Sohn.Org

I have had a Web site online continuously since the late 1980s when we had to use Notepad to write the html code and test it in a Unix browser. Later FrontPage came along and then everyone was going online with their own sites.

 

My original use of the page was primarily for my students; I was one of the first teachers in NYC to be using the Web for homework that was submitted using forms, and creating and posting PowerPoint presentations of the classwork for absentees. I ultimately created a complete "distance," or "independent learning experience" system in the school. The first, I was told, in the city. I never got much credit for any of the work I did, but I did get to teach one less class and leave early.

The low esteem the other male teachers felt for me was surprising, or maybe not: just about all of them had become teachers to avoid the draft and Vietnam, and here I was, the Vietnam survivor, and USAF pilot, and I rubbed that in: I had my Tiger Shot on my classroom closet door.  

The only good thing about teaching was getting to reach out to the kids and help them, and yes, they really did wait on line to get into my classes. The worst things were the teachers' unions (both the UFT and AFT), which are centered more on teachers than teaching; more on conditioning students rather than teaching critical thinking to them; and can both be quite accurately categorized as Marxist, which regrettably seems to be in vogue these days.

There is a memorial for our beloved Mopsey II and Rufus I at the beginning of the Dogs and Cats page; they were wonderful and I miss them very much. I now have Rufus Braveheart II and Mopsey Bopeep III who will be my last Sheepies; they are numbers 7 and 8 of a most cherished and delightful breed. They are pretty much at the center of my life and I only pray I will be here for them as long as they live.

I have also put up a photo display of NYPD photos of the 9-11 Attack, for those whose memories are short.