NAME:
Mr. Mark Erickson
SCHOOL:
Walsh Middle School
CLASS:
BIM I (Business Information Management I)
SCHOOL PHONE:
512-704-0929
Dear Student,
Welcome to BIM (Business Information Management). It is an honor and a
pleasure for me to be teaching young people here at Walsh Middle School. I
come from a background of many years in aviation (USAF and major airline) as
a manager, pilot and instructor. In addition to that, I had a short stint as
a Public Relations manager before going into the USAF. I also had my own
business as a personal and business coach. After that career I dabbled in
insurance and sales until I got into teaching again and realized how much I
enjoy teaching. I also taught in a couple nonprofit organizations for several
years. Before coming to Walsh Middle School, I taught High School Chemistry
and Middle School Science. I came to Walsh MS in 2009 and feel privileged to
be here.
This course presents the basic skills that will benefit you in school and
employment, regardless of whether they seek a technical or non-technical
career path. This is not just a classroom, but a business. Your business is
learning and my business is teaching. You are not only here to get credit
for a course, but also to learn as much as you can, and discover attitudes
and atributes that make for a successful person and a respected team member
that is an asset to any organization.
Moodle: The one thing that is going to be different this year is that we
will
be using Moodle as our primary teaching tool, so I am busy now converting my
lessons over to that program. There will be a little trial and error as I
figure out what is effective for students and what is not so effective, but I
see no reason for it to negatively affect the course. In fact, Moodle is a
very powerful resource and I believe one we get the rough edges worked out it
will be a great tool. At any event, RRISD is going this way and the students
are going to see more and more of it as they go into high school, so it is
good that they get a taste of it now.
Required equipment: I am going to require that each student bring his/her
own
headset and flash memory drive to class. Since, Moodle is a multimedia
environment, it will critical that they be able to monitor the lessons
without
interrupting the other students, so they will need headsets. I tried to
order
some last year, but I was told that was not an acceptable budgetary expense
due to health code reasons. Also, it will be critical for them to get into
the practice of backing up their own files on a regular basis.
Vision Statement
My class will be a place of nurturing, compassion, truth, happiness, respect,
creativity, research and self-actualization. All students, staff, and parents
will be inspired to become partners in the quest for knowledge.
Mission
The mission of my class is to provide exemplary education, guidance, and
encouragement to empower all students to reach their individual potential and
become contributing members of a diverse community.
Open Door
Please feel free to come to me with any problems, or concerns you may have as
we go through the year. I will do my best to resolve those issues, or find
someone who can.
