Student Videos on King Middle's Vimeo Channel!

Our Culminating Event!

A full house at King Middle School

The following is a speech delivered by Mr. Shaddox at the culminating event today:

Thank you for being here today as an audience for our students’ work. We are so excited to share our final products from this expedition and your presence heightens the experience.

I am so proud of our young researchers, meteorologists, actors, graphic designers and filmmakers.

I can guarantee you that our students will never forget the science and impacts of hurricanes. They will never watch a weather report the same way. In fact, we’ll all probably be seeing green screens in our dreams for the next 20 years. Here in Windsor 6, the world literally became a green screen over the last two weeks!

This expedition asked students to do high level, professional work, using sophisticated tools and requiring focus. A lot of focus. I’m so impressed by the manner in which they applied their research as they created storyboards and wrote scripts. This was no easy feat and required an immense amount of creativity and problem solving. This is the kind of work that challenges adults. You will see this in their videos.

There was so much learning in this expedition. But beyond the academics there is something else of great value here. Throughout this experience, I saw all of our students grow as people… young adults.

Most of all I am impressed by their demonstration of teamwork. These movies were not created by individuals, but by groups of students who coordinated themselves along every step of the project. This work demanded maturity, organization, interpersonal skills and perseverance… lots of perseverance. Only through their collaboration as a team was this project made possible.

As teachers, we supported the learning, provided resources and modeled the use of technology and cheered them on, but ultimately our students’ level of self-direction, sense of ownership and enthusiasm made it all possible.

I am so happy today to see these kids recognized for their hard work. Once again, I find myself being blown away by what 6th graders can do when you give them control over their learning and allow them to pursue creative endeavors!

If we can achieve work of this complexity in 6th grade, what great feats can we accomplish in 7th grade? Today, the future looks very, very bright.

A panel of experts took notes and gave students feedback on their work.

Student films were projected on screens around the school.

Panels provide feedback in the form of celebrations and suggestions.

Student speakers introduced guests to the expedition.

Final Steps

Step 1

Critique - When you’ve completed all of your scenes get a critique handout from a teacher. Get feedback from at least two other students. Make a minimum of 3 revisions based on the feedback. If you finish critique & revisions before other group members, you become a mentor. Help everyone in your group finish their scenes.

Step 2

Export - Top Menu > Share > Export Movie > Large (Reminder: This takes a long time. Be patient. Don’t close your computer’s lid while this is happening.)

Step 3

Flashdrive - Place your movie on a flash drive (from Mr. Payne or a group member’s drive)

Step 4

Final Movie

1. Give your flashdrive to a teacher so they can back-up your movies.
2. Place all of the movies on one person’s computer. Choose the computer that is the most reliable. If your computer is lagging and has a really limited battery, don’t use it.
3. In iMovie, create a new event. Name it “Final Movie.”
4. Import all of your group’s movies into this event.
5. Create a new project.
6. Begin placing your group’s movies into the project timeline.
7. Add transitions and check for audio consistency (everyone’s audio should be about the same level)

Filming Reminders!

Here are a few helpful reminders for filming.

1. PROJECT MANAGER LUNCH MEETING TODAY in 212! Grab your food and then head up to Mr. Shaddox's room for a quick tutorial on using the mics.
2. QUICKTIME: Use Quicktime to film. The line input in iMovie is dodgy and not worth the hassle.
3. CLIP-ON MIC: Quadruple check your audio with a finger tap on the clip-on mic. Playback a sample recording and check that the audio is coming through the mic before you film your scene.
4. GREEN SCREEN: After you film a scene, place it into your movie's timeline and check the green screen.
5. PROBLEMS? If you experience technical difficulties see Mr. Farrell or Mr. Shaddox.
6. MR. FRANK: Mr. Frank will be checking in with groups regularly. Please ask him for help if you are facing a challenge.

Weathering the Storm Progress Tracker

Expedition Filming Schedule

Storyboarding Commences!

After weeks of researching their hurricanes, students began the process of storyboarding their videos. Each group divided up the task of storyboarding the 11 scenes. The storyboard panels consist of a sketch and summary. Once group's finish their storyboards they will develop scripts for each scene. This process of planning and drafting will ensure that students have all of the content and structure worked out before they begin shooting their videos.