Zachary Houp Rogue 222

Name- Zachary Houp Content Area- ELA Location- PA   USA Current School- Fleetwood Area Grade Level- High School Teaching Since- 2004 Twitter- @ZacharyHoup Website- ZacharyHoup.com

I, Zachary Steven Houp, was born on December 31st, 1981.

I have attended three different school districts in my lifetime: Reading for Kindergarten and first grade; Wilson for second grade through fourth grade; and Fleetwood, where I eventually graduated in 2000. From there, I went to the University of Delaware, where I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English Education in 2004. I began teaching at the Fleetwood Area School District in August of 2004, and I have been there ever since. I have also acquired a Master’s Degree in English Education, which I received from Kutztown University in 2006.

My hobbies and interests are probably what one would expect from an English teacher. I read as much as I can–books from every nation, time period, and genre. As the instructor and creator of the Film Studies course, I also have a love for cinema and filmmaking; I try to see all of the important and respectable new releases, particularly those that mentioned for Oscar contention. I enjoy music as well; however, it is not the type of music to which most people listen: I enjoy film scores (the background music from movies). My favorite composers are John Williams, Danny Elfman, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard, Howard Shore, etc.

I participate in three main extracurricular activities at the high school. First, I co-founded and co-advise the Film Club with Mr. Gaston. Film Club is an organization that watches some of the most influential and award-winning films in cinema history. Second, I am the former director for the high school musical. My theatrical career has been more than diverse. I began by acting as Soundtrack Coordinator for the Fleetwood Area Middle School play, under the direction of Miss Elaine Hilbert. During my senior year at Fleetwood,

I performed in the pit orchestra for the 2000 production of “South Pacific.” After graduating, two friends and I formed The Fleetwood Youth Theatre Company, for which I acted under numerous capacities, most notably the resident playwright. After beginning my employment in the Fleetwood High School, I acted as director for the middle school play during two seasons. Lastly, starting in 2008, I became the director of the high school musical, for which I have directed “Hello, Dolly!” and an aborted attempt at “Kiss Me, Kate!” I resigned from the position at the end of the 2009 school year. I am also the advisor of The Tiger Times high school newspaper, which you can read at www.TheTigerTimes.com. In 2011, I was named a Fellow of Kent State’s andThe American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Reynold’s Journalism institute for high school journalism instructors.

Over the past few years, I have worked with the Misa’s Fugue documentary created by Fleetwood Area High School students and directed by media teacher Sean D. Gaston. My contributions as lead screenwriter were recently recognized with a Mid-Atlantic Emmy nomination.

I married Jennifer Bykowski on January 1st of 2010 after a courtship that began with our introduction on stage at the Fleetwood Area High School. Soon afterward, we purchased our first house and acquired Phoebe Trebek Houp, a lazy Boston Terrier. We also welcomed our daughter Mia in October of 2011 and our son Elliot in October of 2013. I am a Democrat and a Christian who attends Faith Church in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.

I use various episodes for instruction on the hero's journey and other elements of Joseph Campbell's insights on mythological storytelling. Star Wars is the basis for all further discussion of science fiction attributes in a science fiction course I instruct. I recently created a lesson on English syntax using quotes from Yoda as the basis for linguistic restructuring and textual analysis.

**All information shared with permission.