Blog Post 1

ALL ABOUT ME
    My name is Angela Pitts.  I grew up in the Mobile area.  After graduating from high school, I moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to attend the University of Southern Mississippi.  I earned a degree in Elementary Education and returned home to Mobile.  I had always wanted to be a teacher.  I wanted to be able to touch someone's life - to make a difference.  I wanted to inspire children to be the best student, the best person, they could become.  I wanted to make learning a fun experience, and something the students could use to mold themselves into professional human beings.
    I began my teaching career at Indian Springs Elementary school as a fifth grade Language Arts teacher.  After my first year, I moved to a self-contained fourth grade classroom.  I really enjoyed teaching fourth grade as it provided me the opportunity to expand student knowledge in critical courses including reading, mathematics and science.  In fact, my grade level teachers and I worked diligently to develop a reading program based on novel studies.  All of the skills taught to the students were done so through novels.  The students enjoyed that teaching model, and the teachers and school administrators believed the program was successful.  I was employed at Indian Springs for a total of six years before resigning to become a stay-at-home mother.
    My husband and I have been married for 16 years, and we have three beautiful daughters.  Emma is 12, and our twin daughters, Hannah and Isabelle, are 9.  All of our daughters attend Corpus Christi Catholic School.  Our daughters are involved scholastically through their involvement with groups such as Corpus Christi News, and Emma is a proud member of the National Junior Honor Society.  We have encouraged our children to be involved in extracurricular activities, and they are active participants in the Girl Scouts, CYO Sports and Corpus Christi Band.
    I resumed my career in the education field in 2006, when I was appointed as an inclusion paraprofessional at Cranford Burns Middle School.  My duties in this capacity include assisting all students in the classroom while providing particular attention to students with Individualized Education Plans.  I tutor students, help with homework assignments, reteach skills and administer tests.
    The majority of my free time is spent with my family.  Our daughters are very involved in school and extracurricular activities, and this requires a large time commitment on our part to shuttle them to and from practice, band, meetings and other activities.  It is a small price to pay, though, since we want our children to be well-rounded students who have been exposed to various elements both in and outside the classroom.  Any remaining time is spent with our family in Mobile.  Although our immediate family in Mobile is relatively small, our extended family is very large.  We take regular trips to Mississippi and Texas to visit family and friends.  My hobbies include cooking, gardening, taking walks with our  two dogs and, when I can, watching Home and Garden television.
    I am attending the University of South Alabama to fulfill the requirements to get my teaching certificate reinstated.  My certificate lapsed during the period I stayed home to care for our young children.  To reclaim my certificate, I must complete two 300-400 level college courses and complete 50 hours of professional development.  I plan to complete the requirements for recertification by the close of the 2011-2012 school year, and hope to secure a teaching position for the next academic year.

Randy Pausch on Time Management
    I greatly enjoyed watching Mr. Pausch's presentation on time management.  Mr. Pausch was able to at least outwardly downplay his terminal diagnosis and use it as a teaching instrument to reflect that he, of all people, was adept at managing the time afforded to him after learning of his pancreatic cancer.  Mr. Pausch combined humor with his lecture in an effort to lighten the seriousness of his predicament, which improved the quality of his presentation because the audience was not led to believe he was having a "woe is me" speech.  On the contrary, Mr. Pausch spoke about dealing with time management in a common-sense type of manner through his straightforward, no nonsense personality.  Like Mr. Pausch, I am a firm believer in lists, and planning not only for the coming week, but for the upcoming months.  As Mr. Pausch pointed out though, our life situation changes, and we have to edit our plans and change our lists to hit the curve balls that life throws at us.  I read Mr. Pausch's book, and was touched by his good nature and how he did not allow a medical diagnosis change him to a bitter and downcast individual.  As Mr. Pausch noted, you can learn a lot when things do not go well.  This translates not only to our life as a whole, but the classroom as well because children, administrators, policies, politics and a host of other factors can create obstacles to your success as a teacher, but if you focus on doing things right, as Mr. Pausch said, you hold the upper hand in making the outcome as favorable as possible.