Autobiography

Autobiography, Educational Background, and Unique Characteristics

I am a rare Atlanta native…well, almost.  I went to elementary school in the Atlanta Public School system, although the site of my elementary school is now a high-rise office building in Buckhead.  My family moved to Cobb County when I went to middle school and we lived there until I was a sophomore in high school.  We then made a big move to Kentucky, which is also the state where I was born.  Going from a big suburban high school to a small, rural town outside of Lexington, Kentucky was a shocking, but worthwhile, experience.  It was interesting to see the fascination, by my new classmates, with my experiences in a big city.  The rebel in me came out when it was time to decide on a college.  I come from a long line of University of Kentucky graduates, but I decided to attend a rival university, the University of Louisville.  I wanted to get back to a big city and farther away from home.  I had a great time at U of L, where I made many lifelong friends and got an excellent education.

When I entered college, I did not declare my major right away, although I think I always knew I would become a teacher.  After all, my mother and my grandmother were teachers.  I started babysitting when I was ten because that is when my younger brother was born.  During my summers in college, I worked in a day care center with school age children, running their summer camp program.  These rewarding experiences led me to my decision that teaching was the career for me.

After college, I got married, moved back to Georgia, and got my first teaching job.  During my years of teaching, I had two boys who are now almost 17 and 14.  I am now a single mom doing the usual parenting that teenagers require.  I have enjoyed watching Philip and Hayden grow into terrific young men.  Being their mom and watching them grow up has been the most rewarding experience of my life.  Some of my most treasured memories are of when they both attended elementary school in the same school in which I am teaching.  They work hard in school and I have high expectations for them when it comes to their education.  Philip will be senior in high school next year and is looking at colleges of interest right now.  He has begun a new sport this year, rugby.  A bit rough for Mom (me) to take, but he is enjoying it.  Philip also enjoys golf and baseball in his spare time.  Hayden will be a freshman in high school next year and plans to play football for the Walton Raiders.  He is an excellent athlete and puts his passion into the sports that he plays.  His favorite shirt says “Football is Everything” and that sums it up for Hayden.  Philip and Hayden have been very supportive and understanding during my work on my degree. 

I have always been an avid reader myself, but I think my love of children’s literature came more from my own children than from being a teacher.  Even when they were infants, I read to my children.  It was awkward, at times, to read to a baby who could not even hold his head up, but it was also obvious that he was soothed by the stories and bright colors.  As my children grew older, and bedtime routines were established, everyone’s favorite part of the routine was story time.  There are many great stories that I know by heart because they wanted to hear them over and over.  Good Night Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown and The Book of Shadow Boxes, by Laura Seeley were two favorites.  My boys are teenagers now and reading is not on the top of their priority list but I feel certain that, as adults, they will also be enthusiastic readers.  I hope that I have instilled in them a love of reading and lifelong learning.

Now I am completing my master’s program at UGA.  I think the fact that I was able to accomplish this is my most unique characteristic.  Being a single mom to two very active teenagers and a full time teacher was enough to keep me quite busy.  However, I have this dream of becoming a school library media specialist so I decided to go for it.  It has been the busiest two years of my life but I am proud of myself for accomplishing this goal. 

Work Experience

I got my first teaching job in Fulton County.  I have now worked for Fulton County Schools for 21 years.  I have taught kindergarten, first, and fifth grades.  My experiences in kindergarten and first grade were early in my career.  I have been teaching fifth grade for six years now and I love teaching the older students as much as I did the younger ones.  I love teaching, nurturing, and guiding my students.  There is nothing more rewarding than to watch that “light bulb” go on and seeing the proud look on their faces because they understand.  One of my most rewarding events in teaching actually came this year.  I got a new student in January and he had been encouraged to leave his other school because he was not performing up to their standards.  He wrote me a letter after being in my class for about six weeks.  He said in the letter that he liked being in our class because we really liked to read and now he was starting to like to read.  He also said that he might even start to like math pretty soon.

I have taught in two schools through the years and both have been comprised of diverse and changing populations.  My first five years were in an inter city school.  The remainder of my teaching experience has been in a suburb of Atlanta (Roswell) and the population of the school where I teach has changed over the years.  When I started there, it was an affluent suburban school with a majority of Caucasian students.  It has changed with the times and is now one of the most diverse schools in Fulton County.  There is now a fairly even balance of Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian students.   My rewarding experiences have provided me with a wide range of abilities to educate children with many different backgrounds.

My Live Goals and Philosophy

I have thought about getting my Master’s degree in School Library Media for a long time.  I needed to wait until my children were independent enough to do things for themselves, but I had to fit it in before my oldest son was ready to go to college.  I am fortunate in that I was able to accomplish this goal in the time frame I allowed myself.  The UGA program was a perfect fit for me because of the flexible delivery.  I was able to attend classes, both on line and face to face, because it was suitable to my schedule.  I have continued to enjoy my children’s accomplishments and teach my students.  At the same time, I have been able to learn what it takes to be a cutting edge media specialist of the 21^st Century.

Now that I have achieved a personal goal of mine, I need to put my focus on my children’s immediate future.  Philip has a big year coming up and the process of applying to college is overwhelming.  He will need support, guidance, and possibly a little pushing.  Hayden will be starting high school and he too will need support, guidance, and a lot of pushing!  I feel that this is a very important time for both of my children and I need to make them my top priority. 

I feel confident that I will obtain a position as a media specialist and I look forward to the day when I will have my own media center.  I could actually retire from Fulton County in nine years, but I do not think I will be ready at that time.  I plan to continue to work as a media specialist for many more years.