Mr. McCormick, who teaches reading, language arts and history, came to Ogden in early 2005 following a distinguished career as a journalist in Chicago. Most recently Mr. McCormick served as the media and entertainment reporter at Crain's Chicago Business, where his work won awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He also worked as a reporter and editor for American Medical News, a national newspaper for the medical profession. His contributions for that publication earned recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists. As a freelance journalist, Mr. McCormick's writing appears regularly in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine, and several other local and national publications.

A passionate writing coach, Mr. McCormick believes great writers are made, not born. A wide variety of high-interest writing workshops provide the impetus for much of the writing practice his language arts students receive. These workshops are designed to generate enthusiasm for the writing process, with special attention on the value added through revising and editing. In addition to those workshops, Mr. McCormick's language arts students are concentrating on writing about what they read, honing their writing skills at the same time that they learn how to interact with literature in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Mr. McCormick looks forward to even more intensive coaching opportunities through a school newspaper that will be launched as an after school program later this year. The program's participants will design a publication from the ground up as they learn basic reporting and newspaper writing skills.

Two basic tenets underlie Mr. McCormick's teaching philosophy. First, we need to meet students where they are in terms of their skill levels and competencies. Second, since students learn in a wide variety of ways, we need to employ just as wide an array of strategies as educators to optimize the opportunities for every child to succeed.

Mr. McCormick holds Bachelor's degrees in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Colorado. A highly qualified teacher, Mr. McCormick also completed Northeastern Illinois University's Teacher Certification Program for Post-Baccalaureate Students. He holds endorsements in U.S. History, World History, Political Science, and Language Arts.