Hi Everybody!

My name is Arin Higginbotham. I am an Elementary Education major with a minor in music. This is my 2nd year at WVSU. I started out at Marshall University as a Music Education major, then my sophomore year there I switched to Elementary Ed. 

I am from a small town called Newton in Roane County, West Virginia. I grew up on a farm where we raise cattle. I love where I live! Sometimes it can be hard work with doing hay, working with the cows, and raising gardens, but at the end of the day I am thankful that I can surround myself with this type of beauty.

While I was at Marshall, I was fortunate to be a part of the Chamber Choir. We were the touring choir. We would tour and perform our show at several locations every Spring semester. My sophomore year we actually were able to tour in France!!! It was AMAZING! We started out in Paris and toured around a few parts of the country and ended down in Nice. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to be a part of that culture for a few days and just take in the surroundings. We even sang in the Notre Dame, which choirs can only do by going through a competitive process. We sent in a recording from one of our concerts and were accepted to sing for a Sunday morning mass! It was awesome, and slightly scary.

I have a lot of likes, interests, and passions. I love children-that's why I chose to become an educator in the first place. I obviously like music as well. I love all kinds of genres except country and rap, I'm not a huge fan of those. I love to travel! I hope to one day go to Ireland! I want to travel to other places, but Ireland is at the top of my list. Something that I have always dreamt/daydreamed about is singing on stage somewhere. I have considered Broadway, or a Christian affiliated musical theater group to audition for, but have let myself get in the way of that. As for now, my family and I are often invited to come sing at various churches. Over the summer we had to opportunity to sing in Georgia. We have relatives there, but none-the-less that is the farthest we have traveled for a singing appointment.  

I hope that with this course I can better understand how to incorporate music into my classroom. I feel that music is important for the learning process. Hopefully I can learn a few lessons that I can use in my classroom that can help teach my students varied topics (Math, English, etc.). The only concern I have with the class is keeping up with the blog. I have never done one, but I am excited to try.