3 Ways Classroom Tech Can Boost Education Results Blogging & Technology by Jason Phillips - July 11, 2016July 10, 20161 As we advance further into the 21st century, increasingly more educational institutions are realizing that advanced technology can be put good use in the classroom; rather than ignore its potential, teachers should welcome and embrace it but use it wisely for students to reap the benefits. Laptops and iPads are slowly but steady replacing the conventional textbooks, not to mention that the internet is a pool of information. Students can gain access to online libraries, dictionaries and encyclopedias with just a click of a button. But then again, we have some drawbacks. Many believe that social media and full access to online data is doing more harm than good. Some experts believe that technology is preventing students from reading actual books. And
10 Years of Teaching: How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - June 7, 2012June 16, 20162 Five years ago, I wrote a series of seven articles called "Questions That Will Save Your Career" that still remain among the most visited articles on this site. When I wrote those, I had successfully completed my 5th year in education. This summer, after 10 years, I am revisiting some of these older concepts. Today, I revisit How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Do I Keep My Students Quiet? How Do I Keep My Students Engaged? How Do I Keep My Students Interested? How Do I Keep My Students Learning? How Do I Keep My Students Away From Me? How Do I Keep My School Administration Happy? How Do I Keep My Sanity? 10 Years of Teaching: How
10 TEDTalks of Music Education Greatness [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - June 15, 2010June 30, 20100 One of the greatest parts of being a band director is that what I do really matters. Beyond the students acquiring a skill of playing an instrument or working together as a team, there is this aesthetic element of education in the arts that is just absent in most every other line of education. I'm not discounting the importance of grammar or math or science or social studies or athletics or technology education or whatever else might be offered. Were it not for those, I wouldn't have the amazing opportunities that I have. Plus, Texas law says that students have to pass all of their classes in a grading period before they are even allowed to participate in extracurricular activities.
The Evolution of Marching – 2005-2009 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 29, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. Now we come to the most modern marching shows available. Props continue to be more thoroughly integrated into the show, and the color guard continues to be used to add color and visual contrast, as well as actual actors in a story. Electronics are now integrated into the DCI shows as well, and we see the drum majors of Phantom Regiment's 2008 production being used as characters throughout the entire performance. Many corps are now
The Evolution of Marching – 1999-2004 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 28, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. As we moved into the new millennium, the color guard moved further from the hornline and drumline as far as uniforms, but began to interact much more with the individual members. Where the early 90s has included an occasional soloist interacting with the guard, now large groups of the hornline were doing full out ballet moves and poses throughout the shows. Though it had been before, the marching show is now even more dance- and
The Evolution of Marching – 1994-1998 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 27, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. As music selections moved away from the more traditional Broadway and Latin Jazz themes that had dominated the early years of drumcorps, corps began focusing more on classical-type (mostly Romantic era and early 20th century) and concert band music. This development continued through the bulk of the 1990s, with the addition of more elaborate props and other visual elements. 1994 - Blue Devils Video unavailable. In 1994, Star of Indiana left DCI and began touring
The Evolution of Marching – 1988-1993 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 26, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. Last time we saw how the Garfield Cadets transformed the marching by speeding things up and adding pass-thrus and of course the famous "Z Pull." If 1983-1987 was about revolutionizing marching style, 1988-1993 was about bucking the traditional musical elements. One of the key innovators in this area was The Star of Indiana, who left DCI following the 1993 season. 1988 - Madison Scouts 1989 - Santa Clara Vanguard 1990 - The
The Evolution of Marching – 1983-1987 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 25, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. So far, we've seen the first 11 years of DCI. In 1983, the Garfield Cadets began their three-year of DCI dominance with some of the most innovative marching drill ever seen. The Blue Devils won in 1986, and the Cadets were back on top in 1987. 1983 - Garfield Cadets 1984 - Garfield Cadets 1985 - Garfield Cadets 1986 - Blue Devils Embedding disabled, click here for the video. However, since every other year was dominated by the Garfield Cadets, here is
The Evolution of Marching – 1977-1982 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 24, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Yesterday, we saw some classic footage from the first five years of DCI. Today, we'll look at the next six years. 1977 - Blue Devils I can't find a video! I did find one of the Kilties from 1977 (11th Place) though. 1978 - Santa Clara Vanguard Embedding disabled. Click here to watch the excerpt. Here's the 1978 Phantom Regiment (2nd place) finale. 1979 - Blue Devils Video unavailable. Here is the 1979 Guardsmen (7th Place). Notice by this point the "pit" section has
The Evolution of Marching – 1972-1976 [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 23, 2010June 30, 20100 As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I'm going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I'm taking you along for the journey as well. Today, we'll look at the first five DCI finals. Since video footage is rare from these days, I am really surprised to be able to find recordings from each of these years. 1972 - Anaheim Kingsmen YouTube Embedding disabled, watch the excerpt here 1973 - Santa Clara Vanguard 1974 - Santa Clara Vanguard 1975 - Madison Scouts Another video is available here but the embedding is disabled. I link to this one because the first is a standstill performance, and this one
The Evolution of Marching – 38 Years of DCI World Champions [VIDEO] Music Education by Joel Wagner - May 22, 2010June 30, 20100 As the school year winds down, band directors invariably begin turning their minds towards the upcoming marching season. This year, I have a 7th grade percussionist who knows a ton of trivia about Drum Corps International. His father used to march and has taught across the country, so he comes to middle school with a much better background of the history of drumming than most students. Over the last few weeks, I've been having some conversations with him and I began to realize that he doesn't know a lot about the old history of marching, and I don't know a lot about recent marching history. So I thought I'd go look through the YouTube archives and watch parts of as
Trials Turn To Gold Inspiration by Joel Wagner - February 18, 2010June 30, 20100 Are you at the bottom of a pit? Maybe you're in a place you never thought you would be. Or you never thought you'd be there again. I can't count the number of times I've fallen into a bad habit in teaching. I allow myself to get bogged down with paperwork instead of taking care of it right away. Students ask me questions at the beginning of class and I forget the six magic words that liberate me: "I'm not answering questions right now." Oh, you've done it too... Positive changes come and go like the wind most of the time. How do we stick it out and truly persevere? If you know the answer to this question, write a
7 Steps To Financial Freedom [VIDEO] Personal by Joel Wagner - November 2, 2009June 30, 20103 This is a video of Dave Ramsey presenting his 7 Baby Steps. Following the summary video are 10 more videos with more specific details. If you haven't heard Dave Ramsey before, you need to subscribe to his podcast. Now. The Baby Steps Intro Budgeting Baby Steps Debt Snowball The Emergency Fund Retirement Investment College Savings Pay Off Mortgage Be A Giver Build Wealth Live Like No One Else
Taylor Mali Extravaganza [VIDEO] General by Joel Wagner - October 25, 2009June 22, 20161 A couple of years ago, I saw a few videos on YouTube of Taylor Mali reciting some of his poetry. I reposted one of them last night, and thought I would dig around and see if I could find some more. Here's what I came up with. The Impotence of Proofreading On Girls Lending Pens Reading Allowed I Could Be A Poet Speak With Conviction Miracle Workers Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh-Grade Viking Warrior
Video: What Do Teachers Make by Taylor Mali General by Joel Wagner - October 24, 2009June 30, 20100 By Taylor Maliwww.taylormali.com He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learnfrom someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say aboutteachers:Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. I decide to bite my tongue instead of hisand resist the temptation to remind the other dinner gueststhat it's also true what they say about lawyers. Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company. "I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says."Be honest. What do you make?" And I wish he hadn't done that(asked me to be honest)because, you see, I have a policyabout honesty and ass-kicking:if you ask for