Inclusion Lessons/Chart

o   When you think of “inclusion” now, what do you think of?

o   What were the significant concepts/skills you learned while completing the Inclusion Chart?

o   How did it affect your attitude toward the concept of being “inclusive” in your future classroom?

o    How might it impact your ideas for your classroom when you’re teaching?  

Blog due by Wednesday, Jan. 7^th at noon, so peers have time to respond before midnight.

Website Blog

Why should a teacher/future teacher have a web presence? How could this help you either get a job OR improve your chances? How do you use the web to get better insight into businesses/people/places? How could/should a teacher use a class website with his/her students?  

Position Paper Topics

Here are what you all have sent me as your potential topics:


Ryan: Year Round Schooling, Multi-Age classrooms, and 4 Day School Week

Marissa: Standards-Based Grading, Homework Debate, Looping

Mariah: Year-Round Schooling, Multi-Aged Classrooms, Creationism...Evolution

Jennifer: 4 Day School Week, Elimination of Fine Arts, Class Within a Class
Narrowed hers down to 4 Day School Week, and since she was the first to give a definitive topic choice, she has first dibs. :-)

Amber: Looping, Multi-Aged Classrooms, 4 Day School Week

Make your arguments for why you want the topic you've chosen! I'll monitor and touch base with each of you later today to see how the choices have panned out! :-)

Blog #4 Learning Styles Applied

Even though you didn’t get the benefit of seeing me demo all of these learning styles (I demo’d a few of them), how do you think these types of kinesthetic activities help ALL learners, not just kinesthetic learners? Share your thoughts… Be sure to include your reaction to other’s learning styles activities, the quizzes they create (because those appeal to various learners as well), and anything else you want to share! Please blog by Wednesday, Dec. 24^th. Merry Christmas Eve! Feel free to blog on Tuesday and have two days off! J

Blog #3 Learning Styles Response

Blog about doing/creating learning styles activities… I have created so many different learning styles activities over the years. 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 mostly 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 Hozier, Sam Smith, Little Big Town, Pink, O.A.R., Kings of Leon, Mumford & Sons, The Killers, 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!

Chapter 1--Blog #2

This chapter is so full of great information.

The idea of inclusion has become synonymous with integrating hardcore special educated kids. But in reality, an inclusive classroom is one that doesn't tolerate bullying or doesn't allow a shy student to sit silently or doesn't let an apathetic student wallow in inactivity. To be inclusive means just what it says...to get EVERYONE included. That's why I integrate the learning styles activities with this chapter. To be a great teacher, you have to reach every child (if you can). Set expectations high but give the tools to achieve them. If your class is full of kinesthetic learners, then lessons should be active. If there are kids who are auditory and visual, then make sure all lessons have a listening and viewing component. It's SO important to know who your students are, how they learn, and what may connect with them. Within this chapter, you get some insight into the IEP process, into how disabilities are served in public schools, and various philosophies and ethics of meeting those needs. For your blog, you'll tell me a couple of things you learned, a few things you already knew, and how this information can help you be/become a better teacher...

Before you complete any of the learning styles activities, you'll take the surveys (in Learning Styles folder), watch my video in Dropbox so you can see what these look like, go through the packet I posted in the Learning Styles folder, and then you will be making some of your own! THESE are the real activities you will do in your own classroom, so be thinking about how you can integrate these information into your future classroom!

Because class is small enough, when you blog, you then need to respond to everyone's blogs! :-)
When the blog is due, your responses to classmates will always be due with the next 48 hours, unless someone is late to blog.

Introductory Blog

Follow my lead...

Introduce yourself: where you're from, what your interests are (hobbies, studies, travels, etc.), and one thing that makes you truly exceptional. The word has a connotation when coupled with special education, but truly about 85% of us are exceptional in some way (I just feel bad for the 15% who are not!)

So here goes! I'm Dr. Barri Bumgarner (Dr. Bum, if you prefer), and I'm originally from southwest Missouri. I grew up in Lebanon, got my B.S. in Ed. at Missouri State (then SMSU), and I played tennis and basketball while in college. I then taught 7th grade for a few years, directed a KinderCare for the next 5, then taught junior high in Columbia for ten years. During that time, I wrote seven novels, published three, have a couple more on the way, and decided I would get my Masters in Education. While at University of Missouri, I taught education classes, got lured into getting my PhD, and two years ago, I graduated and last year started at Westminster! Whew...way more than you wanted to know.

I love to travel (heading to St. Thomas for Christmas next week!), I'm a voracious sports fan (KC Chiefs, St. Louis Cardinals, Mizzou, WC!, tennis...), and if I have my choice, I'd rather be at a concert or out by my pool or hot tub with my puppies than just about anywhere else.

One thing that makes me exceptional is that, aside from being ADHD, I don't take no for an answer. When someone tells me I can't do something, I strive to prove them wrong. Sometimes it gets me into trouble. Most of the time, it allows me to live my dream. So far, a newly anointed 50-year old, I've done just that...

Now it's your turn! Tell us about yourself, and each of you respond to one another's intros!