After a week of syllabus, icebreakers, locker distribution, week two has begun the journey into the reason we are all here: DANCE. We began our first week of exploring the history of our various dance forms, began our study of dance vocabulary, and for many...began our first week of becoming familiar with a new tool in the classroom, our iPads.
Every class was given their Jazz or Ballet History lesson via Prezi or Emaze. They took their notes on a shared Padlet to be shared on Google Classroom. When students return to that document to study for their test, they will have both their own notes and those of others to pull from. They also will be able to access the material from any location without having to take home a spiral or piece of paper.
Since I have students that repeat courses at various levels, I like to plan various or new activities from year-to-year. So for my ballet class, the plan was to use Bubbl.us, an app that I used last year with Dance 2. It still worked on my iPad and I saw on their website that a new version was launching in September. However, when we got to the classroom, we tried to add the app to the iPads that did not yet have it and found it missing from the app store. We could have tried the online platform, but it was a moment as a teacher for plan B as we took enough time to figure out what was happening, and I didn't want to try using it in a browser and run into problems that would take even more trouble. So Padlet it was.
On a similar note, last year many of my classes were familiar with Quizlet, a popular flashcard app. So this year I decided to explore Studyblue. I am happy to say, it has been a great addition. Studyblue allows students to add pictures to their flashcards as well as record their own voices for proper pronunciation. It was super easy for them to find the classes that I had prepared in a simple search of school/teacher/class.
All journals got off to a good start in Google Classroom. The one feature in GC that I am still looking for is the passcode feature that is available in all of the Google Drive/Doc/Sheets/Slides apps. In those apps the students do not need to log in and out each time but simply enter their passcode once they choose their account. I have submitted the request on Google request forums and am keeping my fingers crossed.
Students in Dance & Media began exploring their camera features with Action Selfies and later in their role exploring the capturing of the movement of others behind the lens. On Friday, they also used awwapp.com to begin exploring the creation of dance pathways.
Our Dance Educators, also continued to use Google Classroom as a tool for our class discussions. This week began our first assignment in preparation for working with the students next month. We researched and created our own dance classroom posters that contained the Elements of Dance, STEAM subjects, and classroom expectations.
It is my 2nd year as a NextGen teacher, my 2nd week of school, and I've had 2 major reflections already. There are students in my Dance 2 this year that I had a in a very large combined Dance 1 last year. That class was unable to use the iPads for daily journals because of 32:60 iPad to student ratio. So that has lead to 2 things:
1. Last year I did not have the "pleasure" of introducing a class full of primarily all Freshman to the technology of an iPad. I has taken quite a bit of unexpected additional time to get through lessons. I think I came in with the glory of a wonderful last year on my mind, I forgot how slowly I introduced the technology to each class, This year I dove right in, and realize it was maybe something I should have taken a little more time with. However, as I have had to help show students how to do task such as simply returning to the home screen, it has given me pause to reflect on what an amazing opportunity the NextGen program is to give them skills that they have not yet had the exposure too, and in a dance class! Some of these students have never even held an iPad, used Google products, or connected much with the Internet. Having both a personal and work iPad, my own children age 4 and 7, are able to work the technology with apps appropriate to their age, helping me forget how foreign it may be to some. So it feels incredible (as well as frustrating) to have that honor and I will resolve to find the patience with those needing additional help.
2. Written journals of over 100 students, in 6 different types of classes, are hard to maintain on a daily basis. (And if you can do this, you are a rock star) There are students who use that to their advantage to not keep up with journals, causing both myself and the student to scramble before the due date to get them done. Google Classroom has changed all of that. Students can work ahead, do at home, and see with one click what they are missing...and so can I. I really hope that it will help some of my returning students that are in Dance 2 now, that did not have this tool last year, will both improve their grade and serve as true examples for how the NGDC works.
Looking forward to continuing to share both my classroom activities as well as the honest troubles, and unexpected discoveries!
Every class was given their Jazz or Ballet History lesson via Prezi or Emaze. They took their notes on a shared Padlet to be shared on Google Classroom. When students return to that document to study for their test, they will have both their own notes and those of others to pull from. They also will be able to access the material from any location without having to take home a spiral or piece of paper.
Since I have students that repeat courses at various levels, I like to plan various or new activities from year-to-year. So for my ballet class, the plan was to use Bubbl.us, an app that I used last year with Dance 2. It still worked on my iPad and I saw on their website that a new version was launching in September. However, when we got to the classroom, we tried to add the app to the iPads that did not yet have it and found it missing from the app store. We could have tried the online platform, but it was a moment as a teacher for plan B as we took enough time to figure out what was happening, and I didn't want to try using it in a browser and run into problems that would take even more trouble. So Padlet it was.
On a similar note, last year many of my classes were familiar with Quizlet, a popular flashcard app. So this year I decided to explore Studyblue. I am happy to say, it has been a great addition. Studyblue allows students to add pictures to their flashcards as well as record their own voices for proper pronunciation. It was super easy for them to find the classes that I had prepared in a simple search of school/teacher/class.
All journals got off to a good start in Google Classroom. The one feature in GC that I am still looking for is the passcode feature that is available in all of the Google Drive/Doc/Sheets/Slides apps. In those apps the students do not need to log in and out each time but simply enter their passcode once they choose their account. I have submitted the request on Google request forums and am keeping my fingers crossed.
Students in Dance & Media began exploring their camera features with Action Selfies and later in their role exploring the capturing of the movement of others behind the lens. On Friday, they also used awwapp.com to begin exploring the creation of dance pathways.
Our Dance Educators, also continued to use Google Classroom as a tool for our class discussions. This week began our first assignment in preparation for working with the students next month. We researched and created our own dance classroom posters that contained the Elements of Dance, STEAM subjects, and classroom expectations.
It is my 2nd year as a NextGen teacher, my 2nd week of school, and I've had 2 major reflections already. There are students in my Dance 2 this year that I had a in a very large combined Dance 1 last year. That class was unable to use the iPads for daily journals because of 32:60 iPad to student ratio. So that has lead to 2 things:
1. Last year I did not have the "pleasure" of introducing a class full of primarily all Freshman to the technology of an iPad. I has taken quite a bit of unexpected additional time to get through lessons. I think I came in with the glory of a wonderful last year on my mind, I forgot how slowly I introduced the technology to each class, This year I dove right in, and realize it was maybe something I should have taken a little more time with. However, as I have had to help show students how to do task such as simply returning to the home screen, it has given me pause to reflect on what an amazing opportunity the NextGen program is to give them skills that they have not yet had the exposure too, and in a dance class! Some of these students have never even held an iPad, used Google products, or connected much with the Internet. Having both a personal and work iPad, my own children age 4 and 7, are able to work the technology with apps appropriate to their age, helping me forget how foreign it may be to some. So it feels incredible (as well as frustrating) to have that honor and I will resolve to find the patience with those needing additional help.
2. Written journals of over 100 students, in 6 different types of classes, are hard to maintain on a daily basis. (And if you can do this, you are a rock star) There are students who use that to their advantage to not keep up with journals, causing both myself and the student to scramble before the due date to get them done. Google Classroom has changed all of that. Students can work ahead, do at home, and see with one click what they are missing...and so can I. I really hope that it will help some of my returning students that are in Dance 2 now, that did not have this tool last year, will both improve their grade and serve as true examples for how the NGDC works.
Looking forward to continuing to share both my classroom activities as well as the honest troubles, and unexpected discoveries!
Comments
Post a Comment