will follow my interests in games.  Some will be brand spankin’ new computer games, while others may be tabletop war games.  They’re all fun, and they’re all worth sharing.