Hello. My name is Timothy Hatcher. I am an elementary school teacher, teaching grades five and six, at Pacific Horizons
School on Tutuila Island of American Samoa. I have lived here since July of 2005.
I am originally from Florida. I was raised in the very small town White City located on the north-west panhandle of the state.
It is very small community with a population under 300. No one really knows where it is; it is even mis-located on Google
Earth by at least 10 miles.
I attended Florida State University and graduated in April of 2000 with a BS degree, majoring in biological science. After university, I joined AmeriCorps and worked for one year as a VISTA with the Florida Alliance for Student Service. I finished that commitment and
left for the United States Peace Corps in March of 2002. While I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda, I worked as primary school teacher trainer. I also
worked with my community to develop a nursery school, a life skills development program and a community-based organization
that did HIV/AIDS education.
After three wonderful years in Uganda, it was time for a change. I closed my Peace Corps service in the middle of May 2005
and arrived in American Samoa in July. This is my first time teaching young children, and I have enjoyed the experience very
much. When school began in August, I really felt out of my element, so I began taking certification courses with University of Hawaii through a program at American Samoa Community College. They have been very useful and have helped me to understand the children I teach. I have also been able to reflect
on my belief and attitudes about education and form my own educational philosophy. With ideas that I have learned through
these courses, I feel that I have become a more effective teacher.
I will not stay here for long. I am like a rolling stone. Before long it will be time to leave. I plan to continue with
my education and one day earn a graduate degree related to education. I am interested in studying education and its relationship
with a country’s development.
MAD SKILLZ
I'm not exactly what you would call techno-savvy, far from it. I brought to this course a fairly good knowledge of Microsoft
Word, a working knowledge of Excel, and I could do a thing or two ith Powepoint. I maintained a blog, and I had a class site
at Scholastic.com. I came knowing how to work on both Apples and PC's. I was good at using the internet and familiar enough
with computer that I could figure out how to resolve basic challenges, but that is about it.
Leaving the ETEC 442, I have added on to my knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. I have learned a little bit
of HTML code, and I built my very first website. I am happy with my progress, and I hope to to continue on this highway.
On my site you will find information about my exerience in the ETEC 442 class, one of the
components of my journey towards teacher certification. I shall include samples of my work and some of my thoughts about
my work and what I learned.
I have never created a webpage, so I decided to take the opportunity with this assignment and tread into foreign territory.
Over the past few months I've become very interested in information technology. I bought a digital camera, fell in love
with my iPod Shuffle and really got into blogging. This site is my next step.
Besides this website, I maintain a blog on blogger. It is a personal expression and is not related to ETEC 442 or my
professional development. However, if you would like to explore my personal thoughts, interpretations and reflections, about
everyday life, check out:
