A Bit About Me:

My name is Angela Marcotte. I was born and raised in the great midwest town of Winona, Minnesota. Right out of high school I attended a local university but only stayed for one year before deciding to explore other avenues. At nineteen years old I packed up my life and moved across the country to Connecticut with friends. It was there I met my husband, a military man. Together we have three wonderful children, aged thirteen, nine and seven, who fill up most of our spare time.


We have been a family for 14+ years now and during those years, I spent most of the time as a stay home mom. We've lived all over the United States including CT, FL, IL, HI, MD and now VA. When we moved to Virginia in 2005 I started to work full time as an office manager for a real estate company and I felt very unfulfilled. I needed a challenge. Last spring I quit my job and signed up for five classes, a lab and a learning community for the Fall 2008 semester. I was a bit overzealous, and completely excited to be heading back to college. I managed to pull it off and not fail a single class! Did I mention I have three children?


Education

Winona Senior High School Class of 1993

Winona State University 1993-1994

College of Southern Maryland 2003-2005

Old Dominion University 2008-present


Hobbies and Interests

I am a member of Bayside Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach. I serve as the Secretary for the BPC Presbyterian Women and volunteer as a youth group advisor. This past summer I went on a mission trip with the youth and learned so much from the kids. It was a moving experience. I enjoy taking pictures and putting them in scrapbooks, but with school, I haven't had a whole lot of time for scrapping.


We attended ATA Blackbelt Academy as a family for over 2 years and I made it to my red belt in Taekwondo. It was invigorating, empowering, and rewarding. In the one tournament I participated in, I earned second place in sparring against 12 other women in my age group. Someday I will go back and earn my black belt. I enjoy watching and learning from my children, as well as playing the Wii, and being a soccer mom. Nothing I have ever done has been as rewarding as being a mom.


My Education Philosophy

I would like to be the teacher who makes a difference. I want to instill a love of reading in the children I teach. The educators I had in elementary school are all remembered with fondness and I want to be that kind of teacher. I would include many hands-on activities, group reading and reading aloud, and much interaction in my classroom. I believe that everyone has a different style of learning and I hope to be able to reach out to all children, offering many different options for learning. I also believe that parental involvement and interaction would be beneficial in the classroom.