Welcome to 2025! Now that our Christmas concert is in the books, and Christmas break has come and gone, it’s time to get rolling on some of our Antarctic work in the classroom! After our concert was over, we did our explorer photos in my orange parka, and I’ve got pictures of the students in the landscape pictures I took while on my expedition. Now it’s time to dig into the serious work!
The first project we’ve worked on is the study of sea chanteys. Our spring concert is going to be water-themed, and this is the start of the journey. I introduced students to #ShantyTok on TikTok, and we watched a few epic performances. The students then went on a tour of sea chanteys from around the world. We even watched a short clip from “Big Bang Theory,” where Sheldon and Penny were using a sea chantey to complete a task. Students then deduced the purpose of sea chanteys.
Once we figured out the purpose of the sea chantey, students got into groups to create their own sea chantey. They had to write it about an activity that is not enjoyable, goes on too long, or something they have to do often. Once they got done, they performed their sea chantey for the class while wearing VR headsets. I had recorded several 360-degree videos on my expedition, so students were able to perform their sea chanteys ‘at sea in Antarctica.’ Due to most of the students not having experience with VR, I did not have them perform while watching Drake Passage crossing footage!
The littlest students worked as a full class to write ONE sea chantey, and then got to create their own composition using Google Arts Paint With Music (Ocean setting).
The students really enjoyed the unit (more than I thought), and I don’t think it was all because of the virtual reality – they really got into sea chanteys!
Car Full of Harmony 
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