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.
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Tiffany your last quote reminds me of Harry Wong's quote "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail." I think with any new endeavor one must have a solid plan. Reading your post makes me want to speak with my media specialist and the gifted language arts teachers to resurrect Timberwolf TV. I am sure that many will say that time is a huge factor; however, if we present a solid plan, maybe we can convince them. It will be better than the boring reading of announcements over the intercom! (You are not alone in that area!)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of kindergartner's participating by the end of the school year! Currently, our kindergartners simply are flag holders. Our news is done by all 5th graders and everyone who wants to, participates. The cameraman is the media specialist (or other teacher) only. Getting more of the students involved would be great for the school and students would have yet another piece of technology that they are capable of using.
ReplyDeleteYou got my wheels turning on this one, thanks!
I am thinking about the work involved in creating a school news show. I guess if I were to set it up and commit to it for one year, maybe I could find another teacher who would then take it over for a year. School news shows require commitment like, like, like -- MARRIAGES! No wonder I am afraid to start one at my school.
ReplyDeleteThe media specialist you interviewed for this really has everything so organized. I think organization, commitment, and time management is a must have for such an endeavor as this. At our school, announcements are also read over the intercom on a good day, most of the time, announcements are sent to us through infinite campus, and we are expected to read them to the students during homeroom. When I get my future media center, I want to be able to have a school news production. Maybe when starting out with a school news production, it might be best to start slow, maybe once a week with the big stories, and then work into an every day format. I think the key is just getting started. Who knows, maybe I can start one before I get my media center. It would be a fun, exciting project to undertake. I teach in middle school, and I can see some of our more responsible students doing an excellent job with this! You got me thinking on this one.
ReplyDeleteWow! I enjoyed reading about your interview regarding Ms. Sharon Schilling’s experience with school news. I had no idea that an elementary school news production would be so highly involved and elaborate. The elementary school I am employed at only does a student news broadcast once a week on Friday mornings. This is recorded before hand, and the broadcast is not live. The video is posted on our schools shared drive for the classrooms in the trailers that do not have access to the closed-circuit television. There is no way to incorporate late announcements into the broadcast once it has been recorded. Additions are broadcast over the school’s PA system.
ReplyDeleteIf I was a media specialist in a school that wished to implement a daily student news production, I would want it to be like the example you provided. However, I would not attempt to have elementary students behind the scenes operating the equipment at first. I would likely begin with student anchors, but operate the sound and video components myself or with another staff member. After, the process became routine, I would gradually introduce students to the production/equipment aspects. I think this would be the wisest route for implementing a news program if one is inexperienced in this area.