Autobiography

Autobiography, Educational Background,
and Unique Characteristics  

I am a Georgia native, born and raised in Gwinnett County. When I graduated from high school, there was no doubt where I was going to college: The University of Georgia. Luckily I got in, because it was the only place I applied to. For some reason, when I entered college, I was determined that I was NOT going to be a teacher. Everyone I knew was in the College of Education, and I wanted to be different. Unfortunately for me, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble down the road. Oh well, we live and learn!

Instead of entering the College of Education, I entered the School of Journalism. I graduated from UGA in 1999 with a degree in Public Relations. At the same time, my boyfriend since high school graduated with (you guessed it!) a degree in Education, and we got married shortly after graduation.

Over the next five years, I worked in corporate marketing and public relations, but I really wasn't all that happy with my job. I didn't feel like I was DOING anything really, just spinning words around to suit the boss. During that time, I had a son, Houston. He was born with severe congenital heart defects, and he has had multiple surgeries since. While we were going through this, I realized that I hated (or strongly disliked) my job and didn't feel like I was making any sort of difference in the world. My husband, on the other hand, was a teacher who loved his job and the interaction with students. 

As a result, I decided to go into education too. After a lot of research, I realized that I wanted to be a media specialist. I loved to read, I loved books, I loved research, and I had wonderfully fond memories of school libraries that I visited as a student. I applied and enrolled in UGA's School Library Media program. While doing this, though, I was continuing to work in that job I didn't like and covertly go to school on the side. Unfortunately, this became too much when my son had to have another surgery, and I had to withdraw from the program. 

I continued to want to complete the program, but I had to find a way to do it all. So, I ended up applying and receiving a provisional teaching certificate to teach Language Arts. This made it all so much easier to complete the program while in an educational setting, so I re-entered UGA's School Library Media program, and here I am.  I even managed to have another child, a healthy baby girl, Brinley, while completing the program. Who says we can't do it all? Although I have had my doubts about my sanity, I have finally almost finished, and I am so proud of myself.

As for unique characteristics, I think that being one of the students in this program without a teaching certificate (in the beginning at least), made me unique. I also think that I am able to add to the program because I have worked in the corporate world too. This enables me to see sides of things that students who have only taught may not see.

Work experience

As I said before, I began my life in corporate marketing. I worked for a trade association and then a major airline based in Atlanta. After receiving my provisional teaching certificate, I taught high school Language Arts in Walton County for three years. The two schools that I taught in were very different demographically, with one being very diverse and the other being very homogeneous. I think that seeing both ends of the spectrum has helped me understand how to work in either situation.

Now, I am in my first year as a media specialist, in an elementary school in Walton County. Some people ask me if I chose to move from high school to elementary school, or if I just took what was offered. Of course, I did take what was offered, but I truly wanted to work in an elementary school. I completed my internship in an elementary school, and I loved the idea of encouraging young people to read and find good books. I feel like that is an important part of being an elementary media specialist, while older grades sometimes focus more on teaching research and information literacy.

Life Goals and Learning Goals

Very rarely can anyone sit back and say "I have the perfect job!" I really do say that. After starting my position this year as a media specialist, I really do feel like I have the perfect job. I love what I do. When I started this program four years ago, I really wanted to get into a library and find my niche. I have done that, and I am so happy. I feel like I have achieved my life goals. Now I will just keep expanding them. I plan to continue to learn new ways to use technology in the library. I really want to encourage teachers that I work with to use technology in innovative ways in the classroom. My learning goals for the program were to understand instructional technology, and I have learned so much -- and I want to keep learning. I also want to continue to stay up-to-date on new children's literature. I see many conferences in my future, where I can learn all about new things.

Of course, we know that educators never stop learning, and I will probably go on to receive my Specialist degree in the near future. To me, learning is addictive and I will do it forever. I think that I will probably try to get my specialist in a technology field so that I can include that knowledge in my media center in the future too. As I said, I have the perfect job, and I don't see myself leaving it anytime in the near or distant future, I just want to continue to expand my knowledge!