Terrill soules

1984 June

Senior Automation Specialist

Salesperson, Computer Store

Future Information Systems (second name)

Computer Center of the South (the business’s original name)

1983

Sales Manager

1982
1981 September

TEACHING

Trained Cable Atlanta salespeople.

Wrote training manual for door-to-door salespeople.

Sold cable television door to door, in the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in Atlanta.

1971 October

TEACHING

I loved substituting. Learning from the fifth-grade geography teacher that the next day’s subject was Pangaea, the prehistoric landmass whose slowly drifting pieces became our continents, I had an idea. I divided a paper Pangaea into its continental components, and cut each one out and attached it to a two-foot dowel—a geography wand! When the time came—all other work completed—I drew the continents on the blackboard as they are today. Then the kids granted wands bunched (very much envied) at the board in an expectant cluster, their adjacent wand-ends together forming Pangaea. Then, very slowly sliding their continents to their outlined destinations, they chanted, “Millions of years. Millions of years.” I can still hear them. In a way, isn’t every classroom a kind of Pangaea, breaking up at the end of every year, the one class becoming separate journeys to as many adulthoods?

A Galloway memory: During a public-speaking study period, it had come out I was a poet. I was pressed to recite an example. They liked what they heard, then urged some freestyling—make up something then and there. Now, I don’t do that. But that day I took the risk. At that point one boy said he wanted me to be his class’s Commencement speaker! I replied that I was not . . . luminous. And he replied, “Hey, it’s our choice.” And that is the odd anecdote of the sub who was asked to speak at Commencement.

1991

1989

TEACHING

• 
  Years as trainer: 5
  
• 
  Average number of classes taught per week: 2
  
• 
  Average size of class: 12 students
  
• 
  Duration of class: 6 hours
  

I believe I was a popular and effective teacher at Appletree, able to complete the day’s lesson plan while accommodating the invariable broad ability spectrum, from novice to proficient.

We look forward to offering not only technical direction, but also perspective on content, design, information gathering, and interactivity.

Another example of my need to share information. I created my website, www.tsoules.com, in 1998, to advertise my freelance writing services. But my website is also an opportunity to teach. As a Committee member, I help devise and deliver what may be the world’s hardest spelling bee. Of course, the event is primarily entertainment, but the real competitors are very serious indeed, as I can attest, having been there. It seemed a shame to waste such a great collection of words, so I put the 2000 bee on my website, complete with audio pronunciation, letting anyone anywhere become a virtual competitor. I’ll be doing this every year.

My wife has taught middle school at The Schenck [pronounced SKANK] School for almost ten years, which is my connection to the school. Schenck is a school for children with learning disabilities resulting from dyslexia. One Halloween I decided to memorize Frost’s poem (it takes twenty minutes to perform—it’s almost a play), and once I knew the poem, I looked for an audience beyond my family to share it with. Last year I had a girl and a boy sit on the stage, representing the witch and her adult son—great idea.

I recently emailed the man I consider to be the dean of American Dante scholars to let him know about my online concordance. To my delight, he replied, “A very nice job, Mr. S.”

Unfortunately, Wordland proved too time-consuming to maintain. If I return to regular additions, I will just do the Daily Echo, since I see nothing on the Web quite like it. However, designing the elaborate structure accommodating daily additions and access to archives was a valuable learning experience.