Introducing Mr. Andoscia

Hello to all:

My name is Mr. Andoscia. That’s pronounced ann-doe-shya. For those of you who simply can’t do that, I also go by Mr. A. This year I will be teaching AICE Sociology, Regular Sociology, Honors Economics, and Philosophy. Philosophy is the only course on my list that I’ve not taught before, but I am passionate about it, so that is the one I’m most looking forward to this year.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Social Science Education from the University of South Florida. That means that I set out from the beginning to be a teacher. My first love is history, so when it came time for me to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I decided I wanted to spend it talking about history. I know, right! So I set out to be a teacher. It wasn’t entirely a straight line, but here I am, you teacher.

My master’s degree is in sociology. Sociology? Who gets a graduate degree in sociology? Well, that’s a good question. I began my career as a wilderness counselor (like I said, not a straight line) working with juvenile offenders at a level six residence program in the middle of the Everglades. Many of my first kids were adjudicated delinquents, often gang affiliated. I worked with these kids, sometimes as long as two years to try to get them where they needed to be. I often found that kids who were fine while at camp, went home and ended up getting into the same trouble that got them removed from society in the first place. That’s what got me interested in sociology. What was it about being at camp that was different from being in the neighborhood or community?

While studying sociology I found that it was the perfect outlet for my love of history and my interest in philosophy. I became interested in the Sociology of Knowledge, which draws a great deal from the study of history, mostly the history of ideas. In 2004, I received the opportunity to teach sociology at Edison State College and Florida Gulf Coast University. I’ve been teaching college ever since.

When I got the opportunity to teach Sociology here at North, I jumped at it. I really believe that the sociological imagination offers some of the most innovative ways to understand the world around us. I am passionate about this subject to the point where I started a blog, called the Mad Sociologist Blog. It is now one of the top fifty sociology blogs on the internet.

I’m also a writer, though I haven’t published anything lately, I do have two published novels to my name. The first was called Stone is not Forever and the second is The Revelation of Herman Smiley. Unfortunately, these books are now out of print, but they had a good run. I’m currently working on some new manuscripts, but life is pretty busy and the going is slow.

I’m also an artist. I work in pencil, pen and charcoal as well as oil paints. I’m mostly self taught. I’ve been away from the easel for a while, but hope to get back into the arts this soon.

In the meantime, I exercise my artistic yen by doing YouTube videos. You can check out my YouTube Channel that includes a Sociology Class and a News Commentary.

On top of all that, I’ve been married to the same wonderful woman, Jennifer Andoscia, for almost fourteen years now. She is a behavior analyst and owner of ABA Results in Fort Myers. My son, Tekoa, is a senior right here at North. My daughter is planning on coming to North next year and is currently working with North’s marching band and indoor percussion team as an 8th grader. I’m also the father of four dogs, an English Mastiff named Newton, an American Mastiff named McKinley, a long-haired Chihuahua named Everest and blind, deaf, albino Doberman named Falcor. I also have three tortoises, a Russian named Tort, a one-eyed Gopher Tortoise named Wink and an African Spur Thigh named Efe.

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And then there’s you guys! I look forward to working with everyone this year. It is going to be an exciting year of learning new things.