School TV News--Do I Have What it Takes?

Upon “thoroughly explor[ing]” the Pleasant grove KNN web page, in addition to the “Tiger News” web pages, I have come to the conclusion that, as with so many things in life, talent only takes you so far in the media center. I am speaking of talents in regard to public speaking, technological savvy, creativity, compassion for one’s fellow human being, and other areas, and I am only half kidding.

As a media specialist, one is expected to be a chameleon, an actor, an errant piece of duct tape that fixes it all. So, to simply rest on one’s laurels and do things that play to your strengths (for me, that might include keeping a blog or Facebook page, envisioning and implementing interesting reading incentives, collaborating with willing teachers (!), and putting up interesting book displays in the media center) is never enough, and will never be enough.

Now, before the current batch of practicing media specialists blast me on this one, I realize full well that your cup already runneth over. There is very little resting, on laurels or otherwise, for you, and the pile of equipment to troubleshoot and books to mend only grows. This also does not take into account the myriad and oddball ways that administrators want you to prove your worth. What I am trying (successfully?) to say is that one cannot pick and choose activities and so forth with one’s talents in mind—because to be a proficient (not to mention exemplary) media specialist, it is necessary to be a bit of an expert in everything. Being talented is wonderful—but sometimes it take pure-D determination, perseverance, and lots of boring practice before you can be the media specialist that you dream of being.

Case in point: school TV news broadcasts. The elementary school that I am currently working in has no news broadcast. It does, however, have hundreds of dollars worth of equipment under a counter in the network room, gathering dust, because the items were purchased prior to the current media specialist and were never used—although the manuals have all mysteriously disappeared for each piece of alien equipment. There is also a fake microphone (which is interesting, paired with what I assume to be the audio mixer J). For this equipment to be used, items which was important enough to warrant cataloging and training a paraprofessional at the time (she has since forgotten everything she knew about the equipment, since she never put it to practical use), the current media specialist will have to expand her knowledge of the equipment and how to use it—no small task. (These acts will help her to begin to approach the “Shoestring” broadcast.)Then, she might approach a teacher or group to begin thinking about supervising the broadcasts, devote a corner of the media center to the endeavor, and possibly oversee part or all of the news programs herself. She would have to step out of her comfort zone to learn and attempt new things, sacrificing time that could be used to perform the daily duties that she is under constant pressure to complete. She could not rely on her talents alone, among which are the ability to multitask to the nth degree, eat lunch and check kids out at the same time, collaborate with teachers at every grade level with incredible results, and smooth the ruffled feathers of one teacher or another when parity of technology comes into question, although her talents would certainly be used.

In another school, a high school, the media specialist reported to me that there is a daily news broadcast that is supported by $40,000 worth of equipment. It is produced by the drama teacher and drama students only, but the show is burned onto DVD and brought to the media center every day so the media specialist can play it for the school over the ActivBoard (can’t wait to see this when I volunteer over there over Spring Break!). She states that she doesn’t really have anything to do with it, except for playing it, but the news broadcast apparently does not fulfill its intended purpose (that caused Board members to give $40,000 towards its inception) and she anticipates that she will be asked to take the reins on the project soon. Again, this media specialist will have to go beyond her talents, current depth and breadth of knowledge, and maybe even her store of patience.

These stories just seems to illustrate so strongly to me how talent is overrated. This doesn’t only apply to school TV news, although my interviews with the media specialists concerning this topic brought the idea home to me. I look forward to encountering something complicated, frustrating, involving, and highly rewarding, like a news broadcast, in my future media center, as I struggle when I don't quite have "what it takes" to perform the task at hand.

Or, maybe I’ll cut myself some slack and start small by producing some video clips for next February’s Black History Month student contributions.

School TV News

To this day my husband’s favorite part of high school was his mass media class. He had little enthusiasm for school in his younger days, but loved making videos and producing the morning announcements. Today, there is no shortage of TV news examples, just go to YouTube and search, “School News Broadcast.” You’ll get over 2,000 hits from elementary to high schools producing their own news, and while some are immature in nature, most of the productions are quite professional and elaborate. Watching all these videos reminded me that while my elementary school is fabulous in so many ways, we are far behind the times in school news broadcasts. We are the only elementary school in our district that still does announcements only over the intercom system! Over the years, I have inquired about our major lacking in this area, only to be questioned, “Are you volunteering?” While that sounds sarcastic, the message is clearly that being in charge of a school broadcast is a big deal and very time consuming. With all the daily responsibilities a media specialist has, she needs excellent organization skills and a little help to get this job done.

Luckily, one of my full days in a media center was spent in a school that produces TV news daily. I called up media specialist, Sharon Schilling, to find out some of her thoughts on her broadcasting endeavors. She has certainly learned by trial and error. First, she learned quickly that the anchors could change often, but the technicians running the equipment could not. It takes a lot of time to teach elementary students how to run sound equipment, Power Points with the scrolling news for the anchors, video transitions, and cameras. Her news is quite a production, but the students do almost all of it. Sharon said one of her biggest problems was school staff turning in announcements at the last minute. She said they do not understand that the Power Points for the anchors to read are completed the night before so they are ready in the morning. If someone runs up right before news begins, there is not time to add a slide to the PowerPoint and the young anchors that rotate weekly cannot improvise. She tries to combat this problem by reminding staff about announcements and procedures through periodic emails. Another problem Sharon faces is when students are late for school. The text for the news to be read is set up by a color coded system. If someone doesn’t show up on time, Sharon has to quickly find someone to read that part. She tries to lessen this issue by requesting that teachers choose student anchors who have excellent attendance.

I really like that Sharon has found a way for all grades to participate. Even by the end of the year, a few kindergarteners will be ready. The school principal makes a live appearance every morning. I don’t think all principals would be up for that, but I loved the idea! The students (uh, the good students) rarely get to see their busy principals and this is one way they can see them daily and hear what is important to them.

Since I don’t have broadcast news at my school, I loved getting to see this daily event. I could easily see how much there was to it (and how much I would have to learn in order to succeed at such an endeavor), and the behind-the-scenes-fifth graders were amazing to watch. If you are going to begin a morning announcement broadcast at the elementary level, my best observation to share is to develop a format and a procedure, so this daily task is not too difficult to keep up.

Social Networking

If we are to stay current and move to keep our students in the 21st Century, we must learn how to integrate social networking into our curriculum and embrace it. Students are already using social networking sites to socialize and connect with people that they have common interest with. It is something that comes second nature to them. As educators, we must meet them where they are and move them forward. To do this, we must connect to what they already know. It only makes sense that if they already "know" social networking, why not use the way they communicate to communicate the information that we are trying to get them to embrace.

According to the article, AASL's second longitudinal survey reveals school' acceptance of social networking tools: In a study conducted by the AASL, "preliminary findings show that elementary, middle, and high schools are using social networking tools to prepare students for the 21st century. The common beliefs within AASL's "Standards for the 21st Century Learner", state that technology and social skills are essential to the development of 21st Century students in order for them to be viable members of the working community".

After reading this article, it has become more evident to me that wew are doing our students a disservice by not using this technology to help them to connect to classmates with common goals and interests.

One of the big concerns with social networking is the concern about the safety of the students. There are social networking sites that educators can use to make private for students only. There also are several sites out there that teach internet safety and specifically address social networking safety. If you have not checked any out yet, a great place to start is:

NS Teens Post to be private: Awesome website to teach teens about social networking safety.
http://www.nsteens.org/videos/social-networking/

Get Net Wise: This website teaches parents and students how to make networking sites safe by setting privacy settings. It is a great resource for educating on the dangers of social networking and how to be safe while social networking.
http://www.kids.getnetwise.org/safetyguide/technology/socialnetworking

ikeepsafe.org: This website is an educational website that gives the basics of social networking. It explains what it is and how to use it safely and effectively. This would be a great link for a media center to use so that parents can access and be educated about how to use social networking and how to set their child's social networking space to be private.
http://www.ikeepsafe.org/PRC/videotutorials/myspace/index.html

Here ares some examples of how social networking can be used:

A Facebook account could be set up to keep parents, students, and teachers updated on what is going on in the media center or the classroom. Many of our parents and students hold Facebook accounts already. So this would be an easy way to connect with them. They could easily see what is going on in the media center/ classroom. It is quick an easy to connect in a place like Facebook.

The media center or classroom could have a blog so that studens could have book talks, classroom discussions on certain topics, and be able to showcase some of their art work, writing, and other creative expressions.. When students know they are writing for purpose, and it it going to be seen by others, they will develop pride in what they produce. Having students give feedback to others writing is also a great way to get students to interact and read what others are writing about. It opens their minds to explore ideas of other people.

Web Pages and Wikis and Wordpress, oh, my....

All style and no substance….this is something that one would never hear about me as a person, in part because I have very little style. :-) But, I do understand the value of and the need for substance, both in persons and in media center web pages.

As I am not a particularly visually-spatially gifted individual, I have benefited much from reading about what constitutes good design (of web pages, presentations, etc.). Now that I know what to look for, that aspect of it will be much easier for me to address. However, I still think, as I always have, that how something LOOKS is not nearly as important as what it communicates. Still, the tension between visual appeal and content will never decrease when it comes to web pages, much as I might dream otherwise. I will focus on the desired content for media center web pages in this blog post, as it seems to be what I am better able to discuss and explain in an intelligent manner.

I absolutely enjoyed David Warlick’s article, “Building Websites That Work for Your Media Center” (January/February 2005). It not only had some common-sense ideas about site design (which were much appreciated), but the article brought out some important points about the media center’s webpage supporting the daily goals and mission of the media center. For instance, most of us consider the media webpage to be a place where students can link to GALILEO, educational games, and …..yawn. (Sorry, I fell asleep. And, if I did, so did the students and their parents.) Let’s face it, for some parents, that is old news, and it is news that could be gotten from other locations than the media center web page. In terms of research, GALILEO is very important, but if the critical goals of the media center include parent involvement, I agree—you have to capture their attention and let them know that there is information here that is of use to them that is different and current and relatable. For most of the parents in my particular district, GALILEO, although a gold mine of a resource, might not be the way to make that “relatable” connection—at least, not at first—and it certainly would not want to be the only connection to home that the media center tried to make. So, this article presents the media specialist with a challenge—how is your web page reflecting and supporting the goals that you have envisioned for your students, school, and media center?

I absolutely love how Mr. Harvey, the media specialist from North Elementary School in Noblesville, Indiana, has made his Virtual Library Media Center to clearly reflect his goals for the media center. One can tell very easily that he considers parents to be of great importance, as he went to the trouble of creating a Facebook page for them to communicate items of interest from the media center in January of this year; he also includes some quality links to literacy information published by the school. Seeing that he made a Facebook page (with 60 fans!), it is clear that he is trying to meet some parents where they are in their lives—they are fooling around on the computer, chatting with old friends, and they can read all about the happenings of the media center in a few sentences or less. Near the top of the page, he has links to the wiki pages that directly relate to ALL of the subject areas of the teaching professionals in his school. No snobbery here—Mr. Harvey has included wiki pages for art, music, and P.E., where others (perhaps myself included) might have only had the forethought to include grade-level pages, leaving the enrichment teachers out in the cold. Long story short, this media specialist has some special things going on, and he uses Web 2.0 tools, including wikis and social networking sites, to make his web page a wonderful, interactive resource for most all stakeholders. He even reinforces the importance of libraries with his links to the local public library, the state library, and the Library of Congress—such a small thing that says a lot about the beliefs of the media center. Connectedness is a theme on this page, as it should be on all pages, I would argue.

The blog on Wordpress for the Unquiet Library (Creekview HS) is so much more incredible than their webpage connected to the school. I think that anybody who frequents (or has even visited, period) the web pages surrounding the school is probably hip to that, and that makes me think…doesn’t the library’s web page need to be the hip, awesome web page anyway? If I am supposed to be a harbinger of technological awesomeness, then the web page that I create (or blog, or wiki, or whatever) will be held up for scrutiny by people who want to know the technological pulse of the school. One might wonder, then, how having an “awesome” web page would directly relate to the goals of the media center. As Warlick’s article mentioned, there are certain media that can be included on a web page simply for fun that might detract, in the end, from the message of the page, and there are media, like the slideshows on the North Elementary Media Center web page and Ms. Hamilton’s Wordpress blog, that exemplify how students are being involved, what materials and resources there are to support teaching and learning, and that show the relevance of the library in the life of the school.

Something that was also mentioned in the Warlick article was being constrained by certain rules and regulations of the county or school in regard to the media center web page. Yes, just like the rest of us, Ms. Hamilton of Creekview HS is bound by certain rules on her webpage connected to the school, but she has also gotten permission for and taken the time to create an incredible resource for her parents, students, and fellow teaching professionals through her Wordpress account. The library is portrayed as it should be….an interesting, happening, relaxing, informative place that can be whatever you want or need it to be and also encourages YOU to be whatever or whoever you wish to be. I don’t particularly know that having the library give you a “warm, fuzzy feeling” is a goal for the media center at Creekview High School, but I think that Ms. Hamilton does not underestimate the power of a good reputation among some of your harshest critics and most important stakeholders—students. With her cool displays, comfortable setting, and fun activities (Wii at lunch? Wow!), Ms. Hamilton begins to build relationships with a variety of students and sets the stage for further use of technology to assist in learning and researching.

I look forward to creating my own media center online contact point (whether through a web page, wiki, or blog) so that I can communicate the goals for my school and its media center therein.

Media Center Websites

So I’ve thought and thought about what to blog about for media center web sites. Sure, I could tell you how valuable they are as a communication tool, but you already know that. I could tell you some good design tips, but if you have ever made a PowerPoint, you know the basic ideas of making a page organized, clean (I prefer the term crisp), and easy to navigate. I could tell you what not to do, but it would be easier to show you: Super Bad Website!

There is no lack of ideas on what to include on this invaluable tool; our text already gave us tons of suggestions and even categorized them from needed information to fun additions. I could show you some really awesome websites, but the truth is, after hours of surfing award winning media programs, Dr. Bennett and Dr. Cooper have already posted the best of the best.
If you happen to want more, here is a good one: Connersville Middle School.
This website from CMS in Indiana is very simple, but contains everything! I really liked the one school, one book program (See Watsons – One Book link) and how they displayed the school project.

So what else is there to say? Well, believe it or not, I actually found an article that made me say, “Ah-ha! Well, I didn’t know THAT!” You can read the full article, “Web Design That Won’t Get You Into Trouble,” by Shirley Duglin Kennedy...or you can save time and read my summary.

Did you know that there are some legal issues with web pages? Obviously, there is the copyright topic. Our professors have been stressing this matter since our first class. Some of us can remember thinking, “What’s the big deal? No one will ever see what I give my students!” But when considering a website, it all becomes clear when everyone can see it. Kennedy suggests not taking any photo or clipart that is not specifically listed as free because you don’t know where the picture originally came from. You also can’t change a picture through editing and then call it your own.

Ok, so that was just a reminder. But did you ever think that linking to a page could get you in trouble? Kennedy says that Ticketmaster sued Microsoft because a city guide website linked to an internal part of the Ticketmaster site. This allowed visitors to go straight to the event listings and skip the main page…the page with the advertisements! (If you want to know what Microsoft had to do with this, you can read the legalities here: Ticketmaster v. Microsoft.

Kennedy goes on to tell us about a public library that posted a link to the local newspapers, but declined a request from a private alternative newspaper to also have a link. The library did not have a concrete policy on this though, so in the end the courts ruled that library’s web site was not “viewpoint neutral.”

Kennedy has a great suggestion that I think we should take to heart. We have all worked on our media center policy manuals, but we don’t have a section for our policies regarding our websites. Just as we have a selection policy for educational resources, we may want to write a policy for our website as well. School systems can be nervous enough about all these new web 2.0 tools and having a policy in place before you begin your website (and all those awesome tools) could save aches and pains down the road.

Why Wiki?

The first time I heard of the “evils” of Wikipedia, I must admit, I didn’t get it. How could my beloved site that had all the answers cause harm to researchers? After all, teachers didn’t have to worry anymore about those inquisitive kids asking random questions about what would happen to all our electronics if sun spots became static. Wikipedia meant never having to say, “I don’t know!” again. But here I was with my media specialist and she was taking away my beloved site... “Unreliable!” she declared, “Inaccuracies, missing citations...anyone, anyone can write anything!”

So if anyone has the potential to vandalize your hard work, add erroneous information, or spam your site, why not just get a webpage where one person is in charge and the information is protected from change? Wikis focus on a group sharing, collecting, and collaborating rather than individual composition. Some tasks need just that. On a wiki, it is easy for educators to collaborate on lesson plans; students can collaborate on science fair projects, writing, or problem solving, while educators can work alongside students in literature circles. Since wikis are a webpage, sounds, movies, and pictures can also be added by contributors. Go to http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=112 and http://themzunguboy.wetpaint.com/ to view some wikis in action. Check out one of the best wikis I found at http://soar2newheights.wikispaces.com/ and see how this teacher is sharing her students’ work in action. Take note that this page is protected, demonstrating that a wiki can in fact be protected if you don’t want to leave it open to the world.

My school is currently going through its five year SACS review. Numerous documents must be developed cooperatively between teachers, administrators, parents, and staff. I can’t help but thinking of all the advantages a wiki has in this situation. Our weekly meetings sure would be more effective (not to mention shorter) if we could collaborate throughout the week, discussing our assigned questions, completing surveys, and adding documentation.

Principals want their media specialists to collaborate and this is a perfect resource to encourage just that. Wikis would allow media specialists to work alongside teachers in planning instruction, assessments, or online displays for student work. Media specialists frequently teach others about the newest technology through in-services and wikis are a convenient way for people to participate.

If you have visited some of the popular wikis, you might have noticed they haven’t been updated in months or even years. If you decide to create your own wiki, don’t let it turn into yet another storage site. Have a specific purpose and a specific audience. Know how long you expect to use the wiki. If you are using one in your media center, think about wiping the slate clean each year (or every other year). Keep what you like, but make sure information is fresh and relevant to ensure people will keep coming to share thoughts, problem solve, and collaborate on group projects.

Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot since those early wiki days. Wikis are great even if they aren’t perfect for every situatio... and I’ll never leave them behind entirely. After all, how else could I keep up with Lost without reading the world’s thoughts on Lostpedia?