Practice Blog Post #1

Outline:

2 paragraphs about myself:

• name, 19 years old
• where I'm from
• major interests
• concerts, church, Romania, roadtrips, netflix
• why I came to South
• originally a Chemistry major. South has a good Chemistry program. I always wanted to be a teacher, so I changed my major, no more sciences (yay!)
• family- still in Birmingham
• brother, working full-time, going to school to get his 2nd EMT license and firefighter.
• mom, retired from AT&T, enjoying relaxing
• dad, works as a painter
• why i want to enter education field
• I want to be a full-time missionary when I graduate. I wanted to do something that I could do in both countries, as well as interacting with children on a normal basis. 
• educator’s work entails in the 21st century
• keeping kids updated on the latest technology, teaching them as many things that can help them with their future, believing in their dream careers with them, and making sure each student knows the information gone over in class, even if that means staying late to help tutor.
• *insert picture of me in Romania (best describes me)*
• I want to get better at using technology and I want to make sure I can learn as many teaching methods as possible while still in school.

My name is Hannah Tolbert. I grew up in a small town called Morris, Alabama right outside of Birmingham. My parents and brother still live in the Birmingham area. My mother recently retired from AT&T about 4 years ago, and is enjoying being retired, cleaning houses a few times a week. My father is a painter and paints commercial businesses, like doctors offices, hospitals, car dealerships, etc. My brother is a full-time worker and boyfriend to Kourtney, as well as a part-time fight fighter and going to school to get his second EMT license. Needless to say, he is VERY busy. 

I am in between my second and third year of college. I spend most of my time outside of school and work going to concerts, church, road trips, and Romania. I also really, really like watching Netflix. I originally came to the University of South Alabama to be a Chemistry major. I wanted to do forensic science, mainly because I love NCIS. After my first semester of college, taking Chemistry and Math, I went with my gut instinct and swapped to my dream major, Elementary Education. The more I am in college, the more I see that the way we learn is changing. Children are using iPads and computers on a day to day basis! I think an educators work in the 21st century entails a lot more than the previous generations. We have to be able to work computers, tablets, phones, etc better or as well as the children! How embarrassing would that be if a 5 year old knew something about a tablet that you didn’t? I also think believing and encouraging that their dreams are possible is a part of our daily jobs. I want to get better at teaching methods and using technology as much as I can before I graduate and get into this field full-time. Although, I may not have the technology problem as much, seeing as how I want to teach in a third-world country. 

I started going to Romania when I was 17, however I have been involved with it since I’ve been 15. I have spent months there teaching and sharing the Gospel to children. It is my dream to be over there full-time teaching children in small villages.