Practice Blog Post

                                                                           Outline
1.Talk about where I was born, school life before college, major, how I chose my major, and where I intend to go with my major.

2.Why I chose education through dance and how I want to use it to help those in need.

3.Explain how I think teachers in the 21st century should take each child's individual needs into consideration instead of using "uniform teaching"

4. Show my passion of teaching dance in pictures. Talk about how I liked to teach through creativity to make it fun and interesting.

5. Talk about how I was home-schooled and would like to be better at public speaking.

                                                                         Blog Post

My name is Shelby Courtney and I am an Early Education Major. I am twenty years-old and I am in my Junior year of college. I was born in Nashville, Tennessee and moved to Mobile, Alabama when I was about three years-old with my mother, my father, my half-brother and my older sister. My interests include dance, health and fitness, and a lot of nerdy things such as books and video games.  Even though I am planning on going into a profession in Education, I was actually home-schooled my entire life until I enrolled at The University of South Alabama. I found my love of teaching when I started assisting teachers and eventually started to teach my own classes in the art of dance.

I was never sure on what I wanted to do with my life as far as a career goes, but when I started teaching dance classes it finally clicked in my head on what I wanted to do for a living. I started with teaching basic classes to children from ages two through five but what really sparked my passion of teaching is when the studio I was currently working at started to offer a class for children with special needs. I volunteered for this class and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Helping with that class made me realize I want to devote my career in helping those in need and to make a positive difference in as many lives as I can.

I think teachers in the 21st century need to remember that not all children learn the same, some children learn quickly, some learn slower than others. We cannot expect to teach all children the same way, we need to try to cater to each child's needs as much as we can. Teachers also need to be aware of the changes that are taking place in teaching, we do not teach the same way we did ten or even five years ago. The ways of teaching are constantly changing.

One of my biggest passions is dance and I am very lucky that I get to use it in my career in education.

                                          This is a picture from one of my classes recital's last year.
                                                              Source: Shelby Courtney

                                          This picture is me with my little man, Elijah. He has Autism and Cerebral Palsy.
                                          Source: Gildar Passos

I think what I am best at is anything involving being creative. Because I teach dance, I like to teach subjects through creative measures rather than the normal, traditional ways. In my opinion, when you teach through creativity it makes learning more interesting, and inevitably, more enjoyable. I think what I lack and want to get better at is public speaking. As I said above, I was home-schooled my whole life, so speaking publicly gives me major anxiety. I have gotten better but I would like to improve on that.

While I am passionate at what I do, I still have a whole lot to learn and I cannot wait to continue my journey.