Wrestling with Words: The Five Parts of a Powerful Vocabulary Program (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780999024140)

Born and raised in California, Aaron has been living in Ft. Worth, TX and working as an educator, first as a classroom teacher, then a principal, and currently as a district administrator in Curriculum and Instruction, since 2000. Aaron attended California Baptist University in Riverside, CA from 1996 to 1999 and earned a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Religion and History. Planning on becoming a minister, Aaron began attending seminary classes in Ft. Worth, TX in 2000, the hometown of his new bride, Heather. A friend recommended he become alternatively certified to teach elementary grades and since it would at least pay the bills, he signed up and began teaching 4th grade in Ft. Worth, TX in 2000. It was at the end of the first year that one of his precious little students, Jessica, wrote him a note which simply read, "Dear Mr. Daffern, I'm so glad you became a teacher instead of a preacher. I'll never forget you." A student taught him what it meant to be a teacher and started him on the journey he's still enjoying today. After teaching 11 years in the 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades in Arlington and Ft. Worth, TX, Aaron became the assistant principal of an open-enrollment charter school in Arlington, TX. Six months into that assignment he became the acting principal and then was officially hired as the principal of Arlington Classics Academy Intermediate School in 2012. Two years later, Aaron moved up to work in the Curriculum and Instruction department for Arlington Classics Academy where he still worked until joining the Early Learning department of Dallas ISD in 2018. Aaron lives in Ft. Worth with his wife Heather, four lovely children, and two cats that allow his family to share the house with them. He published his first book, Solving Student Engagement: Designing Instruction to Motivate Every Student, in 2017 and his second book, Don't Quit Your Day Job: An Educator's Guide to Student Engagement, in 2018. His third book, Wrestling with Words: The Five Parts of a Powerful Vocabulary Program, also came out in 2018. Visit him online at AaronDaffern.com.