My Chosen Field of Action is the Theatre

Gospel Insights Presentation

2010-04-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to my presentation

There isn't a lot of text because putting everything you are going to say on a presentation is bad teaching. I also had trouble distilling much more than this out of a talk geared towards men and their Priesthood. I wasn't sure how to make stuff about men using the priesthood applicable to women, since we can't use the priesthood the way men can, and can't really use the idea of honoring the priesthood in a classroom setting. So I pulled the basic ideas out, and was going to expand on them this way. We spend a lot of time talking about what we shouldn't be doing or shouldn't be looking at or reading, etc. But that actually isn't all that helpful. In order to "learn what we should learn," we need to know what that is. So instead of spending our time worrying about what we shouldn't be doing, we can also focus on what we should. As an artist, it frustrates me to only hear about the negative impacts of art. We should be talking about what can we read, what can we watch, what is beautiful and uplifting and contains truth, and how can we pass that on to our students? Embrace the things we should be learning, because there is so much art that can and must be embraced. I was going to ask people about books, music, theatre and art that they love and want to teach.

This applies to the other two ideas as well. Stop talking about what we shouldn't do or shouldn't be. God isn't trying to turn us into negative statements, into people who can't do anything. it isn't enough to just not do what we shouldn't, we must also do what we should, and be what we should be. An absence of wrong action is not the same as the presence of right action. We need to instill that in our students, and teach them what they can do and what they can be. That will be more beneficial in the long run than a list of don'ts.

We spend too much time fearing the negative instead of embracing the positive. If we only discuss the negative, people will head toward it because they don't know what the positive is. We should not be acting out of fear, but out of love for our students, and a desire to share truth with them.

Wiki Assignment

2010-04-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

So I did the Wiki assignment, and posted my lesson plan and blog resource under the Performing Arts section, but I can't post the link. It won't let me do it for some reason; something wrong with the HTML. Not quite sure what to do about that.

Here are screen shots of the website to show I did the assignment

Video Project

2010-03-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the video I made. I know that what I've done using PowerPoint, or something similar, but I still learned to use iMovie doing this assignment. It was kind of a pain figuring out how to use the program, because it's really finicky, but it's kind of fun. I generally don't approve of using videos to teach, because in my experience half of the room falls asleep. But it's a fun program. I'm sot sure if we're supposed to embed it or just attach the link, so I'm doing both.

Screen Picture-SketchUp

2010-03-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the work i did in SketchUp. I can't take a picture of the tools I use at the same time I take a picture.

Thoughts on Copyright

2010-03-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

Copyright issues are something we come up against in theatre all the time. We have to get permission to do the shows we do, and generally permission to make any changes to the script. The teachers we work w/ pound this into us, because schools have gotten sued for breaking copyright. But they are less clear about the use of music and images we use in our shows. So it's nice to have a place to start as far as that goes for the productions we put on.

Copyright Assignment Video 2

2010-03-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

While I think this video is a little over the top, it does seem to be following copyright rules well. It is all text, and at the bottom of the screen it cites where the information came from. The music all appears to be one song, and is not cited, but it is unspecific enough to be a piece that is just out there for people to use in presentations like this without having to pay for copyright. So the video itself is sound, but there is not record on YouTube of who created it. So that is a lack of citation. I did find the website of the person who put it together, and he gives information about sharing it. He says that it can be shared in public, but the creator should still be cited.
If this were simply being used and not put on public display, the music could fall under fair use laws. It sounds as though it could be 30 seconds, the amount you are allowed to use under fair use, lopped and played over and over again. It also doesn't decrease the value of the song, because it isn't unique enough for anyone to lose money by it being the background for this presentation.

Copyright Assignment Video 1

2010-03-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to pick videos we might actually use in the classroom, so I didn't. Mormons like to put bits about the church out on the internet, but most of the time I'm pretty sure they are breaking copyright, like with this video. It is a series of images of Joseph Smith, with musical accompaniment. They post a link to another video about the person who arranged the music, but that isn't a citation, nor does it say they have permission to use it. If the composer has given permission for his work to be used for public display, then the music isn't breaking copyright, but that is unclear.
The images are mostly pictures I recognize that the church uses, which means they are copyrighted. This person would have had to go to numerous people to get permission to use thees images. Even if they are allowed to used these images for public display, they aren't cited anywhere in the video or on the page, so no one knows who the artists are.
If this was made for a purely educational setting and not put on public display, then under fair use,the pictures probably aren't breaking copyright, if there aren't more than 3 from the same collection or author. But they aren't cited, so who would know. And they used all of the music, not just 3 minutes of it, so unless the composer has given permission for all of it to be used, that is breaking copyright, as is the fact that the composer isn't cited.

Fair Use

2010-03-01T15:25:00.000-08:00

Fair Use Laws:
-Non-profit
-Less than 10%
-Does it cut the market value

wikimedia.org/commons
freeplaymusic.com
creativecommons
copyrighteducation.org

Project: Google SketchUp

2010-02-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

This program was utterly irritating. I was using it to design a set for a show, but in the time it took me to figure out the program I could have have done it by hand. And once i did figure it out, it would still have been easier to do by hand. I needed to work in a space that was a very specific size, and I couldn't figure out how to limit the field I was working in. Drawing lines the right length was extremely difficult and took longer than drawing them by hand. This program was not as specific as I needed it to be, and took much longer than just designing by hand. It's not worth the time, at least to me.

Here is my lesson plan.

Random stuff in class that might be useful

2010-02-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

Zamzar.com http://www.zamzar.com/ is a conversion website for images, music, videos, etc. I would be nice to convert my m4a files to mp3. Looks cool, if it works.

Box.net is storage of big files so you can share them.

Prezi-http://prezi.com/ is a presentation tool, and stores it online

Free images

2010-02-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

Someone mentioned this http://www.sxc.hu/ today, as a way to get images without breaking copyright. I know BYU uses iStockPhoto when they're designing programs for theatre or music events. That way, we know we have permission to use them because BYU has a account with them. Basically I'm writing this down so I have it somewhere. I guess that''s one useful thing about blogs, if you're online you can save stuff somewhere quickly if it's interesting to you.

Project Idea

2010-02-16T14:36:00.000-08:00

I mentioned this in my last post, but I've thinking about learning Google SketchUp for my project. Bradley Moss mentioned it in 377A as a way to design and draw set designs. I tried doing that for the set design we had due in class, but I couldn't figure it out, and didn't have the time to mess with it. So, that's the plan.

Class Website

2010-02-07T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here's the link to my class website.

After finishing this, I really do think I would only use this as a place to put things I've handed out in class, in case they lose it or it's easier for them to pull it up online.

Glogster was interesting, but really confusing to use. I can see using it to create posters and put them on Facebook, etc., for advertising, but I couldn't figure out adding links and sound, so mine will probably be pretty basic.

One tool I would like to learn to use is Google SketchUp. I tried messing around with it, but couldn't figure it out. I was told that it is a good tool to use when designing sets, so I think that might be helpful. I may want to do something with that for my final project.

Weekly Post

2010-02-01T10:21:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure if we're supposed to be posting about what we talked about in class, or just something about what we've learned about technology in general. As far as creating websites goes, I'm unsure if I'll ever use a class website, and I will never use it as the only source of information for my class. There is always one student who doesn't have easy access to a computer or the internet, and as much a people like to quote statistics about the number of people with computers and internet access, my experience in the schools has told me that you will never have everyone in a class with internet access. So if I do a class website, it will only be something of a reminder of things that have been discussed or given out in class.

One way a website may be helpful is as a publicity resource. I found this website, that gives performance information about the school's production. As far as getting information out to the community, a website would be one more way to publicize information, and keep it all in one place. i also found another website that displays the rehearsal schedule and production information for those involved in the production. Again, I would not have this as my only rehearsal schedule, but it would be an option for students to get information.

Personal Learning Network

2010-01-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here are my 5 links. There are actually 7 on the list, but The Exponent, and A Perfect Brightness of Hope are things i follow anyway.

Applied & Interactive Theatre Blog: http://www.tonisant.com/aitg/blog/
This sight deals specifically with applied theatre, or Theatre in Education. It is a theory that theatre can be used to teach anything. NYU has a big applied theatre program. Since it is a useful way of teaching and understanding theatre, and one that i am interested in, I tagged this blog.
Drama Teacher's Diary | Contemporary Drama: http://contemporarydramanewsletter.contemporarydrama.com/public/blog/203097
This site just looked like a lot of useful commentary on finding and choosing plays for high school production.

Drama Teaching: Free Lesson Plans and Resources for Drama Teachers: http://dramateaching.teacherlingo.com/
This website provides lesson plans. Although they are designed for 6th grade, they could be altered to high school classrooms.

Education and Training: http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/education/
This blog deals with a specific institution, but also discusses general theatrical concepts, like directing, as well as some useful insights on teaching.

The Drama Teacher: http://www.thedramateacher.com/
Again, this site discusses theatre in general, but asks some pertinent questions about teaching theatre, as well as gives useful information about theatrical forms that could be incorporated into lesson plans.

Screen Pictures

2010-01-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

So, in class we were told how to take a screen picture. I thought that might be useful, so I wrote it down. Shift -Command -4. And here is a demonstration that I might use it in a class room. This is a frame from a video of a Theatre Mitu performance. Pulling a single frame from this video could be used to discuss specific directing choices, lighting choices, or any specific moment, outside of the full context. It allows me to focus in on a smaller section of the frame, instead of just pausing it at a certain moment.

What I want to get out of IP&T

2010-01-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

This blog was created for a technology class required by the education department. The word technology has multiple meanings to someone studying theatred and education. Theatre has its own technology: lights, sounds, set design. These are the areas of technology that are important to me, because I will have to know how to run lights and sound.
As far as what most people consider technology, I have a fairly decent working knowledge. I can use the internet, most commonly used programs like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc., and can general figure out how to do most things that I need to. I am more confident on Macs than on Windows. I have a decent understanding of social networking sites, but Twitter and that stuff makes no sense to me
Frankly, I don't enjoy using technology, and rarely use it to teach. The most I do is show clips from videos as examples of what we're working on. For example, I used this clip from City Lights to show how actors can communicate without words. If this class is going to be useful to me, I want it to show how the technology we use can be productive in the classroom, not just assume I know how it can be used.