Final Blog (#8)

Final Blog: Describe your final project, how you feel your presentation is going, the value of doing this in a real classroom, and what it really means to be inclusive…

Blog #7 Presentations

How are you presentations/projects going? What questions do you have? Share here!!

Blog #6 Position Paper

What positions are you interested in? Each of you must focus on something different, so this is a place to make a stand for what you believe in! Rally for your cause!

Blog #5 Christmas

What does Christmas mean to you? Share a memory, a philosophy, a little glimpse at your beliefs! ☺ At my house, Christmas was about being with family, about singing Christmas carols, about laughing, playing games, and cooking fun dinners together. Christmas was so much more about giving, about being together, and laughter... My dad and his best friend once stood on the porch of our house singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot at midnight on Christmas Eve, and that Christmas Eve was dubbed the best ever. We were all about having fun! Share your memories!

Blog #4 Professional Websites

As you all begin work on your professional websites, take a few minutes to look at the student examples in Moodle, but also google various people you know who are teaching OR get onto some schools you're familiar with and look at teacher websites. I have an author website you're welcome to look at (www.barrilbumgarner.com), and I'm also building my own teacher website as well! :-) Have fun with them! It's something you'll actually use!

Philosophy of Education Blog #3

You all will be posting your thinking about your philosophies of education. And those philosophies will change while in college and will be fluid and dynamic in the real world (whether you teach or not). I marvel at how I started teaching, thinking Friday quizzes and traditional instruction was a natural progression. Through the years, my ideology and practices have changed so much. As I've grown as a teacher, I've come to realize how much more important it is to teach kids than it is to teach content. And when you come to that epiphany, you will try all kinds of strategies to engage them. Mine has changed drastically, but if any of you want to read my philosophy of education paper, let me know. Otherwise, I have loaded student options into Moodle!

Blog #2 Learning Styles

Blog about doing learning styles activities… I have created so many different learning styles activities. Various task cards to get students playing with concepts, definitions, and various levels of thinking. Other learning styles have included versatiles (really cool activity), flip chutes, electraboards, all kinds of matching games, wrap-arounds, and pic-a-holes. These are great hands-on ways to engage students. If I were doing this assignment, I'd create a wrap-around of all the different types of learning styles you could create and a description of them. As for learning style, I am a mixture of visual and auditory with a major dose of kinesthetic. I lean most toward kinesthetic, but I really rely on visual. For pleasure, I am VERY auditory...I am listening to music all the time (right now my playlist is Kings of Leon/Mumford & Sons/The Killers/Love & Theft/The Avett Brothers. So cool to listen to while working. When I take the survey and every time I re-take it, my learning style is slightly different. I think I'm more visual and linear when a semester starts, but as it progresses, I need more kinesthetic, hands-on activities to keep me engaged, or I get bored. That's part of ADHD me. Your turns! Create your learning styles activities and take the learning styles inventory! Be sure to answer the specific questions I outlined on the homework!

Getting to Know One Another...

We are all exceptional, in some way or another, so before class starts, I'd like you to respond to this initial blog and introduce yourself and share one thing you think makes you exceptional (and keep in mind exceptional is not a good or bad thing; it just makes us different!). Here's mine: I'm a fanatic about some things, like fiercely loyal to a fault. My obsessions include my furry kids (a fox terrier named Kaycey and a Boston Terrier/Chihuahua mix named Cali); the Kansas City Chiefs (notice that my two puppies' names start with K and C--this is NOT a coincidence); the St. Louis Cardinals; the Missouri Tigers (my Alma Mater for my Masters and PhD); travel (hence part of this class will be taught from the Virgin Islands); books (come to my office and you'll get a sample of that...I read them and write them); and music (I LOVE concerts and am eclectic to a fault...last year I saw Lady Gaga, Zac Brown, Pink [amazing!!], Carrie Underwood, Dave Matthews, Bruno Mars, John Mayer, and went to Roots n Blues Festival in Columbia for a whole weekend of great blues!). Aside from my fanaticisms, I am ADHD, so I have a LOT of energy. I live in Columbia (northeast corner), I'm new to Westminster and LOVING it, and this is my twenty-fifth year of teaching in some capacity (7th/8th/9th grade for 13 years, early childhood for 5 years, education preparation at Mizzou for 6 years and now WC!) Welcome! Now each of you follow with your own intro to what makes you exceptional!