This is our video: Lip Dub
If you have never heard of a lip dub, you should jump over to YouTube and check them out. Just so you know, there are official rules, but I teach in a middle school, so we made up our own rules. The idea was a passion I wanted to fulfill. If you read my blog, you will see other posts about passion projects that were my students’ ideas. The Lip Dub was my passion project and the purpose was to boost school spirit!
I knew it would be a big undertaking, but I had the perfect set of students. They were up to any challenge I threw at them. They were truly interested in boosting school spirit and knew how to persuade others to get involved. A lip dub is a fun activity that involves the entire student body. It starts with an introductory skit and then goes to students who perform a lip sync while traveling backwards through your school hallways. The hallways are decked out in school colors and cheering students. We gave students who were in the hallways balloons, bubbles, confetti and many other props that went along with the songs we chose. This is how we got started:
1. We used Edmodo in class and we made a Lip Dub group. This is where we posted YouTube videos of songs they thought would be appropriate. We had to be very selective because our school includes grades 4 through 8. This step took so much time. We narrowed it down to about 5 songs. Then, we made a poll on Edmodo where all the students could vote. Students voted and we selected the top 3 songs.
2. Next, we downloaded the lyrics. We examined the words and then had to make a modification or two. We printed the words and had students look them over after school. They decided who wanted to be in the actual lip sync. After that, they practiced at home.
3. We started meeting before school. All students examined the lyrics and started making props to go along with the theme of each song. We mapped out the path for the singers. We made tons of decorations for the hallways.
4. Students went to each classroom and presented this project. They showed a sample lip dub video to get everyone excited. They asked students to make posters and to dress in school colors on the day of the filming.
5. We continued to meet 2 times a week before school for about 6 weeks. We rehearsed the songs, made props, and ate some snacks. The students bonded as a graduating class. We had groups of students watch the lip sync and give tips on how to be more dramatic. We had other students not in the lip sync decide to do some tumbling in the halls and work on some skits that would be happening around the filming.
6. Next, we needed a finale. We brainstormed and had to get permission for all 8th graders to be released from class for one period. We did this when 2/3 of the classes had gym, since we were filming the finale in the gym. We took a huge hula hoop and covered it with paper and had 2 teachers hold it while the entire graduating class jumped through it. Since our final song was “The cup song”, we had students in the center of the gym using cups as we ran around them. We also blew up hundreds of blue and white balloons that we scattered around the gym floor. We invited the rest of the school to come to the gym for the finale during filming.
7. As part of the finale, we decided to take the graduating class outside and line up in our school initials while we filmed from a drone.
8. Since we used streamers, confetti, balloons, and hundreds of decorations, my students knew they were going to clean the school after filming. They accomplished this in under an hour. There were no traces of filming left when they finished. This was an incredible undertaking, but worth every second of effort we put into this.
I would suggest having a team of teachers willing to help. Also, I would start early in the school year to make the task less daunting.
