I love the holidays

It really is a great time of the year. Here's hoping for a white Christmas. Everyone have a great break, stay safe, and hold your loved ones close.

Reviews of websites

It's always fun to see what other people in the class have been up to on their websites. I love the background Ying has on her homepage, bio, and resources pages. I feel like it really stands out and makes the page original. She's also positioned text and photos so that the background images are highlighted and not distracting.
I'm also a huge fan on Corinne's layout and design of her whole website. It really carries through a clean and interesting theme that makes me want to know/ learn more, very professional.
Finally, I think Anders' literacy page has some great resources. I'm always very interested to know as much as I can about arts education other than dance! I feel like we have tons to learn and share from each other.

Check out there websites at these addresses below!

https://files.nyu.edu/yl1384/public/

https://files.nyu.edu/ajv286/public/index.html

https://files.nyu.edu/cac728/public/

Blackboard

So when I decided to grad school, I thought I was prepared to get into the swing of things. I hadn't been out of school that long...right? I forgot that I went to a conservatory for undergrad and there is was much more dancing then writing of papers. Not to mention, I made it through my whole undergrad life without a computer! How crazy is that. So needless to say when my professors welcomed me that first week at NYU and keep saying how it's all on Blackboard. I just kept picturing a real blackboard growing larger and larger with a mysterious piece of chalk scribbling out assignments and notes endlessly.
It took me awhile to get used to how to sign on to blackboard and where everything actually was located. I feel like Blackboard is a bit cluttered in it's appearance in general. I wish there were less writing and separation of the screens. I just found out about 2 weeks ago that you can customize your blackboard sign in page though, who knew! Anyways, I do like the actual Blackboard design for each class. I feel comfortable knowing whatever the teacher would like me to have there is a large chance I can find it on Blackboard if I've lost something. I'm curious to see what will be taking over Blackboard now that I've finally figured out how to use it!

Can't I just be done now??

As the semester comes barreling down in a massive wave of hysteria and the debris of papers and presentations swirl around my feet, I'm reminded that time does not stop. It will keep going and things will get done. I'm not quite sure yet how they will all get done, but I figure if I just stay positive, clarity will come my way!
That got me thinking about why I'm doing all this work in the first place, which then got me thinking of information to bring to my group in terms of our project on arts in schools advocacy. I feel like all you need is to see kids doing art to have it hit home of how amazing it is. Students dancing, playing instruments, or acting out a scene... They become whole new people! I've been reading The Death and Life of the Great American School System (which I do recommend checking out), and it really always baffles me where we are now as a country in terms of what we hold  important when educating our kids. Tests, accountability, reform, tests, test, reading & math, tests, reading & math... What ever happened to exploring, creativity, beauty, science and real learning? So yes, although I would love to blow off all these papers and presentations and curl up in a ball to watch Christmas movies, I'll try to keep in mind my goal.. Give kids dance and the power to create, show them art, make their world that much more interesting, give them a safe haven to remember that life is not all about scores on tests. It's all worth it in the end if I could just make a tiny difference in our sometimes crazy messed up school system.

Here is a little taste of the book:

"When we define what matters in education only by what we can measure, we are in serious trouble. When that happens, we tend to forget that schools are responsible for shaping character, developing sound minds in healthy bodies, and forming citizens for our democracy, not just for teaching basic skills. We even forget to reflect on what we mean when we speak of a good education. Surely we have more in mind than just bare literacy and numeracy. And when we use the results of tests, with all their limitations, as routine means to fire educators, hand out bonuses, and close schools, then we distort the purpose of schooling altogether."  -Diane Ravitch

Visual Organizer

I'm pretty excited about an assignment I've been doing in my assessment class, which is a big thing since it takes a lot for me to get excited about any assignment, so I figured I'd share a little. Below is some of my graphic organizer. It will be a part of a unit on José Limón and these are some of his principles students will use to create movement.

 Space

Timing

As the students improvise, images like these will be held up and they'll begin to incorporate the principles such as space, timing, and focus.  I always like having an image to relate things to, and now through the magic of copy and paste, it is now the easiest thing ever to do!

Focus

Group Work

I believe if I had to put grad school into two words it would be, group work. out, is group work. Never before have I had so many group assignments, group projects, group presentations, group discussion... don't get me wrong, I value group work and believe you get information and understanding not available through sitting alone at home with your computer, reading your paper out loud over and over again. In fact most of my teaching will involve group work! It involves tremendous patience and thoughtful organization. It can even make everything that much easier when done just right. It's just that sometimes, I'd rather choreography a solo, you feel me? I'd rather have the knowledge that deep down, if I don't get my act together until the night before the assignment is due, the only person I have to blame is me, myself, and I.

my very first blog

So here goes my very first blog... I'm not a techy kind of person so please bear with me. I own a mac book that is indeed 7 years old and although it seems to be hanging in there with me so far, one day, like me, it just may give up.
 I've always used Safari as my wed browser and have never encounter any problems. I know that chrome is the new thing, but I've only tried using it once before and shortly thereafter, got frustrated by the busy looking bar above every window. Firefix reminds me of Safari, and I sometimes use that if a computer is having trouble opening certain web pages. I've heard that both Internet Explorer and Firefox have become more susceptible to security issues, so this is good to keep in mind when browsing through unknown websites. Until something blows my mind, I will be using Safari!