Hello, my name is Alex. I’m a retired school teacher. I taught in the Ysleta Independent School district—El Paso, Texas—for 25 years. Fifteen of those years were in the classroom. The other ten years were at the district offices.

In the classroom I used as much technology as I could get my hands on. That was challenging in the 90’s. I found schools used Mac computers. I was a DOS and Windows person. Bought a book to learn Apple and setup a computer lab during one of my summers. Complete with server and Internet access.

That caught the eye of lots of people in the district. I was soon asked to lead the campus technology position in a new school. That caught the attention of people at the district offices. I was soon asked to apply for a technology position. I applied and spend the next ten years providing professional development for teachers throughout the district. I provided training and support on anything and everything. That ranged from web site development to robotics and coding. All of it geared toward instruction in the classroom.

I have always had a fondness of computers and technology. It started with the first radio I took apart. I don’t remember what prompted me to take the radio apart, but it started me on a journey of discovery by taking things apart. Putting them back together was always a hit or miss situation. I eventually did break that first radio by removing a capacitor. I thought it was a chiclet —gum. I learned that I could learn what made things working if I broke them. I try not to break too many things but I am never discouraged by the act of breaking something.

My first computer was a Commadore 64. I spent hours coding games. My next computer was a Tandy 1000. I bought it used from the business where I worked. I programmed their business system. They ran a car rental company. This was my first exposure to the Unix operating system. I didn’t know it would one day come to drive the World Wide Web. I still use it in the form of Linux.

I took these experiences with me when I entered education. I didn’t plan to be an educator. I actually wanted to be an Engineer or Lawyer. Got my degree in Criminal Justice. Found out it still needed to go to Law School. Stumbled into education while trying to decide what to do with my life. Loved it from the first day! Never looked back.

I’m retired and still develop online instructional material for teachers and students. I guess you can tell I still love it.