From Doug's Desk

Mr. Billings with some old friends of the family

Greetings and Salutations,

My name is Douglas Billings, and I am the seventh grade English teacher with Team 5 at LMS. This is my fifth year at LMS, and I have enjoyed each and every day with all of my students.

I am originally from Peoria, Illinois, where I spent all of my childhood school years. I have literally lived all over the United States as well as spending three years in Okinawa, Japan with the U.S. Air Force. I currently live in Bolivar, Tennessee with my gorgeous bride, Geri. I have a grown son named Hunter, who is with a U.S. Army Reserve unit stationed in Afghanistan. I have numerous interests and hobbies, including: camping, fishing, canoeing, reading, writing, genealogical research, wood-carving, photography, making fishing lures, attending baseball games, and traveling; just to name a few.

Education:

Master's Degree - Advanced Elementary Education (K-8)

2007 - University of Tennessee, Martin, Tennessee

Bachelor of Science Degree - Human Learning, Middle School (5-8)

2005 - University of Tennessee, Martin, Tennessee

Associate of Arts

1977 - Drury College, Springfield, Missouri

High School Diploma

1975 - Richwoods Community High School, Peoria, Illinois

Endorsements:

Social Studies (5-8)

Reading (5-8)

English (5-8)

Middle School Content (5-8)

Secondary World and U.S. History (7-12)

Favorites:

Sport - Baseball

MLB Team - Detroit Tigers

NHL Team - Chicago Black Hawks

College Football - Iowa Hawkeyes

Song - "American Pie" by Don McLean

Music Groups - The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), Sam Bush, John Hartford

TV Show - The Andy Griffith Show

Movies - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Field of Dreams (1990), Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? (2000)

Childhood Books - Thirteen Days to Glory by Lon Tinkle and The Boy Scout Handbook

Books - Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor, Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, and Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley 

Poem - "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Drive - Scenic Highway 61 - North Shore of Lake Superior, Minnesota - Duluth, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada 

Historical Period - American Colonial Period