The Tiger Den

LaTonya Renee Taylor

NBCT 2006

Library Media Specialist

Manassas High School

Ms. Taylor’s Memoir

Dear Student,

            Welcome to the start of the best year ever.  I am looking forward to this year and sharing my love of literature, technology and information with you.  There is so much that we can learn about ourselves and the world from reading literature.  I have always loved reading and  I will do my best to help you discover the hidden treasures that lie between the covers of a book. I discovered the treasures as a child who loved to escape from my reality into the fascinating lives of others.

           I grew up in Walls, Mississippi.  This is a small town at the Mississippi -Tennessee state line.  We (my mother, sister, and two brothers) lived in a three-bedroom shack with my grandparents.  I didn’t know that we were really poor until I went to college-but we were really poor.  I didn’t feel poor. I dressed nice, but when you look at the numbers (socioeconomic status) -I was poor.  My mother was a teenage mom and she worked hard to provide for us. My grandmother, Madear, was the queen of the family.  I loved her tremendously because she was so good and she didn’t let me get away with anything.  She laid the foundation on which I have built my life. She believed in being kind, honest, generous, and fair. She would feed the hungry, listen to the distraught, and clothe those in need. I really miss Madear. God gave my grandma her wings in April of 1993.  Although she is no longer on this earth, I know she is always with me.

            I was the first person on my mother’s side of the family to receive a college degree. My father had a college degree, but we were not close.  My parents separated when I was four and divorced when I was seven. After my parents divorced Daddy moved to Washington, D.C. He did not visit often because did not like the South.  My mother did not graduate from high school, but she always stressed the importance of education to her children. I made good grades in elementary, junior high, and high school.  I was number 8 in my class.  It never occurred to me to try to be valedictorian or salutatorian.  I didn’t really think about stuff like that, whatever happened – just happened. I wish, now, that I would have had more of a plan. But I guess that is the way of many teenagers, just living life, not really thinking about the future.

            I decided to attend The University of Mississippi, a.k.a. Ole Miss to obtain my bachelor’s degree.  I majored in journalism, but when I was a junior in college I decided that I didn’t want to be a journalist.  I added English as a major.  About a month before graduation I was distraught; I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life.  On the last day to apply, I submitted my application to Law School at Ole Miss.  I was ecstatic when I discovered that I had been accepted.  Big Money!  I was going to be rich. I graduated May 1992 with a B.A. degree in Journalism/English and in August of 1992 I started law school.  I studied day and night. One of my professors was Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton.  I learned a lot, but I hated it. What was I doing in law school when the only subject I’ve ever loved was English? Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Mark Twain, commas, nouns, poems, symbols, metaphors, similes; these were the things I loved not torts, contracts, mens rea, legal briefs, constitutional amendments and deeds of trust.  So, I decided to quit law school and become an English teacher.  I wanted to share my love of literature and language with young minds.

            That leads us to graduate school.  On August 7, 2004, I graduated from Union University with a Masters of Education degree. Two months later I was back in school to obtain my endorsement in Library Media. This is my fourteenth  year in the teaching profession- my fourth in the library. The Internet did not become popular until after 1995. It was at the time I discovered two new loves. Information and technology. As a librarian I am able to work with all of my passions simultaneously.  During the 2005-2006 school year I put all of my teaching and learning to a test. I pursued National Board Certification. This is the highest level of professional achievement available for a teacher. It is a tough process. I had to do a lot of writing, reading, researching, video-taping,  and studying. On December 13, 2006I was notified that I had achieved National Board Certification. I was ecstatic. I had worked really, really, really hard and I was successful.  Going through that process was the greatest professional development that I have ever done.

            I taught in Mississippi for three years and this is my eleventh year in Memphis.  I believed that I have been divinely placed at each school for a purpose– for a least one child.  I am looking forward to this year and working with you.  I just ask that you do your best daily and seek assistance when you need it. I am available to listen and to help.  I want you to be successful. As a single mother of a little girl, I know that we all have trials and tribulations that we must overcome, but I believe in perseverance and diligence.  One must keep working and climbing up mountains to gain success.

     One of my favorite writers is American poet, Robert Frost. In a poem Frost wrote, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by.  And that has made all the difference.”   This poem inspired me in high school, college, and even today. What road will you take? What decision will you make that will be “all the difference” in your life?   Fourteen years ago I made a decision to teach and that has made “all the difference” in my life.  I am glad about the choice that I made and I look forward to teaching you this year.

Love Always,

Ms. Taylor