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Mr. Mark Murphy

Greetings!

I am Mark Murphy, and I am one of the English Language Arts teachers at Smiths Station Junior High. I currently teach English 8 (8th grade English). I look forward to building relationships with students, and helping them to succeed in the real world! In pursuit of this, our department will be teaching them according to the state standards we are required to use. If you copy and paste the following link, you should be able to see what kinds of things students are learning (https://alex.state.al.us/standardAll.php?grade=8&subject=ELA2021&summary=2). However, perhaps you are more interested in figuring out "Who is Mr. Murphy?".

I have moved around a lot during my lifetime. My course went as follows: Texas, Pennsylvania, Texas (again), Colorado, Alabama, Texas (a third time), a brief summer at Ft. Jackson with the Army, Georgia, and Alabama (again). When people ask me where I'm from, I either say, Texas (because I was born there), Alabama (because many of my formative years were spent here), or I simply sing the song, "I've Been Everywhere"! Georgia is where I found my bride. Alabama is where my firstborn came onto the scene.

I have held many jobs in my past, including food service, sanitization, transportation, vocational ministry, and teaching. I am devoted to partnering with parents and other stakeholders in students' education to help those children learn and flourish. I am the current English tutor for the 8th grade, and, after signing the appropriate form, students are welcome to receive help in English on Mondays and Wednesdays (after school--3:30-4:30CST). This help exists as long as they behave themselves, follow instructions, and are picked up promptly by their parents/ guardians.

Warm Regards and Blessings,

Mr. Mark Murphy

P.S. My work email is murphy.mark@lee.k12.al.us. I try to respond to emails as soon as possible, but I usually stop looking after 3:15pm, so it may be a day before I respond.