B2B First Blog Intro

Oct. 26, 2025

Hello, my name is Greg Pendarvis, and this is my first blog post.

I have been married to Mia for 34 years, we have 4 children, 3 grandchildren and one on the way.

I started my teaching career 38 years ago but sat out three years, so I’m in my 35th year of teaching. I thought I would teach and coach for 40 years, but after doing a baseball mission trip to Israel, in 2001, we were led to start a sports ministry called victory sports. I have taught at 5 high schools and one middle school. 10 years ago, I pursued a master’s in administration to try to become an administrator. After applying for many positions, having several interviews, and not getting an offer, three years ago I decided to pursue a doctorate for many reasons. I am 80% of the way through and just starting the dissertation, to hopefully be finished March 2027.

As a teacher of 35 years, I have taught geometry the past 20 years and honors geometry the past 12 years. Love teaching and seeing students learn and grow. Pursuing a master’s and doctorate has kept me learning and growing as well. As a coach for 16 years, and a sports ministry director that passed 20 years, I have been blessed to lead children, young people, and adults in the classroom, on the field/court, and on the mission field. As I pursue a doctorate, I hope to teach for three to five more years, possibly teach at the college level, and possibly get an administration position before I retire.

Reflection

            As I reflect on  CI 6163, I have taken many classes through ACE, 10 for masters, and at least 10 towards doctorate. I have learned many things over these 6 to seven years. I’ve always said that reading comprehension is a weakness of mine, but I have read and written more in the past seven years than I did the prior 50 years. I’ve also said that technology is a weakness of mine, and I had to learn a lot when we had COVID 2020, learning how to use a iPad to make videos and upload on Google Classroom, which I had never used. I have used Google Classroom for communication, homework assignments, and assessments. Our PLT went from three teachers being able to cooperate and agree on 99% of the material, to this year having seven geometry teachers, with additional help from a math coordinator, department chair, assistant principal, and PLT coordinator. It has been very frustrating as we have had to teach the same exact lesson, with the same worksheets, and the same assessments. I have said all semester that technology is a weakness, but I will be glad to get my opinion towards my years of experience and what I think is best for students. All the other teachers have uploaded different documents to help other teachers and I have not been able to do that. I just set up a Google folder for the first time, which is embarrassing, but I say that to say that I am learning a lot in this class. I have relied on PowerPoint and uploading on Google Classroom, so I’m thankful I have some knowledge of Google Classroom. This class has been very challenging in many ways but has broadened my understanding of how to use technology in the classroom.

11/16/25

The state of South Carolina has a no phone policy; therefore, our school district has a no phone policy. Each classroom has a Chromebook cart for one-to-one device use. Anything done in class will be done with Chromebooks. Anything done outside of class, students can use any personal device, including phones. If a student needs to borrow a Chromebook, they will check it out with the library for Special Situations, such as this. Students can use phones to upload information on Google Classroom to share with their teacher and students. Students will investigate trigger ratios with real world situations, including measuring an object by measuring the distance from the object and then using a protractor and PVC pipe to find other measurements. Students will also place a ladder against a wall to find all measurements using trigger ratios students will draw a triangle on asphalt using sidewalk chalk to find all measurements to prove trig ratios. Digital storytelling could be an excellent source of assessment, as students must prepare, apply real world situations, and clarify that they understand what they are talking about and have investigated. This is a great example of investigative and discovery geometry.

11/27/25

Challenges Developing a Blended Course and What to Do Differently

The challenge is being 60 years old and technology not being easy, but I have learned a lot from the class.

35 years teaching, 20 years teaching geometry, made explaining the standards and objectives easy and it also made making the blended class go better than I thought it would.

The units fell right into place and was presented in a way that I could understand, so I am sure younger folks who have grown up with technology had an easier time.

I rely on Powerpoint, Google Classroom, Google Slides, and IPad.

Going through the ASSURE module provided a framework for planning the unit and teaching three of my favorite lessons, Pythagorean theorem with right triangles, Special Right triangles, and Trig. ratios with right triangles made it enjoyable, as well as learning and growing.

This is the first time creating a Google Classroom file, eportfolio, to upload the different assignments, so I learned a lot. We work as a PLT at school, but other teachers are tech savvy, so they have created all the files. I try to give the expertise in the subject, so it works well. I am very appreciative that they do it and make it look easy.

I learned a lot creating the videos, mainly with PowerPoint. The blog was definitely new to me and I have always talked about creatin a blog and vlog, so maybe this will help me have the confidence to move forward. I love teaching and I feel like I am able to teach/coach, tell stories, give ways to learn and remember, so I think creating a blog and doing videos could be fun and beneficial.

The blog has made some sense, but I am not completely understanding how to put certain things certain places. I know it is easy, but I am not sure I have everything completely loaded, especially what should pop up first, how to hit About to go straight to the About page, but I am still trying before I turn it in.

As far as a different audience. As stated before, I have taught 35 years and coached 16 years, but our family started a sports ministry 20 years ago, and that is my passion. I would love to do one blog with math, sports, ministry, and life, but I am not sure what that will look like. I am not sure if doing one is the answer, two, or four. I would love to talk to a tech person and see what the options could be, before moving forward, but then again, as I always say, “sometimes you just have to take a bite out of the elephant and go for it”.

12/6/25

In conclusion, over the past 10 weeks, I have started my Chapter 3 for the second time, which is the 1st chapter towards the dissertation, after the concept paper. The end of July, August, and into September was the first time. With the end of summer and the beginning of school, with the changes in geometry before algebra one, I almost had a mental breakdown trying to start and finish chapter 3, so I chose to bow out and not do it. Ten weeks ago, I was prepared for the chapter 3 class, but several sections were not done correctly, so it looks like I’m going to have to do chapter 3 for a third time, which was not my plan. Unlike this class, communication was an issue for the whole 10 weeks, which has been frustrating. Between these two classes, my three classes at school, including switching geometry before algebra 1, and also just finding out they have decided to do a geometry lead team, which I will be a part of, I have some personal things going on. My middle son had a child a month ago, so it is the third grandson, who is 1 month old. My daughter was due 2 days ago, but our first granddaughter has decided not to come yet. I have an older son who has been dealing with mental illness, which is hard for a parent. All that to say, my Chapter 3 class was very exhausting and frustrating. On the other hand, this class was enjoyable; I learned a lot, and I can see how I can improve my teaching, even after 35 years, over the next three to five years.