Blog Post #1

About Me  

Hello! My name is Brittney Patrick, I was born and raised in the boondocks of Eight Mile, Alabama, and I am future elementary teacher. I  have been attending the University of South Alabama since the summer of 2009, three days after I graduated high school. I am still a sophomore because I have changed my major five times. Yep, you read right. Five times. I originally started out in pharmacology because my daddy wanted me too. From there, I went from general bio-medical studies, to nursing, then secondary education, and finally, elementary education. Huge difference, right? Not completely. I've always known that I want to work with children since I was a child. I just didn't know exactly how I wanted to go about it, but after working at  my church's child development center for four years (and the fact that I hate needles), it just made sense to me to become a teacher.


So then, a little more about me. I am the youngest of three girls. I was the "uh-oh baby".  Both of my sisters are in their 40's and I am 22 years old.  I have two older nephews, a younger niece and five great-nieces and nephews. I still live with my parents since I'm attending classes at South. I originally wanted to attend Auburn University (war eagle), but was too scared to leave home. I am engaged to the most amazing man, Jon Gers ( pronounced "Grrz"), and will be getting married this May. My hobbies include photography, collecting wine glasses and music boxes, exercising and music. Fishing has always been a big part of my life as well. 

 My first true passion is to live like and tell the world of Jesus Christ. I am a sinner saved by grace and there is nothing that could ever change my belief that God is absolutely real. He has done too much in my life for me to ever deny His presence. If it was not for Him finding me in the mess I was in, I would be six feet under somewhere. My second passion is children. I could have to worst day in the world, but the moment I walk into my classroom in the afternoons all my problems vanish. I want to adopt in the future and have a big family. I want to impact and help mold the next generations positively.

My Future Classroom:

As far as what methods I would use and emphasize in my future classroom, I'm not entirely sure. I plan on learning and applying different techniques as I learn and work to be come an educator. I think I would like to use a lot of hands-on and interactive learning because getting up in front of a bunch of kids and just lecturing doesn't cut it in my opinion. I want to make learning fun and I want my future students to truly enjoy their time in my classroom. I love colorful, lively classrooms, but not over stimulating. I would love to be able to use a smart board while lecturing and have a separate white or chalk board to write daily assignments on. I want my students to feel like they are safe and secure in the classroom environment to express themselves and be curious and learn. If I had the choice, I would like to teach k-4, second or third grade. 

Paul Paush on Time Management: 

I love how he talked about different ways to manage stress and procrastination. As Americans, we are terrible at time management. What stuck out the most to me is when Dr. Paul said, "people are more worried about doing something 'right' instead of doing the right thing. It's better to do the right things adequately than do the wrong things beautifully ". I found this video extremely helpful, considering I had a problem with time management.