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Sometimes it's easier for students to connect with their teacher if they know a little about them
as a person, so here goes.
I was born on August 20th, 1946, at Ft. Jackson, S.C. where my father was stationed
with the US Army following WWII. When I was about a year old, we returned to my parent's native Iowa, where my father
worked for the next 4 years as a hired man on a farm near Delhi. My parents rented (and later purchased) a 129-acre farm
near Dundee, and I did farm work and chores related to growing corn, oats, and alfalfa, milking 30 cows, farrowing 16 sows
twice a year, and raising 300 laying hens. I lived there with my parents and three younger brothers and younger sister until
I went to college in 1963.
Since there was no kindergarten at Dundee Consolidated School at that time, I started
my education as one of 16 students in the first grade in August of 1951. In 1959, Dundee, Ryan, and Manchester formed the
West Delaware school system, and I was in the first class to complete 4 years of high school at WD, graduating in 1963.
The next four years were spent at Luther College pursuing a double major in chemistry and biology. I received the
BA degree in May of 1967, and took a science teaching job at Ed-Co. Since I had taken no education courses at Luther, I held
a temporary teaching certificate, and spent the next three summers earning my teaching credentials.
A most unusual
aspect of my teacher education is that I did my student teaching in summer school at Cedar Rapids Washington HS after I had
already taught a full year at Ed-Co!
In 1978, I began taking some courses in computer science, and eventually
enrolled in a Master's degree program at Clarke College in Dubuque, completing the MA in Educational Technology in 1985.
I have taught all the usual junior high and high school science courses at one time or another, have taught a
few math courses, and currently teach only chemistry and physics, while serving as the District's technology coordinator.
Putting my liberal arts education to good use, earlier in my career, I directed 14 musicals and several full-length
plays, served as large group speech coach, and have coached softball, JH girls basketball, varsity baseball, varsity and JH
wrestling, and both boys and girls golf, programs I helped start at Ed-Co. My only coaching assignment at present is girls
golf.
My professional development interests are in science pedagogy, and
reading in the science content area. I am a member of the Iowa Academy of Science, the American Association of Physics Teachers,
and the National Science Teacher's Association
I have many outside interests, among which are really tough
crossword puzzles, fine woodworking, gardening, cooking, and reading.
My wife, Jackie, and I were married on
December 20th, 1969. We have two children: a son, Adrian, who is Internal Auditor and VP of Accounting at Lincoln Savings
Bank in Reinbeck, IA, and a daughter, Kristen, who is recent graduate of UNI, majoring in business and finance.
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