Bailey Nixon's E-Portfolio

History 222: HON:US Hist 1877-Modern Times

Historical and Contemporary Insights

History has always been one of my favorite classes throughout school. After taking Dr. Dudley-Shotwell’s Citizenship course, I decided to take her History 222 section. Her views about humanity are very apparent in her class discussions and I found that very interesting and refreshing. Her set up for the class was also very organized and focused; every week had the same set up. Over the weekend, we watched videos and read secondary sources about the topic we would discuss. There would then be a lecture and a class discussion. Over the week, we would read more secondary sources as well as annotate primary sources. Following this, we would have lecture and interact with the primary sources that we read.

The topics discussed in this class were very raw and controversial. We looked at History through a lense that I was never taught. We discussed the good, bad, and ugly of various groups throughout 1877 to now. During the course we discussed slavery, industrialization, immigration, social reform movements, the Great Depression, various wars, minority freedom movements, and terrorism. There was not a topic that I was not interested in.

For our final project, we were asked to create a Buzzfeed article about a topic from our course. The article had to encompass a theme that we had discussed in numerous units throughout the semester. This was a 7-part article where each section had a title, picture, description, and citations. The title of my article was “7 Ways that Studying US History 1877 to Modern Times History Shapes the Way You Think About America’s Justification to Involvement in Wars”. I discussed the reasoning behind America’s decisions to join wars throughout history. For example, I talked about the World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, etc. Below I have attached a copy of the final project in ‘article’ form.

(“7 Ways that Studying US History 1877 to Modern Times History Shapes the Way You Think About America’s Justification to Involvement in Wars”, Bailey Nixon, May 2019)

Educ 245: HON:Human Growth-Soc,Pol, Econ

Human Behavior and Social Institutions

Going into this class, I was more than excited to learn about the material. My passion for education is so strong, and I was confident that I would be successful in this course. I took this class with Ms. Martelli, who is a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University studying various forms of psychology. Some of my friends had previously taken her course and recommended her style of teaching.  After the first few classes, it was clear that she was passionate about the material. Much of the content were topics that she was researching in her program. It was very interesting to hear about her real-world applications to the material.

Throughout the course, we discussed many topics related to child development. Primarily we discussed physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development through the various ages. We learned how each of these play a role in early childhood, middle childhood, and the adolescent stage. Having gone through all of these stages, it was very interesting to connect the material to my own life experiences. Ms. Martelli did a great job giving us the definition of terms and providing examples to help connect with what we were learning.

For our final assignment in the class, we completed stages of interviews, a paper, and a presentation. For the “Three Ages Project”, we had to pick one individual from early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. Next, we had to conduct an interview asking them questions about their physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. Finally, we analyzed their responses and wrote a 10 page paper connecting their development to topics discussed in class. This was a very rewarding project and I was able to learn a lot about development that I can connect to my future classroom. Below I have attached the interview questions that I used, as well as the final paper.

(“Three Ages Project”, Bailey Nixon, April-May 2019)

HIST 126: World History II

Global Citizenship

From all of my past experiences, history has always been one of my favorite classes. Upon taking this class, I felt confident that I would continue to enjoy history and be interested in the content of this course. Because this one of my first courses in my college career, I was very nervous that I would not succeed. My professor lectured in a way I had not experienced in high school, and it was imperative that you took informative notes and remained attentive in class. I quickly learned how to do both of these things, and this class helped strengthen my skills as a student.

The artifact that I chose to represent this class is response to the book Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. This assignment required students to read a historical book and write a 2-3-page response. While this assignment wasn’t overbearing, the book was definitely overwhelming and at times hard to follow. Completing this task fulfilled my short-term goal of increasing my reading comprehension and applying it to a response paper and my long-term goal of improving my writing.

(“Krakatoa Response Paper”, Bailey Nixon, November 2018)

THEA 101: Issues In Theatre

Aesthetic Expressions

Until taking this course in college, I had never taken a theatre class. Coming into this, I was very nervous that I wouldn’t enjoy it. Never had I gotten on a stage and performed anything. Luckily, this class focused on the issues with theatre instead of actually performing theatre. Needless to say, I was very relieved that I would be learning instead of acting. Once I learned the significance of the class, I made a short-term goal to increase my awareness of the theatre world. My long-term goal became to become a more well-rounded student.

The artifact I chose for this course is a presentation I completed with a partner about a famous theatre composer. The presentation that we created and presented definitely helped satisfy my short-term goal. Through the process, I learned a lot about my producer and what he was involved in as well as the producers that my classmates presented. In this sense, I become more knowledgeable about theatre culture. Because of this, I was able to work on my long-term goal of becoming more well-rounded.

(“Bertolt Brecht Presentation”, Bailey Nixon, September 2018)

BIOL 114: Biology for the Teaching Profession

Scientific Reasoning

Science has never really been my strong subject, and I haven’t enjoyed taking these classes in the past. However, Dr. Campbell started the semester very excited and encouraging, and I knew that I would enjoy his teaching styles. Throughout his class, we learned the basics of biology and how we could teach this content to younger students. My short-term goal for this class was to connect to education and dive deeper into teaching methods. My long-term goal was to connect with science more for my future students.

The artifact I chose for this course was our Adaptations presentation. This was one of my favorite projects that I have ever completed because third-grade students from a nearby school came and participated in the lessons we created. The students were so engaged and excited, and that made all of the hard work worthwhile. Throughout this process, I definitely learned about teaching methods for science and I expanded my interest in science. I saw how excited the students were to come to Longwood and learn about science, and I felt very inspired by them.

(“Adaptations Presentation”, Bailey Nixon, April 2019)

MATH 135: Mathematical Modeling of Finance

Quantitative Reasoning

The artifact I chose to include for this course is our third writing assignment. Each writing assignment that we had focused on differing financial situations. This situation dealt with student loans and creating accounts that would grow interest and earn money. I felt that this assignment was very relatable, and I learned a lot about the financial aspect of school. This artifact for sure helped with my short-term goal of enjoying this math course and made me way more confident in my math abilities and as a student overall.Taking Math 135 with Dr. Wears has been one of my favorite experiences at Longwood. I loved everything about this class and the way Dr. Wears approached it. Math 135 was one of the first courses where I learned valuable information about finance that still applies to me today. We learned about interest, mortgages, credit, buying cars, etc. Dr. Wears is so passionate about what he does, and he truly changed my mindset about math classes. Before him, I hated math and I attached such a negative connotation to classes that I had taken before. However, because of him, I now work in the QR Tutoring Center and tutor for this course. I can easily say that this course fulfilled my short-term goal of enjoying math courses and helped with my long-term goal of being a more confident student.

(“Writing Assignment #3, Bailey Nixon, April 2019)