Personal and Professional Background

In the fall of 2005, I will begin my second year teaching at Morgan County High School. This is a second stint teaching high school chemistry, biology, etc. The first one began in 1989 and ended in 1994. In between I taught biology, microbiology and foundations of education at a two-year college, the last three years I was the director of instruction for the college's campus in Watkinsville. My wife and I have been married for 31 years (we were high school "sweethearts", too) and have 4 grown children, 2 sons-in-law and 3 grandchildren (little angels!). One child is a senior in college, the others have finished (whew!)

I graduated from UGA with a B.S. and M.S. in microbiology, then worked in a clinical laboratory for 8 years as a microbiologist and lab manager. After that, for 4 years I was in partnership with 2 friends in a computing company, servicing hospital and clinical lab accounts. I began teaching at age 36.

Participating in this program will help me further develop the content knowledge needed to teach science based on current information and relevancy. To have the GTF's available to provide the curriculum and resources for the specialized content in agriculture and environmental science will be valuable in helping students remain interested and motivated while learning the subject matter. Additionally I do not have to rely on limited resources and content knowledge to teach the subject matter. I can see the students really benefiting from the program: interest in science and understanding of the content beyond that which the teacher alone could provide.