Introduction

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the blog and thanks for reading.  Since this is my very first blog post, I’ll start by introducing myself and what the blog will be about.  My name is Erik Steidl.  I’m a 30 year old teacher in downtown Cleveland, OH.  That is what the blog will primarily cover.  I’ll be sharing experiences from the classroom both good and bad, interviewing other teachers, and sharing some tips on teaching techniques that have worked for me over the years.  However, I’m also a husband and father.  My wife Shannon and I have three children ages 3, 2, and 8 months old now.  So some of what I’ll be writing about will be the very steep learning curve that I’ve experienced delving into the world of fatherhood.  I hope to bring some humor and levity but won’t try to act as if everything is perfect in my life.  Both teaching and parenting are very rewarding but very challenging, especially in the location and demographic I teach.  I’ll share struggles as well as success and I promise to always be honest about both.

I have some other passions as well that I’ll be throwing into the mix.  Although it’s not nearly as frequent now, I still consider myself to be a runner.  I ran one year of cross country in high school and fell in love with it.  I’ve run a couple marathons and did one half-ironman triathlon in which I discovered that I really suck at swimming.  So some of my posts will probably involve my constant struggle against my expanding waistline and trying to maintain some level of fitness.  On the other hand, another passion that I have is cooking, baking, and food in general.  So at times I’ll probably share recipes and meal plans and might even throw in a restaurant review every six months when Shannon and I actually get a date night.

So, I realize that this sounds like a random and eclectic assortment of topics and ideas and it is.  I’m pretty low key excited about it though.  So thanks again for reading and stay tuned for my first post.