Blah Blah Blogs

I finally taught myself how to share educational blogs on my own blog.  They're on the right...

Anyways.  One of the blogs is from the perspective of a new high school English teacher.  His blog talks a lot about literature that he is covering, and the struggles of being a new teacher.  This guy looks pretty cool.  The other blog I have is from a music educators perspective.  This woman discusses new ideas to teach music and she even writes about her favorite artists like Tracy Chapman.  I really enjoy looking at this blog because music has a lot of influence in my life.  I'm hoping that by graduating with a music minor, maybe I'll be able to teach music classes to young children!

Finally, the third blog I posted isn't really educational at all.  It's about theatre.  I know, I know, it's suppose to be an educational blog- but I couldn't find any about Theatrical Education- something I am also very interested in with my theatre minor.  This blog is from the perspective of a theatre critic.  I really love reading what she has to say and she's funny and is obviously very passionate about theatre.

Maybe I'll find another educational blog later.

Grammar!

So I found this GREAT website that is all about grammar!  

www.grammar.quickandeasytips.com

I LOVE grammar.  I think that this site is a great way to incorporate fun lessons into an English curriculum.  On the site, "Grammar Girl" gives a podcast everyday explaining the new tip for the day.  I really enjoyed listening to her speak.  You can listen to the podcast on your computer, or you can download it!

I guess that's all.. I've been using my cell phone as a calculator in one of my classes, and it's really getting frustrating.  I think I should buy a calculator...

music is what feelings sound like

So I just read Jordan's blog about iPod use in the classroom during tests and whatnot, and I decided that it was a great connection to music in general in the class room!  When I was in high school, teachers always played piano music during tests and quizzes.  I calmed the students down and made for a more placid environment.  I looked online at real results for this and found a web site that was discussing a study of classical piano music in operating rooms.  They concluded that the patients that had classical piano music playing during surgery had significantly lower blood pressure and heart rate than those patients without music!  

I like to listen to the George Winston Summer Collection when I do my homework.  It really helps!  Anyone else listen to something of the same variety?

Other Technologies

So, I was discussing this class with my musical director for the play, and he gave me a great idea for a blog post: the technology that goes into performing theatre.  We use technology that people don't even think about.  In this particular musical we have a revolving turn table in the middle of the stage.  There is a HUGE motor that controls the whole thing, and all together it weights about 6500 lbs!  Another more obvious aspect of theatre is the lighting.  I went up to the catwalk yesterday to check out the lights and realized how extremely complicated it can be.  We have hundred of lights that are controlled by a large light board.  And sound!  Not only do we have live music in the pit, but there are also sound effects that need to be recorded and put into a particular order in the sound booth so they play at the right time.  I never realized how much technology is used in a show until I actually checked it out for myself!  Props to the guys that run this stuff, they are brilliant!