2014 Defining Moments

This is a bittersweet post to write for me, as it is my last one I will compose at MRHMS.  These past 4 years teaching at MRH have been amazing, largely because of all of the amazing and awesome students I have had the privilege to teach.  The students are the reason I do what I do, and I am so thankful and grateful for the hundreds of kids I was able to teach--and learn from--these past 4 years.

This fall I will begin a new adventure, and use this blog to document that.  I will be moving to Ursuline Academy to teach technology.  As much as I hate to leave MRH, Ursuline is where I've been called to teach, because my passions lie in technology, and educating others about all of the awesome tools they can use in their projects, and teachers can use in their classrooms.  Stay tuned this fall for this new adventure I will embark on in teaching!

I wanted to share with you all some of the capstone digital stories--Defining Moments--that my 8th graders just completed as their final project in 8th grade.  I shared 2 years ago some of the Defining Moments from my last loop of 8th graders, and I wanted to continue that tradition and share some from my current group of kiddos.

First off, if you don't know what a Defining Moment is, watch this:

Now that you know what a Defining Moment is, I want to share some of these amazing group of students' digital stories.  Each on of these tell a unique story about a moment or event that has changed and shaped their lives.  If you click here you can visit the entire playlist.

I hope you enjoyed these...and I hope you've enjoyed my posts these last several years about our expeditions, adventures, and learning at MRHMS!  Here's to a new chapter in education!

MRH Community Tech Project

In technology we just recently finished up our MRH Community Tech Projects.  Students were tasked with creating a video (using iMovie) that documents the aspect of the MRH Community that they chose to highlight in their movie.

Students could pick from the list of aspects to make their movie centered around that included MRHMS' metaphor: School as Expedition, MRH's cornerstone program, MRHMS club day, MRHMS adventure club, MRHMS' sustainability program, MRHMS' home visit program, Joe's Place, or MRHMS' bee and garden program.

Students set out and found pictures and videos to use in their movie along with student and staff interviews they set up and wrote questions for.

Overall, these MRH community videos were excellent!  Last year's tech class set high standards to what I was expecting and this year's class really lived up to my expectations.  Check out a few of their community videos below!

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!

Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year at MRHMS!

Wow, where has the summer gone?!  I feel like it was just the last day of school, I blinked, and now a whole new school year is starting!  WHOA!  As crazy-fast as I felt the summer has gone, I am super excited about the new school year starting.  After just completing my first loop at MRHMS, I am so excited to start anew with a new group of 7th graders this year!  I got the pleasure to meet several 7th graders this summer during our home visits, but I am so looking forward to meeting all of them later this week!  I can't wait to learn with and from all of these amazing kids this year.  Did you know teachers end up learning just as much as their students do during a school year?!  It's true!  My students teach me so much every year!  I always look forward to going back to school and learning something new from them everyday.

One of the "new" things I'm going to do this year is use the program Remind101 this year in my classroom.  If you've never heard of it, I suggest you check it out!  It's a great FREE program for teachers to easily and safely stay in contact via text message (or email) with their students and parents.  I'm hoping to get as many of my social studies parents and students onboard with this program from the very beginning of the school year.  Here's all they have to do to receive updates about social studies via text message throughout the year:

I think this is going to be an awesome resource (and reminder tool!) for students and parents for everything from homework, to expeditions, to essay reminders!  I'll keep you posted as to how it pans out.

For all my teacher friends out there, I hope you have a fantastic school year!  And for any of my students and parents, I hope you have an amazingly awesome--and stress free!--school year as well!  I'm thinking some tapeball action may be in order for the first days of school...everyone loves a good team building competition, right?!  I know I sure do! :)

Defining Moments

At the end of every year at MRHMS, 8th graders create "defining moment" videos using their narrative essay they wrote in communication arts as their narration.  Students spend the good part of two weeks in both social studies and comm. arts storyboarding, recording, collecting pictures and videos, creating animations and graphics, and putting it all together (in iMovie) to create their defining moment.

For anyone outside of MRH, you may be wondering what exactly is a "defining moment."  The students helped create this short video explaining just that.

Now that you know what a defining moment is, it is time to share some of the amazing, heartfelt, moving, and passionate defining moments these group of 8th graders created.

All year in social studies students have created videos and done projects showcasing history, but they have never gotten to showcase their history...until now.  These videos combine all of the "techie" qualities the kids have displayed throughout the year with their own story--their defining moment--that are truly moving and inspiring.

After you watch these, take a minute and thing about: what is your defining moment?  What point in time caused your life to change?

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!!

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!

Rev. Billy Kyles

On Thursday, February 2nd, we were so fortunate to play host to Rev. Billy Kyles and hear him speak.  He had some inspirational words for the students, especially around the theme of never letting your dreams die.

Read more about Rev. Kyles from Time Magazine Here

What I liked most about his speech is that it spoke to everyone--regardless of your race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or background--he encouraged us all to always strive for our dreams and never let them die out.

The Patch did a great article about the event.  However, what I liked the most was how it showcased the appropriate use of social networking via twitter by both the staff and students.  Most of the time we hear about the negatives of social networking and schools; however, it's really nice to see that there are positives with social networking and it does have a place in schools.  Here's to Rev. Kyles' message of keeping our dreams alive, and using social media to get that message out there!

http://maplewood-brentwood.patch.com/articles/students-kyles-is-incredible-and-inspiring

South Tech Expedition

This past week we got a chance to take our 8th graders to tour South Tech High School in Sunset Hills.  First off, let me just say WOW, the opportunities that are available out there for students today is incredible!  Students can be a certified Firefighter and EMT by the time they're 18 and graduate from high school!  That's incredible!  The opportunities South Tech has to offer high school juniors and seniors is amazing, especially if a technical field is something that you're interested in.







South Tech has so many different opportunities available for its students, and we got to tour several of these on this expedition.  We got to be car mechanics, vet techs, graphic designers, carpenters, and firefighters--and these were just some of the many opportunities they have for students at South Tech.
















What MRHMS students got to see is that South Tech is a very hands-on high school; everything is done in a practical setting--it's not something that's just "talked" or "read" about but is taken to the next level and actually "done" or "performed."  Students don't just read about how to put out a fire, they actually do it.  They don't just give stuffed animals medical attention, they give live animals the medical attention they really need.

It was a great day of learning and exploring the various opportunities that are out there for students at MRH.  I think all of the students learned a lot and got to see another option for them when it's time to enter their final years of high school.