Who is Mr. Rich, and what is he all about?

As an English teacher, I help students become better readers, writers, speakers, spellers, researchers, listeners, viewers, studiers, technology-users, and critical-thinkers. West Virginia Department of Education and my administrators detail how to accomplish these goals, yet they also acknowledge my professional training and experience in achieving these goals.

My personal educational philosophy categorizes me as an "essentialism philosophy" advocate (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_essentialism) because I emphasize practical reading, writing, grammar, and critical-thinking skills above all other items encountered in English classrooms.

My personal belief is (not surprisingly) that items taught within English classes are most important to students’ futures because the American culture harshly leaves behind those members who cannot read well, speak well, write well, and/or think for themselves.

My professional teaching experience began at East when I was hired in 1999.

Prior to my employment at East, regarding other English-education work, I worked as a writing tutor for the University of Maryland and Kennesaw State University, presented formal grammar workshops at the former, worked as a procedural manual writer, taught police report writing, and worked as a staff writer and wannabe freelance writer, writing and publishing various newspaper articles and editorials. I have written several articles appearing in national magazines and several feature articles appearing in regional magazines.

My personal experience and statistical data prove that students perform better, enjoy school more, and have higher self-esteem when parents exhibit strong interest and involvement in their children’s educations.

Outside of socioeconomic status, educational research proves that parental involvement is the number one predictor of student-success.

Therefore, hopefully parents will read the on-line course syllabus; parents will ask their children at numerous and regular intervals what students are learning within my classes; parents will closely monitor their children’s academic performance; parents will have high expectations regarding academic success.

As parents and teachers, we positively shape our future society more than any other group of people. When students do well, our culture does well.

I, like most teachers, take my profession very seriously and continuously strive to do the following:

to clearly communicate my objectives and standards of student performance,

to be easily accessible to parents,

to take personal interest in students’ educational and emotional well-being,

to meet the educational services of students who require special services,

to disallow a student’s biases and beliefs to adversely affect my opinions of him/her.

Lastly, I can be an effective teacher only if I ensure that all learning environments are safe, respectful, and productive. This is my legal responsibility.

I encourage parents to contact me. I will eagerly return e-mail (and phone calls) at my earliest opportunity.

Please print this, complete the portion below, and have your student submit it.

A parent or guardian’s signature________________________________________

A parent or guardian's e-mail address____________________________________

Student’s name__________________________________________/Block______

Barry Rich, English Department, GEHS

School Phone 647-6464 or 6471

E-mail: brich@access.k12.wv.us

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