For me, the teaching profession is a noble pursuit, full of challenges, risks and tremendous rewards. Its a vocation, not merely a job. My views about teaching were shaped by my unique background. You see, my name is Romanian. Until the age of fifteen, I lived in Eastern Europe under a form of communism and Nicolae Ceausescus draconian policies such as strict conformity to ideas dictated by the Party; severe economic policies that led to extreme consumer goods shortages, even for basics like water and electricity. Because everything around me was bleak and false, I looked for truth like water and sun. I helped my father build an antenna that allowed us to watch forbidden television programming from more liberal Bulgaria, only forty miles away from my home town of Bucharest. The early exposure to the Slavic language of Bulgarian became a passion for Russian literature many years later while working as an American English teacher in Ukraine. We risked arrest for truth and objective information by tuning our primitive AM radios to clandestine radio stations from the West like Voice of America. This early experience turned me on to research and building persuasive, evidence-based arguments in college essays. It was an exciting time because I was truly challenged to find out about the world. I hope to bring this excitement about knowledge and the world to my students writing and language pursuits.

我是什么样的老师?我把自己定义为teacher who works hard for his students and likes to challenge them in creative ways. I always try to find better ways of imparting knowledge, whether its literature, essay writing, Russian or ESL. I constantly evaluate myself and adjust the approach accordingly. I encourage my students to be honest with what is working or not with their education. I want to get things done scientifically. Consequently, I do my research by consulting the best and latest information on the specific subject. I am a tireless editor of my own work (I dont claim to be perfect, however!) I love to give specific feedback so the student has a clear idea whats expected of him or her. I like thought-provoking ideas and questioning the status quo, no doubt due to the lack of freedom I experienced during those interesting Romanian years. In a recent class I asked students to critically express their views of the current election. In another class I addressed censorship in the arts by using famous artists: why is certain language or image more accepted than other forms? What is culture telling you, and is this truth written in stone? Or are there blind spots people are ignoring? How dangerous is this attitude for our society and the world? I like students who are not afraid to ask the hard questions and look at the world from different perspectives. I dont think there is one ultimate answer or truth. I want to open the students to a wider world and make them aware of the larger context, outside their comfort zone.