Update about page

Author: rossta

app/content/pages/about/index.html.mdrb

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ description: Joy of Rails is a Rails application dedicated to teaching and demon
 updated: 2024-07-15
 ---
 
-I’ll never forget that first day of school.
+I’ll never forget my first day of teaching.
 
 I was young and inexperienced. As my first-period students filed in from the hallway, the reality of the situation began to settle in.
 
@@ -16,31 +16,31 @@ _My students are going to see right through me_.
 
 _I’m screwed._
 
-As I closed the door, I surveyed the faces of my students. They were looking back at me eager to find out if I had any worth. Fear tightened its grip around my throat.
+I closed the door. I surveyed the faces of my students. They were looking back at me eager to find out if I had any worth. Fear tightened its grip around my throat.
 
 I almost passed out.
 
 My first job out of college was teaching Science in inner-city Houston, Texas. It was, and still is, the hardest job I’ve ever had.
 
-On that first day of teaching, I was under-prepared. I less than ten years older than my 8th-grade students. I had completed less than three months of teacher training through the Teach for America program. Most of my students were first and second generation immigrants whose families hailed from Latin America. I didn’t speak any Spanish.
+When I started teaching, I was under-prepared. Less than ten years older than my 8th-grade students, I had only two months of teacher training through the Teach for America program. Most of my students were first and second generation immigrants whose families hailed from Latin America. I didn’t speak any Spanish.
 
-_I_ was supposed to teach _them_.
+_I_ was supposed to teach _them_. Yeah, right.
 
-Somehow, I survived my first period class and the others that followed that day. And then something magical happened.
+Somehow, I survived my first period class and the rest of the day. And then something magical happened.
 
 Once the students had been dismissed, I was cleaning up in the an equipment closet, which I shared with the department chair, Ms Young, who taught next door. She came in and pointed to some boxes on the shelf.
 
 _"The district gave me these boxes and I’m not sure what to make of all that. Why don’t you take ’em?"_
 
 I didn’t know it at the time, but this moment changed my life.
 
-These boxes were full of Legos. Not just any Legos—the (at the time) recently released [Lego Mindstorms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms) kit. Basically Lego Mindstorms was what you’d get if Legos, Scratch, and Arduino made a baby.
+These boxes were full of Legos. Not just any Legos—these were [Lego Mindstorms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Mindstorms) kits. Basically Lego Mindstorms was what you’d get if Legos, Scratch, and Arduino made a baby.
 
-_Damn right_. I took those boxes. I felt like a kid again. I thought I had been given Legos but the real gift was computer programming.
+_Cool_. I took those boxes. I felt like a kid again. I tore into the tutorials and taught myself just enough to pass on to my students. Later that month, I started an after school club. Later that year, we entered Robotic competitions. It was a lot of fun.
 
-I tore into the tutorials and taught myself just enough to pass on to my students. I started an after school club. We entered Robotic competitions. It was a lot of fun.
+I thought I had been given Legos but the real gift was computer programming.
 
-Looking back on these memories and my teaching experience, I remember it has being very challenging—emotionally, mentally, physically. But I also remember all the joy. Helping a student learn always brought me joy. How Miguel’s eyes lit up during a demonstration. The way Juana pumped her fist when she balanced a difficult chemistry equation. When our rocket project helped Jerry transform from my worst nightmare and to my biggest supporter.
+Looking back on these memories and my teaching experience, I remember it has being very challenging—emotionally, mentally, physically. But I also remember all the joy. Helping a student learn brought me so much. How Miguel’s eyes lit up during a demonstration. The way Juana pumped her fist when she balanced a difficult chemistry equation. When our rocket project helped Jerry transform from my worst nightmare and to my biggest supporter.
 
 I often say my first day of teaching was also my first day as a programmer. In the [first article for this site](https://joyofrails.com/articles/introducing-joy-of-rails), I talked about the joy I felt when I experienced Ruby on Rails for the first time. Looking back, it seems likely I might never have encountered Ruby or Rails or even started a career in computers had it not been for my humble beginnings as a teacher and Ms. Young’s Lego Mindstorms kits. I may have left teaching for tech, but the teacher in me never left. Teaching and programming for me are inexorably linked.