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Dr. Semendinger has been a passionate child-centered educator for almost 30 years. He first enjoyed a successful career as a middle school history earning numerous awards including “Teacher of the Year” and the prestigious “A+For Kids” grant before moving on to administration. Dr. Semendinger has served as a high school vice principal, a middle school principal, and is currently the principal of the most wonderful elementary school in the whole world!
Dr. Semendinger has enjoyed working in various professional organizations including serving as the President of the New Jersey Middle School Association. In addition to the above, Dr. Semendinger has worked for the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and he has served as an adjunct college professor at both Ramapo College and William Paterson University.
An enthusiastic presenter, Dr. Semendinger brings his passion for children to his engaging presentations. As an accomplished public speaker, Dr. Semendinger has successfully presented workshops at many conferences.
Dr. Semendinger is also an accomplished writer. His book of motivational passages, “Impossible is an Illusion” will be released in June 2017 by Ravenswood Publishing. Dr. Semendinger’s first novel, “Scattering the Ashes” will be released in August 2017. "Principal Sam and the Calendar Confusion” is now available. Dr. Semendinger’s original and unique history of the New York Yankees “The Least Among Them,” is currently in editorial review. In additional to his published writing, Dr. Semendinger also writes for "It's About the Money" a successful Yankees blog, frequently publishes on eduTopia, and on his highly successful blog.
Dr. Semendinger leads an active life. He enjoys running and has completed twenty marathons. Dr. Semendinger also plays competitive men’s softball and enjoys backpacking and hiking. He also plays the saxophone and piano (but wishes his skills in those areas were much (much) better.) (He’s working on it.) In his free time, Dr. Semendinger enjoys reading, travel, and passionately rooting for the New York Yankees.
Dr. Semendinger volunteers his time in many ways. Dr. Semendinger was a three-sport coach (baseball, basketball, and soccer) for sixteen years as his children grew up and was also active in the Boy Scouts where he designed and led outings to historical sites that included Gettysburg, Washington’s Crossing, Valley Forge, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York’s Central Park. Dr. Semendinger has also successfully led two Boy Scout crews through the two-week backpacking experience at Philmont Scout Ranch hiking treks of more than 90-miles.
Dr. Semendinger also is a daily contributor to the Radio Home Visitor (88.5 FM – Wilkes-Barre, PA) run through King’s College. The Radio Home Visitor brings news to shut-ins in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. Most often Dr. Semendinger reads the daily health column and contributes an inspirational passage as well.
More than all of this, a family man, Dr. Semendinger enjoys and greatly values the time he can spend as a husband and “Dad” with his wife and three sons. There is nothing he is prouder of than the fact that he is a good dad and husband.
Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite
Principal Sam wants to wear something so that children remember Valentine’s Day. He is forgetful and he has forgotten what the special day is! He thinks it is Thanksgiving and dresses accordingly so that his students will be happy seeing him. He arrives in school and notices everyone is wearing red clothes and hearts. Ryan, a fifth grade student, gives him a Valentine’s Day card. Though he is forgetful, Principal Sam was a good principal. He repeats the same mistake for St. Patrick’s Day and comes dressed for Halloween. In Principal Sam and the Calendar Confusion by Paul Semendinger, Ed.D., children get to see Principal Sam always wearing the wrong clothes for occasions. Children decide to make him remember important occasions by gifting him something useful for his birthday. Will he get the occasions right after that?
The story is delightful and will put smiles on the faces of readers. Principal Sam’s character is adorable. The illustrations capture the mood of the scenes, characters, and plot nicely. It is a good bedtime storybook for children and can be used for read aloud sessions in classrooms and school libraries. It is funny to see Principal Sam getting holidays mixed and ending up coming to school dressed wrongly every time. The story is filled with fun and mirth and sees Principal Sam getting a birthday gift that changes his habit of mixing up dates of occasions and dressing wrongly. The story also conveys a subtle message that at times children can come up with good solutions, just how they do in this story.
