Education/Professional | Personal | FAQ | Favorite Sayings
Mr. A went to kindergarten in Cuba (where his father was in the Navy). When the Navy moved his family to New England, he went to John F. Kennedy Elementary School and Joseph H. Gaudet Middle School in Middletown, Rhode Island. He loved running the 50-yard dash, playing clarinet in band, and playing street hockey, soccer, basketball and kickball.
In the middle of his eighth grade year, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he attended Backus Middle School. It was in middle school where he first studied language--Latin, French, and Spanish. He was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society and won the school's Spelling Bee. Later that year, his family moved to Annapolis, and he attended Severn River Junior High School and was a member of the first graduating class of Broadneck Senior High School. Mr. A took four more years of Spanish, played clarinet and alto clarinet in band, was a Student Council Vice President and President, a member of the Maryland Association of Student Councils, and the National Association of Student Councils. He also performed in a number of musical productions.
Mr. A went to Anne Arundel Community College from 1984 and 1986, where he studied Music, Theater, Education and Psychology. He went from there to UMBC, where he majored in Visual and Performing Arts--Music, and also studied French. After graduating in 1989, he returned to Broadneck to work with the music program, and he substitute taught in Anne Arundel and Baltimore County Public Schools. While working at Broadneck, he met John Huber, a student teacher from St. Jane Parish. He told me about an opening at his mother's school, St. Jane Frances. They were looking for a music teacher. I interviewed, and I've had the job ever since!
Right now, Mr. A is working as an Educational Technology Intern at St. Jane, along with his regular teaching jobs! He will receive his Master of Education Degree at Loyola College in Educational Technology in the Summer of 2009. He is a Maryland State Board Certified Music Specialist, Grades Nursery-12, and has Catechist Certification through the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Mr. A is a member of the National Catholic Educational Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the Maryland Music Educators Association, and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. He has been selected 5 times for membership in Who's Who Among America's Teachers, he is the 1999 receipient of St. Jane's Teacher of the Year Award, and a 1999 finalist for the Cardinal's Award for Teaching Excellence.
Charles David Alexander is the oldest child of Karl and Bettie Alexander, both of Washington, D. C. He was born on August 12, 1966, just outside Washington at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Mr. A's dad is a professional clarinet and saxophone player who spent 24 years playing in Navy bands. Nowadays, he plays for many local musical play orchestras, including all of the musicals we've put on at St. Jane. From his dad, and from his grandmother, a jazz singer, he got his love of jazz, fusion, and classical music.
His mom is a lifelong church musician and Sunday School teacher, who also spoke a fair amount of Spanish around the house. She also loved the classic musicals, and played her favorites around the house when Mr. A was a child. He memorized the music to a half-dozen musicals by the time he was 7 or 8. He also got his love for church music and Spanish from his mom. Around that time, he started to play soccer, a sport he would play for nine years, and piano, which he still plays today (of course!). His sister, Tracy, is also a musician and a teacher. She teaches Social Studies at a school in Severna Park. She often helps out with the plays like her dad!
Mr. A has been singing in church since he was old enough to read, and he sang his first solo when he was eight. He also was in his first plays at this age: Cinderella in the third grade and Oliver! in the fourth grade. Living in New England, he also began to follow the local sports teams--the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Bruins. He played street hockey, basketball, football, and baseball with his friends in the neighborhood, and ran track at school and played rec league soccer.
When he moved to Maryland, he found a new activity--computers! Severn River had a Computer Club, so he joined. Computers were big and not very exciting back then--no Internet, but the games were cool! Mr. A also got very involved with Student Council in high school--he had to give up soccer to play in the band after school. Mr. A's first jobs were working as a paper boy for the Annapolis Capital and at McDonald's. He liked working at restaurants, and he worked as a busboy and a waiter at Friendly's after he left high school. In the summer of 1984, he worked at a restaurant and hotel in Annapolis, and his knowledge of Spanish helped him to be a goodwill ambassador for the Chilean Olympic Soccer team.
He went to AACC, because he really wasn't sure what he wanted to be after he graduated from high school. So, he took music, theater, education, and language classes, along other things that interested him. He decided that he wanted to be a Broadway musical director. He got a scholarship to study voice at UMBC. While he was there, he worked with his high school band, along with a number of summer camps and youth programs. It soon was clear that Mr. A was supposed to be a teacher. After college, he substitute taught, and in September of 1990 started teaching at St. Jane.
| Mr. A has taught music at St. Jane for 18 years and Spanish for 11 years. He lives in Pasadena with his wife, Kimberly, who went to St. Jane. They have 3 kids, Daniele (age 12), Tess (age 11), and Julia (age 8). They have a long-haired chihuahua (Teddy), a cat (Xander), a rabbit (Pepper), and four gerbils. He sings for school masses, helps with the school website, coordinates the Performing Arts Program, and, pursues his college dream of directing Broadway musicals! When he's not at school, he loves performing and playing with his kids, camping, riding his bike, running, watching the Patriots and Red Sox, and cooking new and interesting things on his grill. |  |
Q: How long have you been a Patriots fan?
A: I started watching the Pats in 1976, when I was 10, so...10 years!--just kidding!!! This is my 32nd year.
Q: What is your favorite song?
A: I have too many to name! I like so many different kinds of music--well, here is a sample, but it changes a lot:
Fave Classical music--Bach's organ music, Beethoven's 5th (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movements are my favorite), Holst's The Planets. I also enjoy more contemporary unusual instrumental music.
Fave Old School Popular music--anything that is sung well, or that is just fun. I especially like music that has a lot of vocal harmonies, so the big groups of the 60s and 70s--Beatles, Queen, The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, etc. I like Parliament Funkadelic, the Manhattan Transfer, Billy Joel, and The Ramones.
Fave Stuff from Now--same rule--I like to hear good singers that seem to be having fun! Black Eye Peas, Green Day, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson--Gospel groups like Take 6 and Selah.
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Again, too many to name. Ones I've seen recently that I liked were Pan's Labyrinth and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I like comedies like RV and action movies like the Terminator series, the first 3 Star Wars movies, and the Bourne movies). Most of all, I like movies that surprise me in some way--like ending in a way I don't expect, for example.
Q: Which do you like teaching better--Music or Spanish?
A: Tough question. I love teaching them both. I guess I think of them kinda like I think about my kids--I love them all equally, and they all give me joy in different ways.
Q: Do you like the Ravens?
A: Yes. Just not as much as the Patriots.
Q: How about the Orioles?
A: Yes. Just not as much as the Red Sox.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: A tie between french fries and popcorn!
Q: What is your favorite musical?
A: Again, I have lots. The Sound of Music, Man of La Mancha, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Miserables, etc.