Social Media in the Classroom

When teaching dance of any genre, it is expected that the teacher will show some example or demonstration of what the technique "should" look like. For example, when learning a classical modern technique such as Horton and Graham teachers will show videos that have been produced for the sole purpose of demonstrating each exercise to perfection. 

In order to incorperate technology even further into my classroom, I would like to have my students bring in their favorite dance pictures that were found on social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Students will be able to observe these images and compare them to their own bodies as they learn more about dance techniques. 

The next step would be to have students take pictures of themselves outside of school attempting dance shapes or positions that we are working on in class. I would like to create a common hashtag like #7thgrademodern, or #8thgradeballet, that way all students in that class can see their classmates progress throughout the semesters. 

Assigning homework for dance classes is always a difficult subject because it is such a physical content area that requires more than written work. My hope is that this small physical task that can be done each day will have a great impact on my student's growth and development in dance. Also I think that students will truly enjoy themselves when taking these pictures and posting them under the hashtags for class. Of course the accounts will be monitored for prevention of cyber bullying but overall I do see these assignments unifying the students in positive, fun, and effective way.