Who is Mr. Cox?

How did I get into teaching?

My first name, surprising as it may be, is not Mister; it’s Kevin. I currently am at the 8 year of my teaching career, but I have been in education in some way for 12 years. I first started teaching to adults who suffered from various mental illnesses, including depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, autism, and the like. I noticed the facility where I worked did not have much of a life skills program for their patients, so I petitioned to begin a school to teach the patients nutrition, hygiene, computers, stocks, buying and selling houses and cars, and stress management.  I wrote the curriculum and the program was, and still is, a success. It was there that I honed in on my passion for teaching.I later left that profession to work as a driver’s education instructor while attending my undergraduate program at Baker College in Flint, MI (Yes, that same Flint everybody has talked about for the past year) in English, with a focus on Elementary Education. 

Upon graduation, my wife and I moved to Arizona to allow me to pursue my dream of teaching. I started out as an accelerated teacher for a self-contained 6th grade class, followed by a year of teaching ELD in the SEI class to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, and then I moved to a 7th grade ELA class where I was able to litter the curriculum with various technologies.

Once I received my Master’s degree from GCU in Curriculum and Instructional Technology, I switched gears and worked at the University of Phoenix as an Instructional Designer. It was a great job, but it just didn’t give the satisfaction with which teaching always left me. This leads me to this year.

More about me…

I am the 6th youngest of 8 children, 5 sisters and 2 brothers. It was always hard while growing up, as we didn’t have much. For a long time, we lived a very impoverished lifestyle, as my mother was attaining her undergraduate and Master’s degrees in nutrition and dietetics. Because of our family situation, we never really climbed the ladder of success.

I was given an opportunity, though, when my grandfather offered to pay for me to attend a boarding school 2,000 miles away from home and I jumped at the chance. I spent 3 years at this boarding school, which was a minor seminary, thinking I would graduate and move onto the priesthood, but during my senior year I realized that it just wasn’t for me.

When I finished high school, I moved back home, and met my wife, Nikki. We have been through a lot and have pushed each other through so many of the tough times. And, after 12 years, we are still here.