In my first year in an elementary school media center, the
school had a daily news show. It began
five minutes before the bell rang and was broadcast over the distribution
network. Four fifth graders were the
newscasters and one was the camera operator.
The news consisted of reporting the date, weather, lunch choices,
reciting the Pledge, the school’s Commitment to Success, the moment of silence,
and a “Did You Know?” fact, along with any announcements that were sent to the
media center before the newscast was over.
The news crew rotated classes each grading period, with the fifth grade
teachers sending down whichever students they chose. It
was my job to type scripts in the teleprompter, which the students read
verbatim. The news was broadcast from
the “newsroom,” a room off the media center that has the ability to hook up a
small sound board and video camera to broadcast to the school. The office has to “push the button” to allow
the key to override the intercom system – the video broadcasts over all
channels and the audio is through the intercom system rather than the TV.
We only ran into minor problems like – 1) teachers not
sending the news crew to the media center, 2) students not able to read the
prompts smoothly, 3) the mike getting switched off during the broadcast. These were overcome by 1) grabbing whatever
student happened to be in the media center at the time and surprising their
teachers when they saw them on the air, 2) trying to do a run-through or stage
whispering to students when they couldn’t make out a word/phrase, 3) ducking
under the camera and duck-walking to the news table to turn on the mike and
hand it to a student without being seen on the broadcast.
Once the county decided to share the media parapro position
between two schools, the broadcast died off; it’s now just the principal
leading the pledge, Commitment to Success, moment of silence, and reading any
announcements that were sent to the media center.
Fast forward to this year - the leadership team of my second
school decided to once again have a news crew.
(Currently, the Principal or AP leads the Pledge, moment of silence, and
any announcements over the intercom.) While
everyone in leadership loved the idea, nobody thought to check with the media
specialist – the equipment that had been used years ago was given away (when it
was decided to no longer have a news show), and the ability to broadcast had
been lost when the intercom system was changed several years ago – while there
is audio capability, there is nowhere to broadcast a live video feed…Needless
to say, W.O.K.E. was never brought to life.
I spoke with a friend of my at the high school level – they have
a news show that is broadcast at the beginning of 3rd period every day. It is done over the distribution system and
broadcast over every channel. It begins
with a teaser (what will be covered in the newscast) and a
pre-produced opening (like the da da dum, da da dum on ESPN) it includes the
news announcers leading the pledge, moment of silence, a cheesy reminder of “teachers,
check for dress code violations,” reading announcements, tossing the view to
sports (two different announcers), back to news desk, and sometimes has a “commercial”
or video that the students have put together for a closing. It’s produced by the broadcast
teacher, but the students do the technical work. Announcers are in Broadcast II, and switch 2nd
semester. Besides giggling, issues
encountered include batteries of mics going out during the broadcast (at which
point the students share mics), and once, a broken splitter or switch
(Engineering teacher to the rescue!).
While I enjoyed seeing the students in my elementary school
on the “news,” having a production that is more than just the basics can be
rather time-consuming. We didn’t have
graphics or green-screens or play pre-produced video; there was simply no
time. With the focus on squeezing every
instructional minute out of every school day, news production simply isn’t a priority.
Still, seeing how excited the students were to “be on TV” was
priceless. They learned they needed to
enunciate, speak slowly to be understood, and have proper posture. They knew they needed to behave in class and
work hard to be chosen by their teachers to be part of the news crew. They took their responsibilities seriously
(well, as seriously as 10 year olds can).
I do hope to bring the news show back if 1) my position is reinstated
full time at that school or 2) I become media specialist and am at the school
full time.
And with that, I’m signing off…
I loved your blog! My school is in the same position as yours with the equipment issue. I do have a "News Crew" that comes to the Media Center each morning. They are divided by grade and have to audition each year. My school used to be on closed circuit TVs throughout the school, but it no longer works. I would love, and so would everyone else, to have it working again or something that is better technology wise. I completely agree with you that the students enjoy seeing themselves on the news and that it is a little more time consuming that just reporting over the intercom. My school has been offered to pilot a program using a video camera that is set up on a tri-pod that is wireless and it transports the picture or video to all the BenQ projectors in the school. I think this is an awesome opportunity for my school and will let you know how it works. Unfortunately we won't receive it until May.
ReplyDeleteI am with you, Jennifer! I think it is sad that we have become so standards crazy that we cannot take 5 minutes to watch a student news show. The kids do love to be featured in the show. The school my boys went to filmed the whole class saying the pledge live, and rotated through all of the classes at all grade levels. This gave every student the opportunity to have their moment in the limelight. I think students are much more likely to pay attention to announcements when students are seen on camera, than when an adult just talks over the intercom. I think it helps to build a sense of community, and school pride. I do realize it takes some time to put together, but I think it is well worth the effort. Simple props such as an umbrella on rainy days, or a stuffed "Clifford" to remind the students about the book fair go along way, as do guest speakers (or teachers).
ReplyDeleteI am not currently working, but in the school where I volunteer, they no longer have tvs in many of the classrooms. Everything is streamed via Media Cast through computers onto the SmartBoards. Since the classroom at WMS do not have t.v.s, all of the distribution is done online through Media Cast. Just about anything can be uploaded on Media Cast, and all teachers have access to it. The can make and upload news shows, and powerpoint presentations, which are always showing in the hallways. And they have access to Discovery Streaming, Facts on File, and PD 360, a professional development component through Media Cast. Unfortunately, they no longer have a news show as the teachers were not turning it on for their classes.
Wow! Your story sounds so much like mine. I posted in an earlier blog how I took over the televised morning announcements 9 years ago at my middle school. The first year was a learning experience. The basics (pledge, moment of silence, school announcements) were covered, but by the end of that year we had added lunch menu, weather, & sports. It grew every year until we finally established a Video Production/News Team. One year I had almost 30 students on the team and we did some amazing things. We entered and won first place in the Georgia Meth Project Video Contest the year before my position was reduced to part time two years ago. I didn’t intend to dissolve the VP Team, but quickly realized that it would be impossible be the sole person responsible for managing and directing the team and its projects. I still have a very small VP team, but nothing even close to what it was three years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe principal at my school, Dr. Watkins, is very PRO televised morning announcements. She took the position of principal 3 years ago and there have been Very Few times she has missed being on the morning announcements. When she knows she is not going to be at school on a given day, we film her for the next day. Earlier this year she had attended a conference and was absent for an entire week. The Friday before she left, after we completed the morning announcements, we filmed a segment for each morning she was going to be away. She brought a change of clothes for each day’s segment. More than once she has swapped sweaters with me because she needed to film for the next day and did not have a change.
Dr. Watkins uses the televised broadcast to communicate with students and staff. She reminds everyone of important dates, offers words of encouragement, and basically keeps everyone tuned in. It is not optional for teachers to tune in each day. It is required. I still have a handful of students that make announcements for BETA, Student Forum, and other clubs, but the only guaranteed daily segment is the principal. Needless to say, I have gotten to know her quite well in the three years.
Thank you for sharing what your middle school news crew do each day. Like you mentioned, it is sad that lots of schools do not participate in announcements. I agree that it gives them the opportunity to create and self express. I think it is important for students to be put into situations where they run the show and they make things happen. It gives them a sense of ownership and an appreciation for "real world experience". I do hope that your principal will eventually be forgiving with what they add to the announcements because the same thing over and over each day can become kind of boring. Excitement comes from doing spontaneous things and random interviews. It is better than nothing, but hopefully it can be expanded upon.
ReplyDeleteI've always worked at the high school level. We also had a video broadcasting class that was part of the Career Technology curriculum. It was much easier with high school technology students. I guess I never thought about it from the elementary age level. I am glad that you were open and honest about the challenges. If I had gotten a job at the elementary school level and spoke up about doing a daily broadcast, I would not have had a clue as to what to look for. This is definitely an eye opener. The video broadcasting teacher has class time to complete the broadcast. However, time as a media specialist is definitely very limited. We have to compete with educational time.
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