Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Tool #11

1. My favorite tools would have to be Prezi and Animoto. I did not use Animoto, but I was able to watch Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Maddox make videos and I really enjoyed the end product! Both of these tools would be great activities for students to participate in. They could make Prezi's over the different dance genres and their history. The students seem to retain things better when they are the ones having to look up the information.

2. I would really like to start incorporating more technology in my classroom, but unfortunately we do not have individual iPads/ iPods for the students to work with. If we had these resources available to us, we could do things like learning how to cut music, videoing students and giving feedback, etc.

3. I didn't know what to expect, but after completing the 11 tools I have definitely learned ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. It has opened my eyes to new, innovative ideas that require the students to participate hands on.

Tool #10

1. Three things I would want my students to understand about being good dual citizens:
 a. Understanding that once you post information on the internet, it is hard to erase. Odds are that someone already saw what you posted and it's too late to take it back. Be careful what you post!
b. The internet is a scary place, because you never know who is looking up information about you or where you live, what you're doing, etc. Be smart and stay safe!
c. Plagiarism is another important factor when it comes to the internet. Students need to realize they cannot just copy and paste someone else's words. Now, we have things like turnitin.com and students understand more about it.

2. I think the Texas School Safety Center link from Texas State is very educational. It would be good information to use when talking about internet safety. It provides different lesson plans, guides, and tips on all kinds of things such as cyber bullying and video safety, etc.

3. I would "teach" the idea of digital citizenship by having an open ended discussion of what the students considered to be appropriate vs. inappropriate. I would also want to show some YouTube videos that pertain to internet safety. Visuals are a good stimulus for most students.

4. I plan to share the idea with the student's parents by sending home a letter/contract that explains everything about digital citizenship and how we plan to use the internet in class. There would be a page that requires a parent signature, so I would know which students were allowed to use the internet and vice versa. 



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Tool #9

1. I think it's important to tie technology to the objective being taught, because it allows the students to be interactive. Technology is the basis of our future and we need to allow students to engage in these kinds of activities during school hours.

2. It is important to hold the students accountable, because it gives them good practice on learning how to properly use technology. All students need to contribute or help create products in order to fully understand the objective. A good way to test their knowledge is to create some kind of review where the students have to write down their experience.

3. I liked Thinkfinity, because most of the other sites did not have any information about dance or the history of dance. I could use this as a way for the students to learn about the arts and the different genres of dance all around the world. I could hold them accountable by making them write down new and interesting facts at each station.

4. On the iPads, the students could access iTunes and be able to download music for their choreography projects. Another app they could use is Garage Band. They could learn how to cut music and piece different songs together. For stations, the students could go around and cut a piece of music and then another student could add to that piece or change it up.

5. Another way you could use the iPads is to video each of the students and have them watch themselves, so they can make corrections. The teacher could give feedback and have the students write down what they need to work on. Being able to watch yourself and see what you are doing is always helpful, especially in dance!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Tool #8

One thing I learned is that in order to move songs from my iTunes to the iPads, I have to sync the devices to my laptop. Or you can add the content to your Dropbox and have the students access it from there.

Another thing I learned was that you can have an iTunes account tied to your SBISD email. My iTunes, on my teacher laptop, is synced to my own personal iPod, because I did not know that you could use your teacher email.

Unfortunately, we do not have many of these devices in our classroom since we teach dance. It would be nice to have iPads where we could record/ video the students and have them watch themselves to give feedback and corrections. It would also be great if we had computers with music cutting software, so we could teach the students how to cut music.

Tool #7

a. Objective: To create a performance that showcases all of the different subject areas and how they relate to one another.

b. This would take a while to get it all together, so I would hope to implement it sometime in the near future.

c. I plan to go to a teacher from each subject and collect information about a specific topic they cover during the year.

d. I think it would be neat to collaborate with all of the different subject areas in the school. We could use a key topic from each subject and create a dance incorporating that particular idea. For example, if we used biology we could take the idea of cells and create a dance with cell formations and the way they move. It would make a really interesting show and it would attract a different type of audience. The music would also add a very unique quality.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Tool #6

I chose to create a Wallwisher for my students to be able to view the guidelines for their final project in class. This way, they could all have easy access to refresh their memory if they forgot what the exact requirements were. This would be a great way to post important information and due dates for all students to see! I posted the link below.

http://wallwisher.com/wall/ir74u05em2

I also chose to create a document on Google Docs, so my students could see how I am going to grade them. Next to each of the eight counts, I will write down the different things I see. This way I can grade each group fairly, because I will know what they did and did not include from the guidelines. The link is below:

https://docs.google.com/a/springbranchisd.com/document/d/1qfl4mF0x4sd3nwAwEg3dAuvNbGlb8TWYgfc54vQFyP4/edit

These tools would be great for the classroom, because all of the students could access the sites on their own time. It would be an easy way to post deadlines and project information without having to print it out on paper and hand it out.


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Tool #5

I really enjoyed this tool! It was exciting to learn new ways to present lessons especially for dance. I posted both of my products at the bottom left hand corner of my blog. I think when we start talking about the history of dance, I will make my classes make Prezi's over jazz, ballet, and modern. This way we can learn information in a different way and it will be fun for the students!


Tool #4

I created a document in Google Docs with information for students who want to try-out to be in the Minikette class next year. I also created a form that could be used as a quiz for next year's dance classes. It is a lot easier to create forms in Google Docs than any other format! I am excited to use these apps more often to make things easier on myself and my students.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Tool #3

I found YouTube to be the most useful for my content area. Since I teach dance, it is easy for me to find  videos to show my students that directly relate to my lessons. 


This video of the La Joya High School Jewelettes is a great way to showcase a sharp and fun pom routine! During the first semester in all of my dance classes, we learned a pom routine and we talked about how precise and sharp you have to be. The girls in this video are extremely fun to watch, because they use a lot of facial expression and showmanship. That was another concept we focused on while performing, because the audience is more interested in watching you when you look like you are enjoying what you're doing!



This video showcases a very clean and precise kick routine performed by the Kilgore College Rangerettes. Recently, we have been focusing on learning how to kick and the proper technique. This is a good way to show my students how the end product should look. 


When it comes to copy right laws, I already knew most of the important things discussed in the video. I know that if you ever want to upload a dance video to Facebook you have to state that you do not own the rights to the song being danced to.

I think my Dropbox would be good to present lessons about dance history. I could upload files that my students could access from home. I could also post dance pictures or clip art that could be used for projects in the future. 




Thursday, November 8, 2012

Tool #2

I think that by participating in an online community, you gain new insight on how to add different and innovative ideas into your lessons. Building a community of bloggers is a great way to share thoughts that can add to the enhancement of the way we instruct in our classrooms. Personally, I have no problem with sharing my thoughts publicly. I enjoy getting feedback from people who have honest opinions, because in the end it will only help me grow as a teacher.

Two sites that I plan to visit in the future are:




Both of these blogs are dance related. I think that by visiting them I could gain important and factual information to relay back to my students. 



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Tool #1

The process of creating my blog was fairly easy. I love to customize things, so it took me a little bit longer than expected. However, getting to make my own Avatar was pretty neat! I also played around with many different formats for my blog and finally decided to stick with the dance theme, since I am a dance teacher.

I think it would be a great idea for students to use blogs in the classroom. It would be a way for them to have class discussions about certain topics and an even better way to be involved outside of class. It would work wonderfully for my dance classes, because they could post their thoughts and opinions about things like YouTube dance videos or even dance shows on TV, such as So You Think You Can Dance.