How to Teach Rhythm Movement & Pattern w/ @Xbox Kinect & #JustDance3 #lessonplan #artsed #gbl

As a wrap up of a week long project on the principles of design: rhythm and movement, I wanted my students to see the connection to other areas of the arts curriculum, reward them for their hard work and prepare them for a upcoming video game / art project using Gamestar Mechanic.

Having a hard time viewing the video at school? Check out the downloaded file off of Animoto:

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I must say though, I was REALLY pleased with the overall project with my students. They spent all week working on their "traditional" Rhythm and Movement projects (which you can download and modify the Google Doc lesson plans below) and I wanted to give rewards to the Top 3 in each class: Face me in a dance off to Just Dance 3

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We had fun dancing all day in class, but probably what amazed me the most was the sheer number of students actually coming up and thanking me for bringing in the Xbox Kinect and telling me how much fun they had today. 

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I think this just really shows the potential of learning with video games, instead of just making them as sole pieces of entertainment. If the teacher is willing to stretch their imagination to combine student interest with classroom content  - the possibilities can be endless.

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If you want to make your OWN video games with your students, check out my lesson plan on Gamestar Mechanic here

video - Art Olympics in the Black Water Middle School art classroom 2011

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The Art Olympics was an event that I intially got to participate in Coastal Carolina University's Gifted and Talented Summer Arts prorgram. Basically, you get a bunch of games together (we got most of our's off of summer camp games sites). And then I could easily adapt them to the art students. You can watch the video to see some of the games and activites that we used and if you are a teacher, you can use my power point below