Hank Caruso

Hank Caruso describes himself as “entering my “Novice” phase as far as being an educator goes.” He is in his 6th year of teaching and is currently serving as Technology Director for All Saints Catholic School in Dallas, TX. Hank has a BS degree in Mathematics with a Minor in Science and entered the education arena in 2001 after being re-structured from the General Electric Company after 21 years. He brings a lot of computer experience to the classroom, having used computers since 1965. Along with this experience, Hank brings 64 years of “life experiences”, including a year in Vietnam where he earned 3 Bronze Stars, one for Valor. He uses these life experiences to prepare his students for high school, college and the “Real World”.

Hank says he has always had a passion for photography. He got his first camera (a Brownie Hawkeye, which he still owns) when he was in the 5th grade. He has not stopped taking pictures since. This love of photography has seen a change over the years from black & white film, to color film, to digital. Hank believes the process of taking pictures has remained the same through the years and he tries to stress that to his students. According to Hank, “It is not the scenery or person that makes the picture it is the photographer and how they capture the image.” Hank’s passion for photography has expanded into videography over the past 10 years. He now teaches both and tries to integrate one or the other into at least one quarter a year for his 4th through 8th grade students. Hank is currently trying to customize the AFI “Lights, Camera, Education!” program into the lower grades using digital cameras instead of video.

In addition to his photographic endeavors, Hank is currently developing a curriculum for “Digital Story Telling” using Discovery streaming, Moviemaker, Power Point, Photo Story 3 and Audacity and has presented his pre-pilot at a Diocesan in-service, a pilot at the Texas Region 10/11 Area Technology Conference, and will be making my final presentation at the Texas Computer Educators Association State Technology Conference in Austin, Texas, in February of 2008. Hank plans on retiring in 2 years and would like to become an “Educational Consultant” specializing in integrating multimedia into the classroom curriculum. He would also like to keep active in the DEN by starting a “retired teacher” resource group.