I teach language arts at a traditional, "micropolitan" middle school in Staunton, Virginia.

I believe in making stuff with kids as a pathway to reading, writing, and problem-solving in community. I am co-founder and moderator of the collaborative progressive education blog CoöpCatalyst and I recently began work on #nerdcamp, which offers teachers peer-to-peer and student-mentored professional development in new media. I am a National Board Certified Teacher in early adolescence English/language Arts, a NETS*T certified teacher, a Mozilla Webmaker Mentor, and a National Writing Project teacher consultant and connected learning ambassador. I blog about make/hack/play education on my webpage, Classroots.org, and as a guest at sites like the National Writing Project's Digital Is.

I live in central Virginia with my wife, our two kids, our two cats, and eight (so far) fish. When I'm not teaching or blogging about education, I'm noodling around with code, playing with the kids, or enjoying their soccer games.