Dauphin Island Expedition Reflection Videos, take 2

A couple years ago, I had my then 8th graders create reflection videos from their experiences at Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL).  This was one of my favorite projects I've ever done--even though it wasn't technically a "social studies" project, I think it was hands-down one of the most important and heart-felt projects that they did.  They really reflected on their experiences from middle school and their expedition and created wonderfully creative and heart-felt videos documenting that.

I decided to go ahead and do this project again, because I loved it so much two years ago, and knew--despite me not being able to go to Dauphin this year :(--these current 8th graders would love it and do great things with it.

During MAP testing week, students spent a few minutes writing their reflections about their expedition and experiences.  This would then serve as their narrative for their video.

After showing a few examples from two years ago and going over the requirements (see below), students set out to create some awesome reflection videos about their Dauphin Expedition.

I was so impressed with how these videos turned out!  All of the students created some amazing video reflections of their experiences and did so eloquently and so heart-felt.  Enjoy these videos below!  And click here for the full playlist of their videos.

Lewis & Clark Expedition Challenge 2

A couple years ago with my last loop of 8th graders, we did a Lewis & Clark Expedition Video Challenge.  It went awesome.  The students loved it--they were glued to their macs for the entire class period creating and editing their movie, and they had to be: they only had ONE class period to get their movie completed and uploaded to the class YouTube channel.  However, they weren't going into this challenge cold turkey: we had spent the previous 2 days discussing the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson, and Lewis & Clark.  They had a storyboard and a scavenger hunt activity to pull information from for their movie.

Here's the directions they were tasked with for their video (and note: they did have untit 5pm to upload their movie...just in case they didn't have time to do it in class and/or the YouTube class username/password was log-jammed).

After a quick intro in class (and a viewing of a past example), they got to work on their videos.  It was awesome seeing them so tuned-in and taking their work from the previous days and turning it into an iMovie. 

Check out a few of the students' videos below (or you can check out the entire Lewis & Clark video challenge playlist from 2012 and 2014 here)...I hope you are impressed with their one-class period video products as I am!

Teaching #throughglass 2

Remember my first "Teaching #throughglass" post earlier this school year?  I said I was going to do a series of what it is like to see the classroom (or in this instance the outdoor classroom!) through the teacher's eyes as filmed by using Google Glass.

I have just added my second teaching #throughglass video to my blog series; however, this one is quite a bit different than my previous video.  This one captures what it's like for a teacher to go on a single day expedition (field trip) with a group of 8th graders.  Since our motto at the middle school is "School as Expedition", we take a lot of "expeditions" to various places for various lengths of time.  This particular expedition we took half of our 8th graders to Forest Park to do a fish sampling and data collecting expedition.  Below in my second teaching #throughglass video you'll see a 12+ minute glimpse of what it's like for a teacher to be on a single-day expedition with middle school students...stay tuned later in the year for a glimpse into what's it's like on a multi-day overnight expedition!  Enjoy!

Camp Lakewood Expedition

I know this post is about a week or so late, but I still wanted to share out about or first overnight expedition to Camp Lakewood!

First off, I have to brag on this class: they are ah-mazing.  Seriously.  Each and every one of them surprised me in some way on our expedition: from trying something new, to sleeping away from home for two nights (heck, I'm way older than them and I still get uneasy sleeping away from my own bed!), to the immense amount of cooperation and teamwork they showed throughout our three days there.  It was so incredible to watch and so awesome to be a part of.

The entire purpose of this expedition was teambuilding.  There wasn't any "core content", as there is on all of our other expeditions, but instead it was a time to work together with their classmates to grow as individuals and as a class.  Students had time in the evenings to reflect on their day and what they learned, and then do it all over again the next day.

Students got to do a challenge course, climb a really high tower, work together on teambuilding activities, learn how to shoot a bow and arrow, participate in stream ecology, go on a survival hike and learn how to start a fire, and much more!

Check out the video below for a compilation of our week.  It was such an awesome one that I don't think will be leaving the students' memories any time soon!

Metrolink Expedition, Part 2

Here it is!  The follow-up post to our Metrolink Expedition.  Students spent about a week in either art or tech creating Metrolink pieces: students created a Metrolink route, using pictures taken from the expedition as well as created videos that compared and contrasted the two stations the groups stopped at.


For the art pieces, students created a collage. Each piece represents a community with a MetroLink station. They created the sky from magazine pieces and represented their stops through photos that they took during the expedition.  When each collage is complete, all of the individual art pieces are connected to create a “St. Louis Block,” modeled after the Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden’s, “The Block.” We have also created our collage in his style of art.  QR Codes are added to each work of art to connect the video projects created by the tech (video) groups also comparing and contrasting communities. 


For the video pieces, students took the videos and pictures they took on the expedition and created a video that compared and contrasted the two stations the group stopped at.  Students used the 5 themes of geography (MR. LIP) to first identify the different movement, region, location, interaction, and place within each station, and then used it to compare and contrast the stations together.

All in all, I am soooooo impressed with the art and videos the students came up with!  Seriously, these 7th graders continue to amaze me with their creative skills.  Take a look below at a few of the art pieces (nicely QRed with their video project linked) and videos from the expedition.  Enjoy! ...and if you'd like to check out ALL of the videos, here's the link to the 2012 Metrolink Expedition Playlist.

Metrolink Videos:

Metrolink Art Pieces:

Metrolink Expedition, part 1

I titled this post "part 1" because it indeed is just that: it's the first part of our expedition in explanations and pictures, presented by me.  Part 2 will be the same thing: the Metrolink Expedition, but from the students' perspectives in the videos and art pieces that they are currently working on in social studies this week (so stay tuned for those!).

First off, I just want to exhale a big sigh of relief: the night before our expedition the forecast looked grim: severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and hail.  Eeek.  Not exactly ideal for an outside expedition and lunch in Forest Park!  Somehow, by a stroke of luck, the rain and storms held off till Friday night and we had a perfect day for our Metrolink expedition.

And for those of you who aren't familiar with St. Louis' mass transit, the Metrolink is part of Metro Transit in St. Louis, which is similar to a subway or elevated train you'd find in other big cities.

We spent the entire day before our expedition in social studies prepping for our first expedition of 7th grade (and first expedition for the students in general).  We went though this presentation, which detailed almost every aspect of our expedition and our mission.  The students were then put in small groups where they were assigned two stations that they would identify all 5 themes of geography (remember MR. LIP???) and then compare and contrast both stations using the 5 themes.

Like our Bellefontaine Cemetery Expedition last year with the current 9th graders, this was a completely mobile expedition: there was no pen, no paper, and no workbook: it was all done digitally using iPod touches.  Students were given the directions loaded as an iBook onto their groups' two iPod touches and set off to identify the 5 themes of geography at their two different Metrolink stops.

We were fortunate this year and had a representative from Metro there following us around all morning and afternoon seeing exactly what our expedition entails.  We've been doing this expedition (or modified versions of it) for the past 10 years at MRHMS, and it was great that Metro came out to take part in our learning and exploring of the city and its transportation system.

Our principal Dr. Dillon put together a great compilation of all of the teachers' tweets and pictures from the day, so if you'd like to check that out CLICK HERE.

Wow, overall, this was an amazing expedition and a fantastic day.  The students did an amazing job of not only following our expedition's mission in regards to their behavior, but they completely surpassed my expectations of information collecting and exploring of the stops.  They got some amazingly detailed responses captured by their group members and took some really great photos of all of the stations and the vast diversity and similarities between them.  Below are some snapshots from the expedition itself, but the real showcase of this expedition will be in their art and video projects, which I hope to blog about in the next couple weeks.  So for now, enjoy these expedition pics!

Year Favorites from Ms. Pepin

As we approach the last day of the 2011-2012 school year, I'm wrapping up with asking my students what their favorite projects were, what they've taken away from this year, and what has "stuck" with them from 8th grade social studies.

As those answer filter in this week, I thought I'd start off with some of my favorites from this year...and can you think of a better way to do it than a TOP TEN list?!  I couldn't...so here it is!

10. Getting to hear Rev. Billy Kyles speak at MRH.  This was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had.  To hear a man speak who was so close to the most influential man in the Civil Rights movement?  This is something I don't know if I'll ever get to top.

9. The variety of digital projects we did this year, especially things like a one-class period video challenge, or a twitter challenge, I've loved the different projects that the kids have put out this year.  It really showcases in a whole new way the things their learning and the cool means they can show that off.

8. The immense amount of service this 8th grade group has done: from helping clean up Forest Park to tagging storm drains for MSD, these kids love to serve and give back.

7. Having my students' voices published in The Patch.  8th graders speaking out about things that are important to them and having their voices heard?!  Pure awesomeness.  I hope these girls never stop speaking their mind and motivate others to do the same, regardless of their age.

6. C-SPAN StudentCam Project...this was an awesome project that one of my classes got to participate in.  Even though none of them were "winners" by C-SPAN standards, they all were in my book.  All of their videos were incredibly researched and phenomenally put together.  Make sure you check them all out here if you haven't.

5. Being a Google Certified Teacher.  This was hands-down the coolest experience I've ever had the opportunity to be invited to participate in.  Even making my application video and having my students "ooooh" and "ahhhh" over it was awesome, but to be chosen and get to spend a week in London learning about all things Google?! Priceless.

4. The students are great, but having an amazing staff makes coming to work even more awesome each and every day.  I mean, how many schools do you know where the staff (& even some students!) devotes an entire day to celebrating the awesomeness of our former assistant principal TKA?!!

3. Bellefontaine Cemetery Expedition -- this was a great expedition and has really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities for mobile learning via mobile devices.  I LOOOOOVED this!

2. Dauphin Island Expedition was ah-mazing.  Re-read my previous post or watch some of their amazing reflection videos.

1. This 8th grade class is my favorite, and will always have a special place in my heart.  They're my first "loop"--having had the pleasure to teach them in both 7th and 8th grade--and they'll always stay ingrained within me as my starting kiddos at MRH.  I love this group so much...they've taught me a lot, and I hope I've done the same for them!  I'm sure going to miss them!  And, if any of my MRH kiddos are reading this, DO NOT BE A STRANGER!  Come visit me!...and often!!

Bellefontaine Cemetery: A Mobile Device Civil War Expedition

Yesterday was our Bellefontaine Expedition that I had recently posted about.  After worrying about it for a while--worrying about if the iBooks would work, if the kids would be able to find the graves, if the iBooks were written easily and had appropriate cemetery tasks and easy to follow--the expedition was definitely a success!

First off, we had a gorgeous morning--it wasn't too hot or raining.  We separated the 8th graders into two groups to tackle the two clusters (hence the need for 2 iBooks) they took off in pairs to complete this mobile device scavenger hunt expedition.  This was my first expedition I've planned using solely mobile devices (iPods, iPhones, or other smartphones) as our only "journal"-type documentation (usually we give the kids a journal book and pen and paper...not this time!).  The students could use their own iPod touch, iPhone, or smartphone as long as it could do the following:

1. Take pictures and videos
2. Be able to open and read PDFs
3. Be able to get the pictures and videos off of your mobile device once we get back to school (meaning, if you're planning on using your smartphone, make sure you bring in your connector cable so you can upload your pics and videos to your computer)

We also had our 20 school iPod touches to use too for the kids that didn't have their own device.  Once we got to the cemetery the kids set off, using their iBook and mobile device, to locate as many of the 26 Civil War figures they could.

At each located gravestone the students had to perform a task based upon who was buried there and that person's legacy.  Sometimes it was taking a picture, other times it was reenacting a battle scene that person fought in.

After several hours at the cemetery, we headed back to school to complete the second half of this mobile device expedition.  All of the pictures and videos the students took would be used to create a movie detailing how Bellefontaine Cemetery is important to the legacy of the Civil War and the people buried there.  Students were given a set of instructions and set off the rest of the afternoon to create their video.  

In just two short hours, the students blew me away again!  They created some amazing informational videos detailing about Bellefontaine Cemetery and its connection with the Civil War.  Below are some of the videos the students created.

This really turned out to be a great expedition and really fun to both plan, prepare for, and for the kids to participate in.  I know they learned a lot about not only this cemetery but the people buried there...and I think these videos below showcase that very well.  Enjoy!

Bellefontaine Cemetery Expedition: iBook Challenge

In a week we are going on our final 8th grade expedition to Bellefontaine Cemetery in north St. Louis.  This cemetery has oodles of history buried within (literally!).

However, this is not going to be a typical expedition--instead, we are taking this expedition 2.0, or going digital.  Students are going to be in groups of 3 or 4, and each be assigned an iPod touch.  On the iPods are two iBooks I created that are scavenger hunt type books for each of the historical Civil War people buried at the cemetery.  Students will have to first read about the person, then follow certain directions that include locating the person's grave, and performing certain tasks at each grave using the iPod touch.

After we spend the morning at Bellefontaine on our Civil War grave scavenger hunt via iBooks and using the iPod touches, students will then have to compile all of their digital evidence from their scavenger hunt from their group's iPod into an iMovie in the afternoon when we return back to school.

I'm so excited about this expedition and really hope that the students will be too.  It's right up their "digital" alleys, and I hope it works out just as planned.  I'll post a follow-up blog after the expedition next week with some reflections, photos, and hopefully the iMovies each group makes from the expedition.

Until then, here are the PDF versions of the iBooks I created...if you're heading to Bellefontaine Cemetery soon, feel free to use them for a Civil War scavenger hunt challenge.  There are 2 books for the 2 different clusters of the Civil War people buried there.  Enjoy!

Bellefontaine Cemetery Civil War iBook 1

Bellefontaine Cemetery Civil War iBook 2

Dauphin Island Expedition Reflection Videos

Well, spring break is upon us at MRH, however, that didn't stop me from spending a good chunk of my weekend watching--and MARVELING!--over these 8th graders Dauphin reflection videos.  Countless of them I had to watch over and over again, because they were so moving and their message was so true to their hearts.  I honestly don't think words can express how proud I am of each and every one of these students and the excellent work they continue to produce and amaze me with time and time again.

I started their reflection videos off with showing them the one I made myself, and after giving a few guidelines/requirements, I let them be their own guide as to where their reflection video was going to navigate them.  Below are just some of the amazing videos each of the 8th graders made.  Once again, I'm speechless with what these kids can not only produce using technology, but the words and phrases they use from their hearts to get their message across.  Absolutely amazing.

Dauphin Island Expedition

Whew!  What an amazing, incredible, and awesome week at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama.  These 8th graders are an extraordinary bunch of students, and I'm so proud to not only be able to teach them every day, but also to have shared this incredible experience with them.

For many of the students this was definitely a life-impacting trip: many experienced the ocean for the first time, others got to know classmates better than they ever had before, and some grew in areas that had nothing to do with the beach or ocean--they've come back with new attitudes, goals, and outlooks on life.  I cannot begin to express enough how much I enjoyed being a part of this expedition and how much each of the students have grown as individuals and as a group over the past two years.  Geez, I'm tearing up as I type this!

This week in social studies we are taking a "break" from the Civil War and reflecting on our experiences at Dauphin Island.  Each student will be writing a narrative reflection, making a BOTG (behavior over time graph) for something that "changed" with them during the trip, and creating a video using their graph, narrative, and immense amount of pictures that were taken throughout the week.

Until these videos--nay, MASTERPIECE reflections!--are completed, I'll leave you with this teaser expedition video and some pictures.  As soon as the students finish their reflection narrative and videos later this week I'll be sure to post them here for you to see.  Enjoy!