Overcoming All Odds Three: What Students Taught Me

In this third volume, I will share problems I faced as a beginning teacher with parents, administrators, fellow faculty, staff, competitor coaches, faculty union issues, academic senate challenges, and how both my students and I overcame minor and major obstacles that certainly changed our lives. Some of the problems were academic, some financial, and some religious in nature.

At one point, I found myself teaching at a private religious institution combining academic and church-related issues. My own public education had prepared me for the challenges found there, but I was left doubting myself in certain aspects unique to private schooling and the religious aspects of new rules, regulations, and curricula acceptable in that type of school.

It is a story about my teaching a subject matter, but how they taught me about life. It is about using what one experiences as a means of learning about life.

Ron Norton Reel Ph.D. lives in Brookings, Oregon and has authored several books and publications.He taught at Cal Poly Pamona and Mt. San Antonio College. He established Premier Ocean Properties in Brookings and opened an additional office, Reel Properties, in Crescent City. He is an ordained minister and is currently a member of St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in Brookings. He served two terms as President of the Curry County Board of Realtors.