School TV
News
Upon
reviewing the two websites suggested by Dr. Cooper I quickly realized our
school needed to “up our game” when it comes to our school news. Currently at McEver Arts Academy we use a
closed circuit cable system, a PowerPoint presentation including the pledge and
screenshots of our school mission statement, and a video that includes sound
for our introduction. Our school news
can be improved in so many areas. One
thing I really enjoyed when watching the Eisenhower Middle School broadcast and would like to start
using is teacher and staff interviews.
This can be interviews about a favorite book, upcoming activities, inviting
students to join a club, etc. I think
this provides a more inviting and personal message to the students. I would also be interested in how to produce
the school news broadcast through SchoolTube.
Currently, we do not record our broadcast. It is fed live through our closed circuit cable
system which gives way to many blunders and technical difficulties when
something should happen to mess up. If
we were able to prerecord these broadcast some of these things might be edited
or fixed.
The school
news at my school is rather scripted and boring. In more detail, the news crew includes four 4th
and 5th graders that put in a rather simple application asking why
they should be on the McEver News Crew.
The media specialist will then take all applicants and place them on a
schedule for the year. All applicants
will get to participate unless behavioral issues arise. The rotation for the crew is usually on a 4-5
week basis unless there are holidays involved.
One person operates the laptop and mixer and one person operates the camera. The other 2 students are the anchors that
announce the date, weather, school mission statement, lunch choices and pledge. The pledge concludes our broadcast unless we
have a special announcement from the principal, student council, or the school
nurse. Unfortunately, that’s where the
only excitement really comes into our broadcast and it is usual only 2-3 times
a week.
Researching
and exploring different ways to improve our school news broadcasting needs to
be the next steps for our school. Some
ideas that I have found with my current research is using a green screen to show
live backgrounds, including a list of birthdays in an exciting way, discussing poplar
topics in the local news today, etc. Students
are similar to an adult news broadcast audience, they need attention grabbing topics,
graphics, and themes. I would be
interested in meeting with our schools technology committee (which is made up
of myself and teachers) and drafting a list of new and improved ideas for our
schools news with the teachers input. I
would then possibly conduct a survey of the students, asking what topics they
would like to hear about on "their" news broadcast.
As it
appears now, the news at my school has taken a backseat to a lot of other priorities
and it is time for a much needed update.
How would you rate your schools current news broadcast?
Orenco Elementary in Hillsboro, Oregon, (http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/orenco/Home/tabid/2559/Default.aspx)
Eisenhower Middle School, Wyckoff, New Jersey's ETV (https://www.youtube.com/user/ETVEisenhower/videos).
Shanda,
ReplyDeleteI hate to be THAT person, but oh well! When I was growing up, we didn't even have tv's in every classroom, and I'm a 90's kid! I didn't even see school broadcast news until I was in middle school, and neither of the high schools I attended had these types of programs. I just think it is a shame that we can't give kids this type of experience. It gives them the chance to practice their public speaking skills as well as work with technology. Both of these opportunities give them the chance to explore careers that might be interesting to them and that they might consider for their future. Even though your program is outdated, at least you have one to offer students. I feel that is a step up from the schools that I went through. Thanks for the insight and the links! -MC
I totally understand and agree with you to a certain extent about updating the school broadcast. I am a new media specialist at an elementary school and our broadcast is so scripted that all of the students can recite it word-for-word. When I was interviewed for the job one of the primary questions the principal had for me was can I handle a daily broadcast. There are a lot of duties and responsibilities a media specialist has in addition to the broadcast that are equally (if not more) important. Now that I will soon have one year under my belt. I will definitely work this summer on tailoring our broadcast to the likes of the students so that it will be informative as well and enjoyable. Multimedia is really important in a school and media specialist almost has to get a degree in that skill alone in order to have a dynamic broadcast especially if you are a elementary school and don't have a technology teacher or club to assist.
ReplyDeleteThing are the way they are because of the fast pace, forever evolving technology. Our students are attracted to it and literally live by it. The 21st student does not find technology a challenge; they are encouraged and motivated by it. Therefore, school news/broadcasting show is so necessary and very possible. Today equipment is so much more affordable when comparing it to equipment several years ago. A great quality camera could easier total over $1500. Now you can get a great camera for under $1000. Mac iMovie makes it extra easy to edit movies, videos, etc., when we use to have to invest in pricier software like final cut pro. There’s so much software and alternatives to operating a news show that it’s unbelievable. All it takes is a little training and research – which can mostly be found on YouTube. And for those reasons every school should have a School News Show.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to comment on the news and how important it is to have your principal on the news show and he or she be excited and encouraging to the students.The principal would go last on the news show. Dr. Ramey would always end his talk remember "Knowledge is Power make it a great day!" On the GAPPS review there is a question that says does the students really know who their principal is? This gives the students knowledge of who he or she. It also shows the kids there is a person associated with the title and at the elementary and middle school the kids go up to him and shake his hand they think he is a TV star because he was on the TV. They talk more openly with him and he gets to know the kids more and more though this. You could also use the assistant principal or other teacher. When I was at the Middle School volunteering I made an animoto for the book fair and the LMS ran it on the news show the next week to advertise the book fair. It was a lot of fun. I agree that the news could be used as an innovative thing to add excitement to current events. We have teachers give out awards on . Using the green screen has so many possibilities and it is so cool. The media specialist may show the green screen shots of a class standing in front of the capital in DC saying the pledge to the American Flag. Using the green screen you could also put a live back drop like they do at the middle school to make the news show look like the Today show or a really news studio in the back ground. He or she could video the class outside saying the pledge or as the kids put up the flag on the flag pole in the morning and says the pledge. You could us a second to remember bus safety or fire safety in October. Another thing that was really cool was when I also got to use it to show a lego video of Indiana Jones for about 2 minutes when I taught my map quest theme for 3rd grade.My mentor, Jeremy Pirkle, is a whiz at the news show. He would open the news with a catchy little 7 second or longer song (new or old) that the kids might know. For example at Christmas, He pulled out I wanna hippopotamus for Christmas and played that as the news opened. For the CRCT he would open with that theme song for the year. He wouldn't play all of it but some of it. At the close of the show he would say "Hawk News", school's mascot" in a funny voice and the anchor crew would also then he would swirl the page out with a square or diamond shape and play the funny music again.For the moment of silence he would choose a picture for the season so for spring he would have a field of flowers and show it as the students said it is time for the moment of silence. Sometimes the principal would explain the moment of silence as a short period of time to to reflect upon and gather your thoughts before the day started. It should be used as a tool for teachers to give awards or just talk about their club for a moment. He lets the crew choose pictures of food items that go along with lunch and flashes those on the screen when the kids tell what the lunch is. He takes a weather map and puts it up there to display what the weather is going to be. News is the information station but keep it short and fun.
ReplyDeleteShanda, I enjoyed your post. Honestly your school news does sound boring. You mentioned the use of a green screen and student/teacher interviews. Sounds like these items would add the punch your school news needs. I love the idea of doing interviews, especially if the students are able to interview the teachers. This would allow the students to get to know the teachers in the building and form relationships. YouTube has launched an application YouTube Kids which may aid in using online tools for the disbursement of the broadcast. I can appreciate that all students who show interest in being apart of the broadcast team are given a rotating spot, but using students in K-3 can also help improve the news and the students attention to the stories.
ReplyDeleteShanda, I feel your pain. Our broadcast, too, really needs a complete overhaul. We have rotating anchors who greet the school, lead them in the pledge, a moment of silence, and the student affirmation statement. We give information about upcoming or recent sports events (school teams) and read announcements. Technically, teachers are supposed to submit a form 24 hours in advance and let the students read the information, but the previous media specialist didn't do it and I decided I had too many other, more important battles than who read the announcements on air. To conclude our principal comes on and talks anywhere from 2-10 minutes, depending on the day and topic of his discussion.
ReplyDeleteUp until a month or so ago we were doing all this on seriously outdated equipment. I think SPLOST money was used to pay for brand new, very sophisticated news equipment for every school in the county. We now have split screen capabilities, screen within a screen, green screen, etc. Now that we have this fancy schmancy equipment, we no longer have any excuse not to have an excellent news show. I'm planning a news boot camp this summer to allow the team to plan and practice the new broadcast.
The trick in sponsoring the news team, I think, is in finding the balance between informative and entertaining, finding the right length that is not too short to be worth the effort and too long so as to lose the audience's interest and waste valuable instructional time.