The Professional Me I grew up in South Florida and graduated college in 1984 with a B.S. with honors from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida. I graduated with certifications to teach elementary grades (P - 5) and middle grades (4 - 8). I also had extra specialization certification in Math, Social Studies and Language Arts. That means I was a geek and took curriculum classes for my electives! Under the recommendation of my principal I took classes to get my Teacher Support Specialist add-on to my certificate. This means I was trained to help mentor new teachers. I received my Master's of Arts in December 1999 from Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia and completed my Educational Specialist degree from Liberty University Online in December 2010. Always in search of new adventures, I recently completed the first Teacher Leader Endorsement Class for Douglas County. I look forward to using these skills to help make our school the best it can be! As you can see, education and continuing to GROW in your profession is very important to me. I encourage you to reach out and continue to GROW in whatever profession you are involved in. No dog is too old to learn new tricks! The Working Me After graduating from Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, I worked as a store manager over two McDonald's restaurants. I had been employed with McDonald's since I was 15 years old. However, a mugging persuaded me to move away and live with my brother here in Georgia. Bill Arp Elementary was my first interview and I worked at Bill Arp for 26 years serving as team leader, professional learning trainer, and curriculum leader. I have taught first, second, third, fifth, and sixth grades, as well as multiage classes. That is where you have two grades in your classroom at once. I had a 1st/2nd grade for a few years and then a 2nd/3rd grade for a year. I guess this has helped me acquire activities at all levels and makes it easier for me to manage different levels in my room. I like teaching children where they are at, make them feel successful, and challenge them to do more. I enjoy hugs and smiles from my students and welcome parents to volunteer as much as you can. The Family Me I was born in Hollywood - Hollywood, Florida that is! I grew up a beach bum, loving the sun and the sand between my toes. Not sure when I started wearing shoes - who needed them? I was outside from sun up until the street lights went on (in those days we had them). School work was fun to me as I had outstanding teachers. My father was a chef so he constantly invited all our teachers home for dinner. I guess that is where I got my sense to be in close contact with the parents in my classroom. Teachers were always at our house, going diving with my brothers, and even playing in the band at my sister's wedding! In those days, there was not a lot of turnover, and people didn't move around a lot, so the same teachers taught all five of the kids on my family! As you can guess, I got away with nothing! I lived on campus during college even though I was only 20 minutes away. My dad was always dropping in with pies and food for all the hungry and poor college students! Needless to say, I was the only one with a fridge in my room that was raided by everyone on my floor! At age 15, I got a job at McDonald's. I worked my way up from cleaning the lobby to weekend manager to assistant manager and finally I had my own store. I enjoyed running a business and I was good at it, because I valued my crew. I stayed with McDonald's all through college and even after I moved up here (new teachers back then made little money!). The principal(Dr. Karanovich) who hired me at Bill Arp said that if I could run a McDonald's and manage schedules and inventory, etc., I certainly could run a classroom! Well, I must say my first year of teaching was a bit overwhelming! I was lucky that my principal could afford to stay in my classroom frequently that first year. She would offer to teach lessons and shared all of her experience with me. It really helped me tremendously. That is why I don't mind having visitors in my room. So feel free to stop in and visit us. Don't be offended if I ignore you for a bit while I teach. Feel free to pull up a chair and experience the learning going on. IN 2005, I married to a wonderful man who decided when he was 32 years old to enlist in the Georgia Army National Guard. I am so proud of his patriotism and his desire to keep our country safe. He was deployed in October 2011 to Kosovo. While there, he tore his Achilles tendon and, after three surgeries, he is finally on the mend! My daughter, Sarah, is 22 years old and a recent graduate of THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA! She majored in international affairs. Over the past few summers, she has served as an intern in Washington, D.C. with Georgia Congressman Austin Scott and as an intern for our own Governor Deal! She worked diligently on the campaign for Ed Lindsey in his bid for the Republican seat in Congress, but unfortunately, he didn’t win! Currently she has a wonderful job working in Atlanta at the Department of Education as a System Reform Coordinator for Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. I am so proud of her accomplishments! Our family rescues pot-bellied pigs from the humane society - right now we have 7. They live on the back acre of our land and provide great enjoyment. We also have five wonderful dogs - Destiny-our German shepherd, Coco-our Chocolate Lab, Cali-our Australian Cattle Dog (Blue Heeler), Hershey- another Chocolate Lab, and our newest baby, Reesie, also a Chocolate Lab. My hobby is finding great deals at flea markets. Our family loves to travel – recently we spent a week hiking at Yellowstone National Park! I recommend that trip for EVERY FAMILY! I feel blessed in my life and try not to stress over it too much - most of it is out of my control.
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April 2015
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