Change is still a slow process for me, I am now in CSE 697 and attempting to figure out what I am supposed to post, where I am supposed to post and when I am going to find the time to do all the research that I need to do, but more so, all of the "practicing" with these new tools that I need to do. So.... I have returned to my blog to create an entry as I have seen, in this new class, that our blogs are part of "google reader" (I think) which is tagged and added onto our igoogle accounts and if someone is checking their google reader, they will see that I have posted a new blog. I am still trying to figure out if I am supposed to document in google documents in regards to my research in this class; so I if someone has that answer, and know how, please enlighten me.

So.... to get to the point of what I wanted to truly share....... I am looking for help from all of you. At the school where I am a teacher, I am part of the arts/health and wellness team and we have been asked to develop some new courses, complete with lessons plans aligned to Oregon State Standards in those disciplines. Again, we are primarily, an online school, but follow a hybrid design. My team is looking to develop a course that high school students can earn credit it and that students (roughly 3-8) can participate fully as well and learn through the arts and physical movement.

We are attempting to develop two different courses (trimester in terms of length). One of which will be cultural art around the world (producing art using the different mediums that cultural art lends itself too) and the other; cultural dance around the world. We plan to incorporate some social studies/geography into each lesson building schema and background relevance to the projects and dances that we will be teaching.

My task has been to explore within the greater metropolitan area of Portland and vicinity, dance instructors from various cultures that would be willing to be guest lecturers, and instructors on a volunteer basis (as we have no money for this venture, and what little we have will be spent on renting studio space). We have thought about the possibility of these different dances: Hula (which I can provide the instruction for), Irish dancing or clogging, African dance, flamenco, salsa or latin dance of some sort, and I am open for suggestions. My challenge has been in finding someone willing to donate their art/talent for free. It would really only require once or twice per term to come to our class for about 1.5 hours. These intsructors do not need to be professionals, they can be advanced students of professional instructors or studios looking for a way to share their skill etc. So..... if you know of a talented cultural dancer who may be interested in helping us out, or have any ideas of where I may continue to look (I am using google or course to search for leads) please pass them onto me or feel free to give them my contact information; gmail account or have them respond here in my blog.

Much mahalo (thats thank you in Hawaiian) for any leads or ideas that you can send my way!