After viewing the two TV newscasts posted in CourseDen this week, I was extremely impressed with the talent of both newscasts. Both give great ideas on how to complete an impressive newscast to present to your school.
I talked with the media specialist, Mrs. Conner, at Central Elementary. Their school TV news is done every morning when the bell rings at 7:50am. A camera is set up in the conference room of the school. A select group of six students, fifth graders, who are doubled up to run the show. Students take turns running things behind the camera for a week, such as the camera, lights, and music, then they would have two weeks off. Mrs. Conner is the assistant director/producer. The Quest teacher has another group of six students who also rotate and these students are in front of the camera. Under the Quest teacher's direction the student's make the announcements, read the lunch menu, read the math word of the day lesson, read the character word of the day lesson, and read a Spanish word of the day lesson. The math, character, and Spanish word of the day lessons consist of reading the word, giving the defintion, and giving and example of the word. Sometimes, but not often, a live interview may be conducted with guests to Central Elementary or small groups of student's who have done something on behalf of the school. This might include All County Chorus Winners, Academic Team members who had won a meet, Drug Awareness Poster Winners, and any other special programs.
When the news begins at 7:50am a previously recorded tape of the students asking everyone to stand for the pledge of the allegiance and moment of silence comes on. On Monday's only, a recording of the Star Spangled Banner, but the other four days of the week the news goes to live feed, using one camera, one monitor, one light, and one CD player. The camera fades in with the students reading the days announcements, moving right into the word of the day lessons, then an ending moment where students say goodbye as music fades in, and then the screen fades to black. The actual newscast usually takes about five minutes, but prior to the newscasts it takes about ten minutes to get ready.
Students are selected by teacher recommendations. Since Mrs. Conner only knows students through the media center, she likes to have teachers inputs on if the student can be reliable when it comes to attendance, and if they can be reliable with the equipment. The Quest teacher selects the students by whose dialect can be understood, who can stay on task, and if the students can be reliable with their attendance.
The problems faced with the newscasts mainly consist of problems with the equipment since it is rather old. Most days the equipment works fine. Mrs. Conner hesitates when sending equipment off to be repaired, as it might take a month or two for the equipment to return. Another big issue with newscasts is the cable system. If the cable system goes out, it could take days or weeks for the county maintenance workers to fix the problem. If things can not be fixed into proper working order students may read the days announcements over the intercom. The only problem with reading the announcements over the intercom is that the "behind the scenes" students do not have a job to complete.
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It sounds like the school media specialist has a good TV news program going on at her school. I wonder how the students would do at completing their own TV newscast. In this way all students could be involved with the entire process including writing the actual script. Before Timberwolf TV was canceled at my school, the selected students wrote the scripts that were delivered on the TV. Of course the scripts were approved by the sponsors before they went live on the air. :O) My son will be on "brag time" at his elementary school next week. I plan to stay with him to watch how he does and to see how the TV news is delivered.
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ReplyDeleteAs I worked with one of my mentors in the TV/Video distribution lab, it dawned on me that we were incorporating many of the GPS and NETS for Students in the process of the network news program.
ReplyDeleteOne article I read stated, “Educators tended to feel that the most important use of television in school was as an instrument of writing -- that is, giving expression to students' own thoughts, feelings and visual imagery. Students who synthesize and express learning through television learn the grammar and syntax of the medium in the process of doing production work." http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article425.html
And indeed many of the writing standards for 5th grade included skills were included.
For example:
ELA5W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing. The
student
e. Demonstrates basic keyboarding skills and familiarity with computer terminology
ELA5W4 The student consistently uses a writing process to develop, revise,
and evaluate writing. The student
a. Plans and drafts independently and resourcefully.
b. Revises manuscripts to improve the meaning and focus of writing by adding,
deleting, consolidating, clarifying, and rearranging words and sentences.
c. Edits to correct errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.
Listening/Speaking/Viewing standards are covered as well:
ELA5LSV1 The student participates in student-to-teacher, student-to-student,
and group verbal interactions. The student will:
j. Volunteers contributions and responds when directly solicited by teacher or
discussion leader.
ELA5LSV2 The student listens to and views various forms of text and media in
order to gather and share information, persuade others, and express and
understand ideas.
ELA5LSV2 The student listens to and views various forms of text and media in
order to gather and share information, persuade others, and express and
understand ideas.
When responding to visual and oral texts and media (e.g., television, radio, film
productions, and electronic media), the student:
a. Demonstrates an awareness of the presence of the media in the daily lives of
most people.
b. Evaluates the role of the media in focusing attention and in forming an
opinion.
c. Judges the extent to which media is used as a source of information.
All the NETS standards are addressed. I have included just a few as examples:
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
5. Digital Citizenship
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
c. troubleshoot systems and applications.
Brandi,
ReplyDeleteUntil the last year, we had TV news in the morning read by students and afternoon announcements read by students. When we acquired a new Asst. Principal, he began to read the afternoon announcements, and why? None of us really know. He drones...and drones...and drones. Our staff has decided that he is a frustrated news reporter. But I digress; morning news is great for kids who want to be on TV. Reading the afternoon announcements was terrific for those students that did not want to be seen, but would read out loud.
Having the students more involved would help them to learn to actually create the news. I would love to see students be "roving reporters" and add that to their news. The ideas are many, but unless we are very open-minded media specialists, those ideas will not come to fruition.
The TV News is an on-going changing process. If it gets dull, it needs to be updated. When we notice that, even if we are simply the volunteers, perhaps we should volunteer to help?
Ms. Connor really knows how to "run the show". She seems to have her act together. She really seems to be super organized. And not only is she super organized, she seems to have delegated responsibility so that she is not overloaded with the task of getting the news out on her own. I think this is a very important part of having a school news program. Having consistency in a daily program is important, because students know they are going to receive certain information every morning. I like the idea of having a live interview occasionally to keep things interesting. You said the whole process takes about 15 minutes. That is behind the scenes getting ready and 5 minutes delivery. That is not too much time, but I guess it is because Ms. Connor has already laid everything in place so that there is smooth sailing. I like the idea of teacher recommendations for participants. I hope to be able to implement school news in my future media center. The information you have provided gets me thinking about how I will orgainize this when I am able to implement this in my future media center.
ReplyDeleteOn my full-day observation at Chalker Elementary in Cobb, I got to hang out and watch them put together CNN (Chalker News Network). 4th graders run the behind-the-scenes work (writing and running the script, manning the camera and the software, and cueing the anchors), and the 5th graders rotate out as anchors (each gets 1 week to serve). They also have a live segment with the Vice Principal, who does a series of CRCT-related math skills that build on one another over the course of the week. The week I was there, they were focusing on the terms that dealt with circles.
ReplyDeleteTalk about a well-oiled machine. I spoke with the media clerk, Ms. Patel, about it (she's the one who runs CNN), and she talked about setting the show up in modules--every day has the same components, but they just get shifted. There is a big routine set up, and the most complicated component was getting the math curriculum set.
They've added an attendance incentive as well: if a student's name is called and they're at school (not tardy), they come up to the media center for a sticker or a bookmark, and they get their picture taken for the next day. It has really worked, too.
I totally agree - I think these were great examples and I saw a lot of things that triggered "thoughts" on how I would do thinks, ideas for kids as well as my role in the effort. It also made me realize that this is an area tat I need to be more educated in!
ReplyDeleteI think that the media specialist should assist and guide but maybe not have the entire responsibility, at least in high school. This is a great opportunity for students to take classes and get serious about the technical side, entertainment side, etc. I do think it may be a great role for a media specialist in elementary school as for a club with another teacher - such as the podcast club we learned about earlier.
Since this is or would be an everyday task, a well oiled machine is really important!! Then more and more experiments can happen and tweeking to see what is best received by students and school community. I thought these examples were great!
I love to go into the media center early and watch the morning announcements evolve. At the middle school I visit the students can apply twice a year to be on the team for half the year. The selectees are divided into those in front of the camera, and those behind the scene. The entire group is about 15 students. They put on a great broadcast every morning, they produce special documentaries when requested, but more importantly they learn to work together, build confidence, be professional, and think of their audience. The broadcast program develops much more than just the technical skills necessary.
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