A Little Project Called Music Videos (RE-POST FROM 5/28/2016)

I received a beautiful letter from a graduating senior this week that thanked me for my influence on him as his elementary music teacher. In this letter, he talked about how much he had enjoyed the sixth grade music video project. I was reminded of this blog post I wrote last year about that very experience. Enjoy this reread from 5/28/2016!  

I don't mean to brag, but I have discovered the way to keep sixth graders engaged (and my sanity preserved) through the end of the school year. I'd like to introduce you all to a little project I like to call, "Music Videos." I should come up with a snazzier title, but it's the end of the year and I'm tired.

I made up the music video project during my first few years of teaching, before I even owned, a camera, an iPad, a Smartphone, or anything on which to record the kids. MTV and VH1 actually showed music videos at the time, and YouTube didn't exist. The students acted out their videos for their classes, and checking a song for appropriateness was a matter of praying that the CD jacket had all of the correct lyrics printed.

I am more twenty-first century now. I actually record the videos for posterity and share them on our school's Google Drive. I can find almost any lyric to any song via the good ole InterWebs, not to mention look up the meaning of most of today's slang terms because, let me tell you, there are some doozies.

What began as a "do-your-own-thing-while-Mrs.-Duggan-cleans-out-her-files" project at the end of the year thing has taken on a life of its own.

Now that it has become tradition, the sixth graders ask about making music videos at the beginning of the year. The younger kids look forward to watching them the last few weeks of school. The fifth graders ask, "Do we get to make these next year?"

The parents know all about the project now and ask me to send them access to the files every year. Last year, several kids and parents were upset because the videos weren't shown at the special sixth grade breakfast celebration. One parent has already assured me that she is in charge of setting up everything properly this year.

The sixth graders spend their lunches, music class times, or any available common breaks in my room making videos. In other words, sixth graders, girls and boys alike, choose to hang out in the music room every day until the end of the year. It is the cool place to be.

I had an extremely theatrical group of sixth graders this year. Last year, my sixth graders made twelve videos. I thought that was good, and they were fairly well-prepared and creative.

This year, I recorded twenty-six videos. I haven't had a lunch break for two weeks.

They created their own props. They wore costumes. They acted out entire scenes.

The other morning, one boy dragged a refrigerator box into my room.

"Can I use some scissors? I need to make a car for my video."

Three groups made Star Wars-themed videos. One boy even created a "special effects" model with Legos and a mini Death Star.

"Man, my old school digital recorder just isn't cutting it anymore," I told my husband, Dan, the other night. "I should have asked for an HD video camera for my birthday."

Then there were the sentimental videos. Four of my girls sang One Direction's “History.” (We changed the mini bars and champagne references.) I had sweet-voiced soloists who sang Taylor Swift's “Safe and Sound” and the Nightcore piece, “Sad Song."

“You girls made me cry," I said as I turned off the recorder. "These songs are about the friends you’ve made through the years, saying goodbye, and moving on.”

“That’s why we chose them,” the girls said, "for the memories."

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