Practice Blog Post

I.  Introduction
    A.  About myself
    B.  Past career
II.  Education
    A. Why I wanted to be a teacher
    B.  Being a teacher in the 21st century

My name is Josh Garrett.  I am 36 years old.  I am married and have three children - Aubrey, 12;  Michael, 6, and Mason, 3.  I am from Jackson, AL and have lived there my whole life.  In July of 2013 i made a decision to leave my job of 16 years and pursue a different career.  I was a Sergeant, employed by Jackson Police Dept.  During my career at JPD i received multiple awards, including Officer of the Year, Life Saving Award, DUI enforcer, Drug Buster and multiple other commendations.  I was even featured in the FBI publication "Law and Order" along with my partner for our efforts in saving the life of a citizen.  I also received a Resolution passed by the Alabama House of Representatives recognizing the same incident.
During my employment at JPD I was involved with the local schools and also taught several classes at the department's Citizen Police Academy.  That is where i realized I wanted to be a teacher.
Some of my hobbies include:  Photography, playing golf, and watching sports.  I am also a Class II baseball umpire with the Alabama High School Athletic Association.  I enjoy listening to music, such as White Stripes, Nirvana, and Green Day.  My favorite tv shows are Family Guy, Deadliest Catch, and Pawn Stars.http://media.photobucket.com/user/mberumen16/media/Temptation.jpg.html?filters[term]=family%20guy&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=5
I decided to attend USA because of its reputation for educating teachers and its proximity to my home.  To me, being an educator in the 21st century requires more than just creating a lesson plan and throwing facts out to students.  Now, educators must embrace new technology or the students will suffer.  Also, teaches must now take into account the individual ways each student is able to learn.  One thing i also learned from my experience as a police officer was that each student's home life affects their ability and drive to learn.  Those differences should be considered as well.