Biography

Mr. G's Biography

I grew up in Haslett, MI and graduated from Haslett High School in 1984. In 1989, I graduated from Western Michigan University with B.S. degrees in Anthropology and Environmental Studies. I then stayed at W.M.U. and in 1991 received a M.A. in Anthropology. My graduate work related to the study of Archaeology; specifically related to economics and trade among natives groups that lived in the midwestern United States. I wrote an M.A. Thesis about trade and exchange of chert (stone used to make tools such as arrowheads) in the Kalamazoo Valley from A.D. 500 to 1400.  During this time I studied a lot about stone tools used by native people of midwestern North America and worked on Archaeological excavations in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.

After graduating from college I began work for the Center for American Archaeology in Kampsville, Illinois. I conducted research on native groups who lived in the Lower Illinois Valley between 8,000 B.C. until 1600 A.D.  My work consisted of digging up artifacts, finding new archaeological sites and spending a lot of time writing about them. I have published articles in several regional archaeological journals and have contributed to numerous published manuscripts. During this time I also ran a summer program in which high school students from around the country came and excavated a 6,000 year old Archaic period archaeological site called Quasar. Working with the students made me realize that I wanted to spend more time working in education and teaching. In 1999, I return to school at Michigan State University and completed a major in Education and minors in Environmental Science and Social Studies.  

I started teaching 6th grade in 2000 at Greyhound Intermediate and have been teaching 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades ever since. I have taught Social Studies, Math, Language Arts and Science during this time, as well as several computer and math electives. For the 2024-25 school year I will be teaching two classes of 6th grade social studies and three sections of Math Lab, one each for 6th, 7th and 8th Grade. I will also have a 6th grades students will see me each day for TAG.

Things I like to Do

My wife Tonya and I spend a lot of our free time traveling. We really enjoy the great outdoors and seeing new places. We prefer to take our tent, backpacks and wander around all over. In particular, we like to visit U.S. National Parks properties and U.N.E.S.C.O World Heritage sites. Over the time we have hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail, visited over 48 states and walked many miles of trails within State and National Parks. We have also made several trips to Europe, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. We have traveled to places in Italy, Spain, France, Morocco, Panama, Costa Rica, Bermuda, several island countries of the Caribbean, as well as place like Alaska and the Yukon. In 2016, we took part in an educational program which visited the island country of Cuba. This past summer, we continued to visit Spain and Portugal, and spent time in Iowa and on Isle Royals National Park. We have now visited 228 of the 431 National Park Properties. We spend a lot of time in museums and historic sites of which I like to share with my Social Studies classes; so students will see many pictures of places I have been. When we are not traveling I enjoy hunting, fishing, gardening (lots of canning) and other outdoor activities.