Extra credit assignment

I watched a video on the David O. McKay school of education about the Open High School of Utah. This is an online teaching program for high school students in which they can take online courses that cover all parts of their high school curriculum. The teachers create a course and then have "office hours" where they are online and available to help the students. They called this one-on-one tutoring because the teachers are able to focus on the students individually. I found this video so interesting! The things that they are able to do for students by teaching them online is amazing. The teachers are able to see exactly how much time each student is spending on an assignment and the results that has on their grades. Also they are able to make sure that the students are really receiving one-on-one help from the teachers because a log is kept where every instance where a teacher is communicating with a student is recorded. Also, the students can tell the teachers what part of the curriculum is confusing, and the teacher can go in and change it immediately. I feel like it really caters directly to the students' needs, and they receive what they need very quickly. The program seems very adaptable to the students needs. Their results are extremely positive and show that OER seems to be quite effective. This system amazes me. It is brilliant and has been meticulously thought out. The students get taught on an individual basis which is the way that most students learn best.The only thing that worries me about this program is how it affects the students social development. Are they able to learn to work together? Are they truly able to problem solve or is it spoon fed to them? Do they learn how to properly budget their time since they can take the classes whenever they feel like it? Are they learning to interact with other students and exchange ideas and opinions? I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but they are all things that I would have to seriously consider if I were going to look into this farther.

Here is the video! Click here

Podcasts!

So lately I have been thinking about the benefits that podcasts could have for my future dance students and I decided it would be a great teaching and sharing tool! This way students can share their performances with friends and family, and they have an easy way of recording and submitting their dance material to be graded. This site explains how podcasting works and the benefits of it. I think this is a great technology tool that all dance teachers can use in their studios.

Here it is!

Great site for dance teachers

So I found this great site exclusively for dance teachers and studio owners, it is called "Dance Teacher Web". It has new ideas for choreography, how to videos, and sample lesson plans. I think this is a great resource for a teacher who is just getting started, or a teacher who is looking for new inspiration.


Check it out! Click here.

Internet safety Chat

So I decided to share what I learned about internet safety with my mom. She is the young womens leader in our ward back home and I thought she could really use the things the things that I have been learning about. It actually ended up being a really useful conversation for her because one of the young men in the ward has been a victim of cyberbullying lately and the ward is having someone come address the youth on internet safety. We talked for awhile about the differences between the generations and how the level at which teenagers are living their lives on the web is even surprising to me, and it has not been that long since I myself was in high school. I explained to her how easily someone can get a hold of information on the web and steal someone's identity. I explained what phishing was and how to watch out for it and avoid it. Then we talked for a long time on how to protect the youth. We discussed ways to help her young women and things that I could do in the future for my children. She explained to me the precautions that she and my dad took with my brother and I ( having certain cites blocked, having the computer in an open area, talking regularly about what appropriate internet use is). We both acknowledge that times are changing and that the web has become teenagers' main way of socializing, so the hard part then becomes allowing them to have enough freedom to still feel included and social, but at the same time making sure that they are living in the real world and not the cyber world. I told my mom how much it scares me to see stories like the young boy who killed himself as a result of cyberbullying, and the teenage girl who had anorexia and was being encouraged by people and cites online. I think that as members of the church we have an advantage when it comes to teaching our children safety on the internet. They understand truths that those who don't have the gospel don't and as a result they have motivation that others have a hard time finding. It was kind of comforting to talk to my mom and to realize that she and my dad survived raising my brother and I through times that they weren't familiar with. I know that the role of technology in teenager's lives is only going to increase by the time I have children, and although I won't be completely familiar with it I feel like I will be able to adjust.

New and improved!

I realized after publishing my last video that there were some mistakes made concerning copyright laws- aka I used too much of one song in my music, and I neglected to include a works cited for my pictures. So here is the new and hopefully improved version!

Internet safety

I think that the most important things that I learned from watching the internet safety videos and reading the articles was just how serious the affects of media on teenagers is. I just wasn't aware of it before. I never understood that it became a real reality for them and that they so much of their lives could be spent on the internet. In the future when i have children I plan to talk to them about the role of the media in their lives frequently and openly. I will make sure that they understand the dangers that are involved and that they feel comfortable talking to me about things that may come up. In my own home I plan to have the family computer in a very public room and have a security system set up to make sure they do not accidently stumble upon anything. I also plan to make sure that my student's parents are aware of the dangers of the internet and how to promote safety. I will try to be a good influence on family and friends by telling them about it and sharing ideas with them on how to promote safety. I think that the PBS frontline video really opened my eyes to cyber bullying and online predators. I now feel much more cautious. I am not fully sure how to prevent cyberbulleying yet, but I plan to set up a system with my children to make sure that they feel comfortable coming to me about things like that. Also, i want to make sure that they know how to react before the situation even arises. I now know that I can go to isafe.org or netsmartz.org to teach internet safety. As a teacher I am probably most likely to face issues of students cheating on assignments  either with each other or using other online resources. I will also probably face the issue of having them give information online without giving too much that may put them at risk. I will address them by using technology and the media in a positive way in order to present internet safety to them. I think that I will have podcasts set up for my dancers so that they can share their dances with their friends and family, but I will make sure that they know what information is okay to put on the internet and what is not. I will make sure that they are comfortable using the class website, but I will try somehow to make sure that their parents are always aware of the information that is being shared between classmates online.