Patrick J. McDaniel

I am a special education teacher at a middle school in central Texas. I am also an amateur photographer and a home gardener.

See my New York Adventure!

See my Las Vegas Adventure - 2002!

See my San Francisco Adventure!

See my Las Vegas Adventure - 2003!

See my South Dakota/Minnesota Adventure - 2003!

See my resume!

Some of the things I do to fill my "free time" are flower gardening , remodeling the "fixer-upper" home we bought a few years ago (the remodeling is an on-going project,) reading (mostly horror, fantasy or comic books,) photography, and oil painting. To see some of the paintings created by my art teacher/mentor -- Brian Mantz -- and me - click here. A sampling of my photographic efforts can also be found here. I have taken up working with fusion glass and stained glass recently. The first of the pictures of my creations can be found HERE and HERE

During the summer of 2007 I participated in HBMG ArtSpark Festival. Working on the art festival over the summer was very interesting . Working with these young theater folks was interesting - I had kinda forgotten how folks that age think! I made my 2 largest stained glass pieces so far for the show. The play (with MY 3 pieces in it) was staged at the Off Center August 4 & 11, 2007 at 8PM and the artists' showcase is on August 7 with a reception at 6PM. Our group WON!!!!!!!!!!!

How about a little about my professional life. I was Director of Special Education at SAILL Charter School for the 2007 - 2008 school year. From 10/1992 to 8/2007, I taught sixth thru eighth grade students with emotional disorders, behavioral disorders, and learning disabilities in math, science, and social studies in a self-contained classrooms & inclusion classrooms in a middle school. During these years, I also taught these students language arts, reading and social skills. From 1999-2005 I taught math & science to students in a "functional life skills" classroom. I have also taught in inclusion settings where I am was a special education teacher in the general education classroom providing the extra support the special education and at-risk students needed. When not doing that, I taught in Content Mastery with the rest of the special education population. The 2006-2007 school year was my fifteenth year at this school. I was the Special education department co-chairperson for the '00-'04 school years.

Extra-curricular responsibilities I performed at this school were the recycling club, science UIL for seventh-eighth grade, the technology committtee, the district transition committee, and the school web site task team. For 2 years I was the MathCounts coach and a 3-time chaperone for the eighth-grade trip to Washington DC. I was a collaborative teacher and member of the Staff Development Leadership Team for the 2005 - 2007 school years.

From 2001 to September 2008, I also worked as a part-time consultant for Technology and Inclusion, a not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization based in Austin, Texas. Their vision was to establish an organization that works with individuals with disabilities, their families and professionals with the ultimate goal being maximally inclusive service delivery - at school, at work and in the community, available to everyone, with no membership fees and no prerequisites- a place that anyone could call for help.

I was the Hospitality co-chair for the Council for Learning Disorders (CLD) conference held in Austin, TX, October 19-21, 2000. Go to the CLD website for more information on this worthy organization.

Here are some of my favorite LINKS to visit: