...a Teacher Mike Ringen

Football in Texas is pretty big as far as community interest goes, and for me, as head coach, the daily juggle begins at 6 AM. I open my eyes as a father and a husband, I structure my mornings as a math teacher, and I plan my afternoons around practice as Somerset High's football coach. But my day's duties don't end there. On evenings and weekends I also have to factor in the responsibilities of my family's developing business, Eye on Mastery, and all of the obligations of an office: updating lists of clients (schools), invoicing products (math books and worksheets), not to mention writing the textbooks that we provide.

All and all, it's a lot to manage, but my community's private academic success is just as important to me as our public athletic achievements. Still, the highlight of every day is coming home to my children (ages eight, six, four, and three) and my wife, who as a gifted elementary school teacher not only home schools our kids, but also functions as the day-manager for Eye on Mastery-fielding calls from our 1-800 number, answering client's questions about Texas' year-end proficiency tests, and taking care of all our business's day-time responsibilities.

Game night is a heart pounder-seeing the team give their all, hearing the families cheer in the crowd-but it means that during football season I spend Friday night as coach and don't get home until after we've watched the breakdown film and looked at the game plan for next week. If I get home at nine, it's like missing four days because my four kids have all gone to sleep without seeing me, and that's hard. Still, I'm incredibly proud of the Somerset Bulldogs and when I see what their commitment means personally to each other and publicly to our community, I can see the results. We train with a pro-style system, and the team's level of dedication is satisfying and really sort of awe-inspiring. Last year, in my first year as head coach, we worked hard to win district champion and I was proud to be voted Coach of the Year.

In between the afternoon's practice and my morning classes, I squeeze in a lunch-time jog to unwind and I sometimes think back on a student of mine, Chris Campos, who as a senior didn't pass our Texas proficiency test by only two math questions. He'd completed all of his other requirements, but without the test he wasn't eligible for a graduate's diploma. When Chris finished his shift at McDonald's, he would come back to his old school and "audit" my class every afternoon. He successfully passed the test at the end of that year, and now he's manager of that McDonald's-a position he couldn't have held without his high school diploma.

Ten years ago I developed Eye on Mastery to coach the students in my own classrooms and I'm happy to now share my approach. If you use the fraction method or the decimal method, you get the right answer either way, so with that year-end test in mind I want students to find out how they learn best. After all, it doesn't matter if you get to the end zone by throwing the ball or by running the ball-you just have to get there.

Michael Ringen (BS '85 - Physical Education) attended high school in Preston, a small town in eastern Iowa. He completed a master's degree in Education Administration 1989 from the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. He finished 15 hours of post-master's work there as well, completing the Mid-Management or Principal's Certificate. This past summer he began classes towards a Superintendent's Certificate at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

Editor's Note: To learn more about Ringen's Eye On Mastery, a Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skill (TAKS) mathematics preparation and enrichment program, visit www.eyeonmastery.com. Materials consist of teacher editions, consumable student workbooks, instructor transparency units, and classroom mastery charts.