Practice Blog Post

Who am I? Why do I want to be an educator? What does an educator do in his or her practice? What are my passions?

1. A Little Bit About Me and Why I Chose USA
2. How Education Became the Profession for Me
3. A 21st Century Educator
4. Stories and Disney
5. Me and Atomic Bombs


1. Hi! My name is Elizabeth Barnett and I'm a junior majoring in Elementary Education. I was born here in Mobile but I've lived most of my life in Bay Minette, AL, and still currently live there with my parents and brother who is a junior in high school. I have always loved working with children and hope to teach in a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classroom someday. At the moment I volunteer with children's programs at my church as well as a public library. I also enjoy writing and would like to publish fiction and/or children's books someday. I also have a strong desire to travel after college.

The College of Education was the main point in my decision to attend USA. Even though my mom's undergraduate degree is in Wildlife Biology, she obtained her Master's degree from the College of Education and had a great experience here. I also was attracted to the Honors Program here at USA. I am glad that I decided to attend South because I'll be able to work with schools in the Gulf Coast area, which is where I want to continue to live after graduation. Ideally I'd like to work in Baldwin County, but we will see!

2. Working with children has honestly always been a part of my life. My mom was once a director of a preschool and daycare that I helped out as a kid. Later on she became a Children's Director at our church and then moved on to become a Children's Librarian, while I helped again in both positions. My time as drum major of a high school marching band taught me that I like working with others and leading a team, so it only seemed natural that I combine that with my love of kids and become a teacher.

3. I believe that a 21st century educator's work entails constantly learning, creating, and practicing new teaching methods in addition to new methods to keep up with our constantly evolving global society. Since technology plays such a large role in our everyday life, it must now play a part in our classrooms as well.

Source: http://paw-patrol-fanon.wikia.com/wiki/File:Walt-Disney-Screencaps-The-Walt-Disney-Logo-walt-disney-characters-31872968-2560-1440.jpg

4. No, the Walt Disney logo above does not mean that my passion is watching Disney movies. My passion is actually telling stories in general. I absolutely love to read and write and I can remember inventing my own "book series" when I was as young as 7. I believe that my love for stories came from the endless amount of Disney movies I watched as a kid. I was so inspired by the fairytales in Disney films that I created my own versions of the tales in elementary school. Although I still admire Disney movies, I now look forward to reading stories to my own students and maybe even publishing my own works someday.

5. I think that one of the most interesting things about me is the fact that I was named after my grandmother who worked on the Manhattan project in WWII. She got the job because she was a female chemist while many men were away at war. She was intelligent and ahead of her time, and I strive to be like her in those aspects.