Meet George Merrill, multi-talented teacher and graduate of two NJCTL add-on endorsement programs: Middle School Mathematics and Computer Science.

With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history, George started his career teaching social studies to middle school students in Boston and Philadelphia. After a stint tutoring some students in math, he decided to work towards a math certification. “I love diving into new subjects and pushing myself. I was good at math, so why not?”

George first learned about NJCTL through the New Jersey Education Association. “I’m a union guy, so when the union recommended NJCTL, I decided to enroll.” George was also influenced by NJCTL Executive Director, Bob Goodman’s success in using NJCTL methods with his former students at Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro, NJ. Bergen Tech has grown from a traditional vocational school into one of the top performing STEM high schools in the U.S. “If [Bob] can get kids who are studying automotive, culinary or fashion design hooked on science, you know you found something that works.”

After completing the Middle School Mathematics program, George felt ready to embrace the challenges of computer science. “I had very little experience with computer science other than coding basic websites from freecode.org. Computer science felt like this scary beast. After finishing NJCTL’s program, it is something I can totally handle. I can teach Java and Python to my eighth graders and the kids have options beyond Scratch.”

“NJCTL is the best resource I have found for making computer science realistic, simple, and at the same time, incredibly challenging for the kids. NJCTL breaks it down into quick tasks that are manageable. Other curricula that I’ve used focuses on a big project that is completed at the end. NJCTL works better for my middle schoolers.”

“I am so glad I gave NJCTL a shot. I was very happy with each of the programs. The material was presented in a way I could understand and there was always somebody who would respond quickly if I ever got stuck.”

“My computer science professor was great. I love to challenge myself and if there was something more advanced than the coursework that I wanted to figure out, the professor took the time to teach me. She could have told me to keep it simple and just do what was required to complete the assignment. Instead, she went above and beyond to support my desire to learn more. The classes are not even face to face and having somebody take the time for that is awesome. It’s feels personalized even though the program is asynchronous.”

George is still not done with NJCTL. "Next, I want to get my K12 Math cert! My colleague mentioned that NJCTL now offers a TOSD program. She told me if I got a special ed cert, I’d have all of them.” “Maybe I will,” he says with a laugh.

George’s enthusiasm for learning is infectious and we can’t wait to see where this renaissance man takes his teaching next!