Bishop's Blog

The beauty of the snow! Image source: http://dreamatico.com/snow.html Some of you may be sick and tired of the snow and the cold! I actually love winter. I enjoy the beauty of the snow. I like that the bad weather often forces me and my family to stay indoors and hang out in front of the fire. I must admit I do not like the traffic that comes along with snow, the Thursday morning commute was not fun!! Thanks to all of you who braved the bad roads and traffic and joined us on campus yesterday. This week has been relatively quiet, but here is a highlight... Counseling  Mary Ann Conaway and I have been interviewing candidates for the open counseling faculty position. Please pray that God would bring the right person to join us. I view hiring as one of the most important (if not THE most important) duty in my role as the Dean of the division. The counseling faculty continue working toward CACREP accreditation. Division Faculty Meeting What a joy it was to learn abo...

February is for Flipping!!! Image Source:  http://www.edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Flipped.jpg I was inspired last week at the METC conference to consider flipping professional development. Tuesday's faculty/professional development meeting will be flipped. I look forward to seeing all full-time faculty members and adjunct faculty members are welcome to attend. If you can come to the meeting, please watch the following youtube  Flipped PD Screencast By watching the Flipped PD Screencast you will learn information prior to the meeting so we can build on that information and dig deeper into the topics discussed. Please bring a mobile device if you have one - smartphone, tablet, or laptop.  My objectives for our professional development Tuesday are: Participants will recognize the different components of the SAMR technology learning model. Participants will apply the SAMR model to existing teaching practices. Participants will observe and use n...

The MBU Mobile Learning Team (minus Alicia Noddings) METC Conference  The highlight of this week for me was presenting and participating in the METC - Midwest Educator Technology Conference. I learned a lot of information about how PK-12 schools are utilizing and integrating technology into their instruction. I also enjoyed working with Sharon Sumner, Sheri Brandes, Michael Broombaugh, and Tyler Pitts to present our mobile learning initiative. Our presence at conferences like this allows practicing educators and leaders in the area to recognize that MBU is working to stay current. Perhaps some of them may join us in our graduate programs. One of the slides in our presentation Keynote speakers Gwyneth Jones and Jaime Casap were fantastic! Amber Henry is all smiles! Sharon Sumner did a great job! It's hard to see but Bill Bass, Greg Lawrence, and Gina Hartman presented a Cool Tool Duel workshop. They are adjuncts in our MET program. I will be sharing ...

Today's Friday Memo will look a little different than other memos. I am going to focus on two main events I attended this past week. I hope you find the memo interesting and informational. Today I am reminded why we do what we do. I am in a public middle school observing administrators, teachers, and students. Dr. Mike Rutherford I am currently on a lunch break from an incredible opportunity to which I was invited. The Fort Zumwalt School District has been working with Dr. Mike Rutherford, author of The Artisan Teacher, for the last 18 months. Administrators and teachers have been learning and implementing strategies and tools for developing teachers and teaching in their district. Today Dr. Rutherford is presenting to a group of district administrators how to implement teaching studies as one of many possible feedback opportunities for teachers. Teaching Studies is a facilitated small group of teachers observing teachers. A Teaching Studies session involves approximately 4...

The art of teaching includes many essential understandings about students and how they learn, but this quote by Mark Van Doren resonated with me this morning, so I thought I would share. Take a few minutes and think about how you assist discovery. Whether you teach future teachers in a sophomore level Diversity class, a junior level Behavior Management class, a senior level methods class, or maybe you supervise student teachers, contemplate how you are assisting your students' discovery. Or maybe you work with future administrators or counselors, it is a beautiful thing when educational leaders understand this principle of the Art of Teaching.