Chris

Certified Tutor

I am one of a rare breed of native Arizonans born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. I graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in Astrophysics and a Master's degree in Teaching and Teacher Education. Before getting the master's degree in education I worked for NASA as an entry-level scientist/analyst, which essentially means I did A LOT of computer programming. I worked on the following projects: Galileo, Cassini, IRAF, UBV White-Dwarf Sky Survey, and NICMOS on the HST. However, while working on those projects I quickly discovered that my lifelong dream of being an astronaut was not really what I wanted to do. I had always had a passion for music, and was a good trumpet player, and with a little nudging from my College Band Director, well, the road definitely took a right turn.

In 2002 I moved to Phoenix where I took my second teaching job in the Glendale Union High School District at Washington High School. While at WHS I was the director of instrumental music, responsible for teaching all bands, orchestras, drum lines, color guard, and guitar. WHS had a very diverse ethnic blend; there were eleven languages spoken in the band alone, and all of those students had learned English as a second language. After working at Washington High School for five years I pursued an interest to teach college band. This interest would require further education. I graduated from NAU with a Master's degree in Conducting and a Master's in Trumpet performance.

After graduating from NAU I came to Peoria. I am currently the Director of Instrumental Music at Peoria High School. I teach Concert, Jazz, and Marching Bands, Orchestra, Math, and I spend a great deal of time helping my students with history, government, and English as well. As a teacher I strive to develop in my students, free thinking, and analytical skills. These goals are primarily achieved through a Socratic method of instruction and questioning technique. In addition to the aforementioned technique I also take creative and differentiated approaches to the material so that my students can relate to it from their own experiences, and have a broad understanding. In my spare time I love to hike, play Lego-Batman, play board and card games, and argue philosophical subjects or just about what is truly spicy or not with my wife. I also love to play tennis (I used to give lessons), volleyball, basketball, soccer, trumpet, other video games, hike, read textbooks, especially history (yes really), read sci-fi and watch it as well. I have a passion for movies, which is convenient for getting out of the heat. I look forward to meeting you.