About Mr. A

Hello to all:

My name is Mr. Michael Andoscia. I also go by Mr. A. I’m a former teacher in Florida with over thirty years of teaching experience, almost a quarter century of that in front of classrooms.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Social Science Education from the University of South Florida. That means 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.

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 (or rather where society said they needed to be). I often found that kids who made significant improvements 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 school, 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, now Florida Southwestern State College and Florida Gulf Coast University. I taught college for fifteen years.

I also taught AICE Sociology and a Sociology elective in a Florida public high school. 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. My most recent publication was an essay for Perspectives on History. 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. Both books were out of print for some time, but now Stone is not Forever is back and available wherever you buy books. I’m currently working on finding Revelation a new publisher as well as publishing some new manuscripts. Stay tuned!

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

In the meantime, I exercise my artistic yen by making 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, Dr. Jennifer Andoscia, for over eighteen years now. She is a behavior analyst and owner of ABA Results in Fort Myers and Gainesville. My son, Tekoa, is an artist working toward his mechanics certification. My daughter is attending Nova Southeastern University majoring in Marine Biology. She is also a talented drummer working with the NSU percussion line. I’m also the father of three dogs, a long-haired Chihuahua named Everest, a blind, deaf, albino Doberman named Falcor and a Golden Retriever named Aberdeen. I also have two tortoises, a one-eyed Gopher Tortoise named Wink and an African Spur Thigh named Efe.