Archives for 2013

“Who’s left to make band special!? All the special people are gone- how is band going to be special?”

As you’re most likely aware, I’m a teacher.  I’m probably on a way to becoming a good teacher.  I had the pleasure of being a student of George N. Parks, one of my favorite teachers of all time.It’s so hard to look at a teacher and say exactly WHY you think they were a great teacher.  Probably every great teacher that you have ever had possesses the same trait, but I can’t put my … [Read more...]

The Importance of Open-Source Education

After completing a course on how to implement technology into the STEM disciplines, I realized that education must be open source.  So much of what we expect students to know needs to be open source, along with all of the labs that we complete, all of the worksheets we have, and all of the activities we run with our students.  Why is this so important?  It makes the education … [Read more...]

How Twitter should fix their implementation of Direct Messages

Twitter is continuing to grow in market share (currently 5.3 % in the United States, Feb 2013), which has caused twitter to evaluate and implement new features.  We have entered the phase of Twitter’s life where these updates are revisional in nature; with a focus on trying to create the perfect place for someone to spend time without leaving the site (something all social networks are … [Read more...]

How do I get the person of my dreams? How do I win someone back?

I have been spending a couple of months seeing a couple of people go through some difficult times, and it’s hard to explain all my thoughts in person to them at one point in time.  These guys have gone through the relationship gauntlet, and received the statement of “I don’t see a future with you.”  But these guys had different responses.  One went on to think about finding the … [Read more...]

6 years later: I miss you, Dad

“Does it depress you, to know just how alone you truly are?” – The Dark Knight Right before I went to college, my Dad, Doug DeFuria, was very sick.  I took him to HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster for a heart checkup, but he wasn’t doing very well.  They ended up finding an ulcer. As it turns out, that ulcer was cancerous and had metastasized.  He had cancer throughout his … [Read more...]

The transition in Public Education

Yesterday, we had a big meeting due to NEASC accreditation.  The task was to look at the strengths and needs of the school, which had been boiled down to a list of 7 strengths and 7 needs.  It was really interesting to see this list, and with this list try to figure out if they were indeed the 7 greatest strengths and needs.  This list had me thinking a lot about what education … [Read more...]

My Quarter Life Crisis

It's been a long, long time since I've updated this blog.  In just a few days, I will be turning 25 years old; a quarter of a century.  And it has got me very much worried about the future. Let me rewind and update you on 2012 as a whole.  I ended a relationship that didn't have a future in June, which had me bummed for most of the summer.  We were talking about the future, planning for a … [Read more...]