Introduction

My name is Marty Havran. I am a recently retired National Board Certified public school teacher in Arizona. I taught mostly 7th grade social studies and reading. Teaching is a second career. I previously worked for 30 years as a supervisor, then manager for the State of New Jersey. I retired from the school district a few years earlier than expected because of the fiscal situation. Arizona was already 51st in per pupil public school funding before the recession. I took a pay cut last year and they anticipated another cut this year. This may sound selfish, but I gave so much of myself to teaching, that I didn't think I deserved another pay cut and so I took early retirement. While teaching full-time, I also owned a small farm in Yuma where I raised miniature donkeys. My goal now is to reverse that ratio and farm full-time while teaching part-time. I bought 100 acres in West Texas and am currently in the midst of re-locating. I will be traveling back and forth between Arizona and Texas for the next few weeks, so I may be out of touch for a day or so now and then. One of the advantages of distance learning is that I can be moving and still attend the class. I took an Intel Essentials course online with Portland State last year. I also acquired my second masters degree online through the University of Phoenix. The online program required more work than a previous masters program that I completed in the traditional classroom format. The area of Texas where I am moving is very sparsely populated. Thus, there is not much opportunity for classroom teaching. I hope to obtain a certificate in distance learning and resume teaching that way. By the way, does anyone want to buy a 5 acre farm in Yuma, Arizona? Don't worry about the fact that we had a temperature of 114 degrees last week. You'll get used to it.