My name is Joseph Widner, but I tell everyone (except my students) to call me Joey. This will be my second year teaching Sixth Grade Writing on Team Phoenix here at Lewis and Clark Middle School, and I am very happy to be back at LC working with such wonderful and dedicated colleagues.

I have known for a long time that I wanted to spend the majority of my career in a classroom, but I admittedly didn't realize that it was a middle school classroom I was supposed to end up in until I fell in love with Lewis and Clark last year - which is why my professional background looks slightly nontraditional. Before coming to LC, I actually owned and operated a solo law practice. As such, I'm very passionate about a lot of our sixth grade writing curriculum - we spend a huge chunk of the year learning how to write informational as well as argumentative and persuasive texts. I'm also a huge fan of fantasy novels and a big music buff, so I find that our narrative and poetry units are a lot of fun to teach, too. Having the opportunity to share my knowledge and passion for writing with my students has been the most fun and rewarding work that I've ever done.

When I'm not teaching, reading, running, or listening to music, I am spending time with my fiancé and our son (who will be in sixth grade this year), our four cats, and our super energetic black lab, Pepper.