(The Amazing) Mr. Helmsing

Phone: (623) 915-8760 x2874

Main Room: 704

Years at Slope: 1

Years Teaching: 5

SCHEDULE

Period 1 - English 3/4

Period 2 - Accelerated Eng 1/2 (Rm 1111)

Period 3 - Prep

Period 4 -Lunch

Period 5 - English 5/6

Period 6 - English 5/6

Period 7 - English 5/6

Mr. Helmsing moved to Arizona in July of 2008 after teaching English language arts and social studies in the Midwest and in schools overseas.  He graduated magna cum laude from Indiana University in 2004 with degrees in both English Education and Social Studies Education.  He has been an assembly leader with the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Council for the Social Studies, served on the Chancellor's Advisory Board of Indiana University, taught at a residential living-learning center, been a summer camp counselor, chaperoned school trips throughout Europe, and taught writing and drama classes for inmates at a correctional facility.  At Slope, he keeps busy teaching three different courses and assisting with the Academic Decathlon and Speech/Debate teams.  He also works as an academic tutor in both corporate and freelance settings. 

 In his spare time (of which he has none), Mr. H enjoys reading fiction, keeping up with news blogs online, going to the cinema, organizing his iTunes collection, watching British comedy, letting his Netflix queue back up, sharing innovative ideas with other cool English teachers, swimming outside while basking in the scorching Arizona sun, finding good Chinese take-out, acting in community theatre, and spending time with all of the cool friends he's making in and around the Valley of the Sun.  With bookstores, air conditioned movie theatres, shopping malls, and a Trader Joe's on almost every corner, what's not to love about Phoenix? His only fears are rattlesnakes, scorpions, Gila monsters, mean librarians from NW Indiana, and science teachers.  Good thing he doesn't have to worry about any of those here at Sunnyslope.

Mr. Helmsing's heroes are Fred Rogers, Gandhi, and Mrs. Pirrone.  

 THE WISDOM OF HARRY POTTER

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."  ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it.  Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well."  ~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows