One Minute with an Educator–Mr. Minger

Name: Ted Minger
Years in education: 14
Subject/Grade assignment this school year: 5th – 8th Grade Computer Technology
What was your favorite subject in school?
Algebra – I always liked the fact that there was one definite answer and you could go back and check your own work to make sure you solved the equation correctly.
What is your favorite weekend activity?
I really just like to do anything that includes my family. My wife, Ingrid, and I have so much fun taking our kids on weekend trips and day trips to different children’s museums and zoos. I would also have to say that sometimes it’s nice, however, to stay home and watch a football or baseball game on TV – especially the Cubs!
What is your favorite book?
My wife is a librarian so she reads about four books a week. I however, am the complete opposite. A book that I really enjoyed and really stuck with me was Unbroken, which was made into a movie. There were many heroes that came out of the World War II era and Louis Zamperini was definitely one.
What are you most looking forward to in your curriculum this month?
I am looking forward to some of the upcoming projects we have, especially in 8th Grade. I really enjoy seeing students use their originality and creativity in the projects we do in class. We should be doing Newsletters and Websites soon and the wide range of ideas they come up with is always fun.
What are your students learning this week?
Seventh and 8th Graders are working on spreadsheet software this week while fifth grade is working on keyboarding and word processing and sixth grade is working with presentation software.
What is your greatest motivator as a teacher?
My biggest motivator is for kids to see how what they learn in my classes will help them in the rest of their academic careers. Sometimes they see it right away and other times I will have a former student from college and beyond say they were glad they worked on keyboarding in middle school or they were glad they understood how to create a functioning spreadsheet to help them with what they are doing now.