Watch Out For Them Skeeter Bushes Or They'll Git Che

Teaching and swimming pools have a lot in common. Sometimes you ease into the cold water and tinkle a toe before getting your head wet. Other times, a burly friend picks you up and hurls you into the deep end to sink or swim. The author of "Watch Out Fer Them Skeeter Bushes Or They Will Git Che" began his teaching career the second way, and takes the reader through an amazing array of adventures in his classrooms and offices. Almost four million minutes of interactions with young people and staff during his long career yields plenty of humorous, poignant, soul-searching, and ridiculous moments. This book is an escapist, entertaining set of stories appealing to both teachers and non-educators. Every recollection is based on a true set of events, as head-scratching as some may appear. What is a skeeter bush anyway? That question is eventually answered, but not until the author completes his journey from flailing in the deep end of public education to safely climbing out of the pool.

An Unbio Bio

Del Hansen is a thirty-seven-year veteran of public education. He taught high school math and physics, high school geometry to middle school students, and math history and math methods at the postsecondary level. He also served as a high school assistant principal. After retirement, he continues to present lectures on classical and popular music to senior citizens in his community.
Besides serving as a teacher association president, he was selected as teacher of the year in a district of 24,000 students and first runner-up for New Mexico teacher of the year. He also received the "state administrator of the year" award from the New Mexico Music Educators Association.
Mr. Hansen volunteers as an evaluator for the Golden Apple Foundation helping to select the top teachers in the state and received his own golden apple as a member of the Golden Apple Academy.
An avid gardener, Del resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico with his wonderful wife, Donna, herself a teacher and counselor for forty-five years. He is a charter member of the "Grand Old Society Specializing in Pontification" (GOSSIP) achieving the platinum level of "Why Don't You Do Yourself a Favor and Just Shut Up!"
To scratch his music itch, he continues to travel to band concerts, marching festivals, and drum corps competitions locally, regionally, and nationally. Finally, with a little luck and a healthy dose of divine intervention, he wonders if he might someday become a writer. Miracles do happen.