Last Blog Post!

Well here we are the very last blog post for IP&T! I kinda already gave a semi to last post, when we did it in class. But I guess this really is the last blog post. If I was to pick the most useful technology that I learned this semester, it would be learning how to make the class website, and then using a the movie maker. The class website is so useful for any area of teaching, we live in a technology base world so being able to access and create a website just for your class is so useful. The the movie maker is a bit more catered to my style dance education. I could see myself using that to make videos of my students dancing, or using it as a teaching tool. There are many ways I could use both of these technologies in my future years of teaching. I think the way I am going to be able to have my students be active learners is doing hands on activities to critique, watch, and keep record of their dance pictures and films. Using photobucket they can create slide shows of them using their dance pictures, they can use the movie maker to make videos of them sleves or of each other dancing. And then of course using Audacity to learn basic music editing that they could then use to make up a dance. There really are lots of options. I am glad I was able to take this class because I have learned things that I will be taking with me in my future teaching years!

What I have learned...

I am not going to lie, during the beginning of the semester I really didn't think this class would be that applicable to my field of study. But as we have gone through the rest of the semester I have learned some new types of technology that I can use later in my field of dance teaching. Now I am going to be honest and say that I don't think everything we learned I will use later on but that is ok. That's what happens when you are combined with a field of study that has the potential to be very technologically based such as English. But overall I am grateful for this class and I have found that with a little time and patience I can learn new technology. If I am to look back on the semester we really have learned so much about different technologies and that really is awesome! This is a class where I will walk away with knowledge that I can take with me and that I will use when I start teaching someday! So yah for technology!!!

Audacity Lesson Plan!

Well here it is my epic Audacity Lesson Plan! It was fun starting to think like a teacher. I thought about activities that would be challenging for the students but not hard enough that they would become discouraged. It was fun being able to mess around with a new program. This is definitely a program I see myself using in my years of a dancer and a teacher! I am grateful i was able to figure out the basics to this program and I am sure as I get more into my teaching career I will look into different music editing programs to help me with my future dances.Well hopefully my lesson plan meets the qualifications of what we were supposed to do.

Audacity Lesson Plan

Introduction: Since this is a dance class music is a big part of what we do. Often times money does not permit for professional editing of music. The purpose of learning about this program Audacity is to learn the basic skills of editing music. We will learn concepts of fade in and outs, cutting a song to be shorter, slowing down or speeding up the tempo of a song and then the combination of two songs. We are going to learn the basic skills that you can use later in your dancing career. The benefit of learning how to edit your own music is you start to gain a better understanding of the mechanic of music which in the bigger picture can actually help gain a better understand of chorography and performance quality.

Assignment 1: The Basics
- Import a song onto Audacity
- Work with different effects - add 4 different effects to your song. (they don’t have to all fit together. ) This is just getting use to the program and exploring what different effects can be added to a song.

Assignment 2: Cutting a song
- Import another song to Audacity
- Cut a verse and a chorus out of your song (so it becomes a verse, bridge, chorus)
- This time it is required to make your song “fit” The song needs to flow together and sound as if you did not cut the music. (for some song it is impossible to make it sound totally perfect due to lyrics or instrumental qualities, but try your best to trial and error different cuts to make your song sound good!)
- Add effects such as fade in/out to make your song sound like it finishes

Assignment 3: Putting 2 and 2 together
- Get into groups of 2 or 3
- Import both edited songs into one Audacity project. (if in a group of 3 choose two songs to import. You do not need to do all three.)
- Take your two edited songs and find a way to mix the two songs together. (You don’t have to use the full length of both songs. Just find a way to mix the two songs to start forming a medley.)
- Once the songs are mixed together pick a section to change the tempo. (speed it up or slow it down)
- Choose one other effect that you want to add into the song
- The use your fades to make the song sound finished.

Assignment 4: Application!
- This is the most fun part of all!!
- Take your personal edited song and choreograph a small solo
- This is your opportunity to shine! The solos will be performed in class!

*This unit is estimated to take about 3 weeks, so don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed out. We will have enough time to get everything done. Have fun and let your imagination roll!!!

Music Editing?!?

Well since I am a dance education major, I was thinking about what technological resource would be beneficial for my field of study. I thought that learning how to use Audacity would be a great tool to learn. I am in a field where music is key, and very seldom do you choreograph a dance to a whole song. So learning how to cut and mix songs would be very useful. Yes there are professionals who cut music. But maybe I will be in a school where there is not a lot of money for things like cutting music, and I will have to resort to doing it myself. My goal with learning how to use Audacity is to not just learn how to cut music, but learn how to do all the little nick naks and tricks that the program has to offer. I think maybe for this project I will try and do things that I normally probably wouldn't use in a performance piece. But that way I can get the practice using all the tools. I am actually very excited to learn how to use this program because I really honestly see me using this not just in my future years of teaching. But right now while I am still in my college years!! So I guess we will see how it goes!! But I think this will not only be a fun program to learn how to use, but also very beneficial.

Movie Magic Has Been Perfromed!

The last couple of weeks we have been working on our movie projects. At first I was not quite sure how this whole thing was going to go down for me, because I have never done anything like this before. But I am not going to lie... I am pretty darn proud of myself!!! Now I no the movie is no where near perfect, and I am sure there are plenty of things I can do to make it better. But as far as this being my first time ever making a movie I am happy with what I did!

During the course of my editing and putting the movie together, the first stumbling block I came across was pulling the song I wanted off my itunes and then importing it to the movie maker. I tried multiple things, and for some reason it was not working. I had to kind of take a round about way but sure enough I was able to get the song I wanted and it was slightly smoother sailing from there. I learned that making movies it a lot of trial and error. You would have to try some things, and then see if it worked. If I was to put it simply it would be try, watch, watch, and watch some more! Well I am not quite sure what it going to come now that my first time movie is going to be posted online, but it is also kind of exciting to think that maybe my movie might actually make a difference and teach some students about proper dance etiquette. I am glad I had the experience of making a instructional video, and this is another thing I could see me using in my future teaching years!!

Storyboard For The Best Up Coming Video!!

Well since I was out of town on my dance tour this last week, I am not 100% sure on how this assignment was supposed to go. But after reading the blog and watching the VoiceThread I think I did the best I could. If it is wrong I can always go back and fix it, but for now I took a shot and now I will hope for the best!

I decided to make an educational movie about the proper way to ask a lady to dance, as well as the the proper way for a lady to accept an invitation to dance. We live in a time where young children don't understand one the proper way to dance, and two the proper way to ask someone of the opposite gender how to dance. They think the only way to dance with someone of the opposite gender is to be bumping and grinding up against one another. I decided that students at a young age need to understand the importance of using proper etiquette and respecting each other when it comes to dancing.

I am following the 6th grade core requirements of the UEN,- Make connections between dance and other disciplines.- The approach I am going to take with this movie is a "do and don't" where the first time I will show "today's" way of asking each other to dance. I will show how it is wrong, and then we will take like a "take 2" and show the scene over again but using the proper ways of asking. Well that is the plan for now, it all makes sence in my head, maybe when I learn more about the project I may have to alter some things, but for now I feel this is a pretty good idea and it will be fun to see how it all goes together!

Get Inspired!

Here are some of my old dance pictures, that will hopefully get you excited for this up coming year full of dancing fun!!!

Concept of Cuban Action

Concept of Cuban Action:


Here are some useful links to better understand Cuban Action:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4558053_use-cuban-hip-action-lady.html
http://www.thedancestoreonline.com/ballroom-dance-instruction/cha-cha-free-lessons.htm


ASSIGNMENTS:
Here is a link to the Group Video Assignment for Waltz on googledocs:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AfwkjMArf-6EZGM3OWR0dmhfMmhoZHptc2R3&hl=en

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Hello Class!

Hello my wonderful students! I am really looking forward to being your teacher for this up coming year. I thought I would take just a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Alissa Williams. I was born in California, I am the second oldest of nine children. I love to laugh, play sports, being out in the sun, going to the beach, swings, cooking, eating ice cream, spending time with my friends and family, and so much more. My favorite color is green, my favorite flower are lilies, my favorite holiday (besides Christmas of course) is 4th of July, My favorite movie is Pearl Harbor, my favorite book is the Twilight Series, my favorite board game is Clue, and my favorite flavor of ice cream is Bunny Tracks. But of all my "favorites" my most favorite thing to do ever is DANCE!! I started dancing in 8th grade. I took a beginning ballroom class at my junior high and absolutely fell in love with it! I danced through out all four of my high school years. I graduated from Provo High School Spring of 2006, where I then attended and graduated from Brigham Young University in Dance Education. Dance in my passion! I love to dance and to teach others to dance. Dance has the ability to speak louder than words. It is an opportunity to truly express yourself and have a blast while doing it. This year I hope we can not only strengthen your skills as dancers, but I hope I can help you gain a greater appreciation for your amazing body and the ability it has to move. We will work hard but also have a lot of fun this year. I look forward to meeting all of you on the first day of class!!!

Freedom!

Hello fellow classmates. This week as far as I understood we had the freedom to blog about whatever we want! Yah happy day! I can say of all the things that we have used so far in the class, using and posting things on a blog is probably the one resource I will definitely use further on in my life and career. Overall it is a simple way to keep people updated and informed about many things. As well as it is not too dificult to put post videos or links. Not going to lie, I have never been one for blogs or things like that.. But I am starting to develop a real like for them. I can see that they can be very beneficial and also just fun! I could easily see myself making a blog for my future family! So I'm glad to report that I am gaining a better appreciation for technology!

As far as our internet communication project goes, I have decided to create a class website. This is something I have always thought would be fun. But of course I have never known how to do it. So this will be a wonderful opportunity to make a website. Not only make a website, but be able to do whatever I want with it! To make if fun and colorful and of course about dance!!! I am looking forward to leaning how to do this in this up coming week! Well besides that I don't really have much else to say. I hope all is going well for everyone else and I guess I'll see ya in class on Tuesday!!

Dance Out!
Alissa

Links for my DanceTeaching Blogs

Upon request for our teacher Rick, here are the links to the Dance Teaching Blogs that I am following:

CFPCA- Department of Dance:
http://www.dance.wayne.edu/

Great Dance Weblog- Dancing into the Future:
http://greatdance.com/danceblog/

History of Dance:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/all-products

Online Solutions for Dance Education:
http://www.xplanazine.com/

This is the site to one part of the blog, but hey it's a link to the blog and now its posted!

Peace Out!
Alissa

Copyright is NO Joke!

So this week we learned about copyright. This is something that we think we know a lot about, but in fact there are a lot more rules about copyright than I thought. From watching the three videos about copyright, I learned that you really have to be careful with what and how much material you are using in your classroom unless you have purchased it. The thing about the public school systems is probably more often than not people are not going to think much about the material you are using as a teaching aid. So in reality you probably would be able to get away with a lot of things. Although this is dishonest. We need to be honest in all our doings, so understanding where your limitations are in regards to using multimedia is a smart thing!

I watched two videos of my own from TeacherTube, and analyzed if they were following by the copyright laws and this is what I saw:

SMS Teacher Evolution of Dance:
The first video I watch was actually very entertaining! It was four teachers reenacting the Evolutions of Dance video on YouTube. Some of the good things about this video, is while this was mostly for a humorous talent show act it really does show the history and the Evolution of Dance. Most of the students probably don't understand or don't follow the progression of the dances that well, but the skit does provide a historical progression of music and the dancing that came with it. As far as abiding by copyright laws they did a good job. The did not use the same song for more than 30sec. Which is the limit on how long you can use a song unless you have purchased it or come upon by other legal means. Although a problem with this skit is even though most people are familiar with the songs being used, they do not give proper citation to the songs at any point in the skit, which in fact was a problem with the first video made as well. But other than that, these teachers were able to provide an entertaining but yet educational progression and evolution of dance as we "have experienced"

9 Multiplication Tables HipHop Music Video:
Now this is an awesome way to teach if I have ever seen one! This teacher put together this hip hop routine and rap in a way to teach the 9 multiplication tables! Now for some students math can be very difficult to understand. So putting it into a song and dance is a great way to teach. So first off the video was definitely used for educational purposes, because hello, they are teaching math! As far as the music goes they follow the copyright laws I feel because the song was obviously original, so it was their to use as they wish because they wrote it. So it did not matter how much they used or how long it was because it did not belong to anyone else. I think this is a great way to teach difficult concepts in school! I think this is definitely something to consider!!!

This was actually quite an entertaining assignment, and TeacherTube is a great resource to have for my future years as a teacher. But I guess that's all for now. Until next week!!

Keep Dancing!
Alissa

Never Thought I Would Twitter...

Well here we are on week two and I already feel a bit overwhelmed because there just seems like so many things to do.. and I do them but I don't quite understand them yet.. But I guess I just need to give it a bit more time and then I am sure I will get it. (fingers crossed).

Well we had to search blogs that corresponded with our field of study. I am studying Dance Education. This is interesting because dance is dance.. so to think about using technology is just kind of a new concept for me. But luckily I was able to find some blogs that had something to do with using technology in Dance Education.

CFPCA- Department of Dance: I chose this because this specific Department of Dance is one of the oldest and most respected dance departments in the US. Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). So I figured they could have some helpful tools as far as teaching tactics and how to run things go!

Great Dance Weblog- Dancing into the Future: I feel this is kind of self explanatory. This blog is going to be helpful because it is things about the future. Times are changing and dance is evolving, this blog will be able to keep people updated as we are in these changing times.

History of Dance: This one looked great because I feel if you are going to teach dance you have to know where it comes from. This blog will be beneficial as I continue to broaden and deepen my knowledge of Dance History and where it all began!

Online Solutions for Dance Education: This talks about textbooks, and stating some of the problems with textbooks in general. Now this is an interesting battle because does dance really need texts books? Yes, for teaching history and background you need books.. but you don't need to a book to teach someone how to dance. So this will be beneficial to decided whether or not the problems are worth it. Or are we better of finding other means of teaching other than books.

Lastly I joined a social network. I already have facebook and use it often, so I joined twitter. Now I am not going to lie I feel pretty stupid joining twitter because I haven't heard much about it other than people updating random and unimportant things. I guess I am just going to have to learn more about it, and give it a fair chance. I am sure there is a good way and a bad way to use twitter I am just going to have to figure that out.

Well that's about it for now.. I guess see everyone is class!
Peace out!

Alissa

My First Blog Post!

Well here I am, I never thought I would be one to have a blog.. But better late then never I guess! As far as my background in technology goes, that list is rather short. I really have no knowledge in technology other than the basic skills you learn in your high school computer tech class. It's been so long since then I can hardly remember that stuff either! The hard part is they are always coming up with new and more technological advances it's hard to keep up, so I don't... I have never been one to really care about technology that much, so I have just made do with what small skills I know and that seems to have worked so far!

I am looking forward to this semester to finally be able to learn about the new technology out there and how to use it. I am still not totally positive what this class will consist of this semester. But I guess some of my goals for this class are to understand and follow what we are doing in class, gain a better knowledge of what technological tools will be useful for my area of teaching, and just feel more confident in my skills when it comes to using or teaching technological principles.

Well I guess that's it for now. See you guys in class!

Alissa