Mike's Home Page

The Whistling
Science Teacher

Science! It's an adventure!

These MeteorCasts have been developed to motivate as well as educate. They are about 17 to 21 megabytes in size so you shouldn't try to download them unless you have a cable or DSL Internet connection. Cable will take <3 minutes and DSL will be <5 minutes. If you want to download the MeteorCast then right-click on it an choose "Save Target As". Save it to you desktop and open it with you favorite mp3 player. By-the-way if you want to read the lyrics to the songs as you listen click on the Lyrics for Podcast Songs after you start your mp3 player.

PodCast Archive

MeteorCast 103

MeteorCast 102

MeteorCast 101 Lyrics for Podcast Songs

Mike is a native of Greenville County and has attended the University of South Carolina, Clemson, and Furman University. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education from Furman in 1976 and earned his Master of Arts, also from Furman, in 1986. Mike has since acquired his Masters Plus 30 certification. He has the distinction of being selected by the University of South Carolina to participate in the Earth Science Teacher Resource Agent (ESTRA) Program. He has provided tremendous support to science teachers in Anderson, Greenville, Oconee, and Pickens Counties. Mike has also received special recognition from his peers by being selected as the 1980 Teacher of the Year at Mountain View Elementary and by his former students by being included in the 1992, 1998, and 2005 editions of Who's Who Among America's Teachers'.

Although not a permanent part of the Lifelong Learning (LLL) Staff or Roper Mountain Science Center, Mike is not a new face at either place. He has taken both the Introduction to Computers and the Intermediate Computer Class for Teachers taught through LLL and has been primary instructor for Introduction to Computers for Educators for more than 22 sessions. The Intro class is a 45 hour course designed to give teachers the technological training they need to begin using a computer in their classroom. Mike has also taught the12 hour short course, PreIntel and began teaching the INTEL Teach to the Future class in 2006. The INTEL class is a graduate level class focused on integrating technology in to the classroom. At Roper Mountain Science Center, Mike has worked closely with Tom Littlejohn as an assistant instructor for the geology portion of the PLUS Institute and has assisted in that class 29 times since 1992. Mike has enhanced the strategies and techniques of hundreds of teachers through these adult programs. In 2006, with the help of Greg Cornwell, the Education Curator of Roper Mountain Science Center, Mike developed two classes for their Summer Science Program. Computer Guts for Computer Nuts uses functioning computers donated to the Center for students to dismantle and rebuild. The Design Your Own Computer Game uses MicroWorlds, a LOGO based programming language, to develop web based games. However, you're more likely to run into him at Blue Ridge Middle in northern Greenville County where he has taught science for more than nineteen years.

Mike has taught sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Science since 1979 except for the times he was activated for Desert Storm and Operation Restore Democracy. He retired from the United States Army Reserves after 25 years of service in December 2000. His last assignment was as Chief of Operations Division, Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, NC which allowed him to work very closely with the Deployment Support Command at Ft. Eustis. He has completed Transportation Officers' Basic and Transportation Officers' Advanced courses at Fort Eustis, VA. He was awarded the Joint Services Achievement Medal for his performance during Desert Storm and was named the 1994 IMA Reserve Officer of the Year for Military Traffic Management Command, Eastern Area. He is also very active in local Reserve organizations. He held the office of Secretary for the Greenville, BB Parks Chapter of the Reserve Officers' Association (ROA) from 1990 to 1999 and has made numerous Junior AROTC and Junior AFROTC award presentations at local high schools and colleges for ROA, National Sojourners, and Military Order of World Wars. Mike's hobbies include rock collecting, gardening and playing his guitars. He and his wife, Patti, who is also a middle school teacher for Greenville County, have five lovely children: Julie (27), Mackenzie (18), Michael (15), and Standish (12) and Cassidy (9). With this busy life, Mike still finds time to check his e-mail and stay in touch with the many friends he has made through work, Church, Masonic, Reserve, P.L.U.S and Lifelong Learning activities who know him as...... meteormike@charter.net.

The stories my Mother told me as grew up had a profound influence on my life. When she decided to write them down I was very excited. I encouraged her to submit some of them for publishing and helped her type them since her handwriting looks exactly like mine (just a little on the sloppy side!) Mom's Stories

When I was in college one of my favorite hobbies was pencil/charcoal art. My college art professor encouraged me even when I didn't show great potential as an artist. He helped me to understand that the act of drawing is the reward not necessarily the finished product. If you would be interested in seeing some of my sketches......My Sketches

Maybe on my next vacation I can go back to visit Niagara Falls. What a beautiful place.........

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