At my school, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (3-5 elementary), the news production is pretty serious business. There are 8 5th-grade members of the crew who broadcast on school TV daily. The members do not have to audition though: news crew is considered a club. Each spring, the first 8 rising 5th graders who sign up for the following fall will take the first quarter's shift for the next school year. In the fall, the next 24 current 5th graders who sign up for news crew are divided up for the remaining 3 quarters.
The 8 members share jobs, rotating through each position daily. The positions are as follows: 2 anchors, 2 cameras, 1 person to type the scroll, 1 sound person, 1 person to say pledge and moment of silence, and 1 director. There are also 2 4th-grade weather reporters chosen to give the weather daily by the 4th-grade teachers. The crew broadcasts from the media center, and the media specialist produces the broadcast and writes the script. The broadcasts are short, lasting only about 5 minutes. All the preparation starts about 45 minutes before the broadcast is aired at 9:00am, start of day.
The scroll moves across the bottom of every school TV screen during the day with the current time showing. The content of the broadcast itself includes club announcements, lunch menu, special events and happenings, pledge and moment of silence, question of the week, joke of the day, and daily weather. Every Monday, the principal or the media specialist announces the top AR readers per grade and top class per grade for the prior week. There have been no interviews or special guests that I have seen this year. I would like to see more involvement or special features occur as would the media specialist. However, this is her first year and has not yet added her own special twists! Can't wait to see what she does!
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I like the idea that the news crew is considered a club and not restricted to who can particate. I wonder if they produce during school hours or after? Also, the rototating of positions is attractive. I know students are drawn to certain skills but I think it is valuable for young students to experience "the big picture" and be able to apply it to more challenging roles in later grades. Our media specialist has added a "few twists of her own" such as the reading of the daily birthday list and interviewing of students with special accomplishments. Special accomplishments can range from winning a musical competition, participating in a community volunteer activity, or recognition for other school and community clubs and sporting events.
ReplyDeleteI like to see as much student involvement in the writing of the script as possible. Along with the experience it provides the kids, the media specialist can focus on additional areas to enhance 21st century learning processes.
This does seem like very serious business but that seems to be the case where ever they have school news. It seems to be common to have the students sign up the spring prior to their year to “work” on the newscast. This would be a good standard practice as this is no easy undertaking. Keeping the broadcasts short help to hold students interest and pay attention to time on task (a big concern for administrators). Being new to the job, I think it was smart of your media specialist to keep the same framework for this year and then change it to add her own flair. This was a good move for the students and probably her!
ReplyDeleteWe are only a K-2 school so that makes the news a little harder. We just rotate through each of the 2nd grade classes each week. Three students are chosen, until eventually all of the students have been chosen. This can be hard for struggling readers, but they don't have to do it, but they can practice before the news airs. I would like for ours to become a little better broadcast next year. I am interested in seeing other primary school news programs. I would also like to see more of the student body recognized for various things on the news on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the idea that your news crew is a club allowing many to participate. I was a little surprised that it only takes 45 minutes to prepare before the broadcast, but I guess once you set a schedule it seems pretty easy. everyone seems to have great success stories for the younger grades but high school just doesn't seem to have it together; the adolescents seems to be too preoccupied with sleep, eating, and friends rather than producing great quality work. I would love to have club for the high school students who actually want to do the broadcasts instead of it being part of a class requirement.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I also like the idea of the news program being a club. However, I know that our science club has certain restrictions for membership, including A/B honor roll and limited absences, tardies, and check outs. I think a club like the one for the school tv news should also have some stipulations for membership.
ReplyDeleteAs I have read through the posts of those people who have a school news program, I continue to be amazed at how well these programs seem to run. I know that some people have commented that this year is the first year of the program, but they all sound like that are on the right track. I know for sure that anyone with even the simplest school news program is light years ahead of my school.
I am a first year media specialist and began the news crew the second week of school. Our news program is also like a club--but next year I think there should be more of a application and audition process. I think choosing the students in the spring is a great idea--I think it would be good to have them train and slowly take over in May.
ReplyDeleteI also have the students rotate jobs so that everyone gets a chance to be in front of the camera and a turn at each piece of equipment. At this point my crew is so self-sufficient that they run the show whenever I am out or at meetings. I still create the script, but I think even that is something that I could turn over to them. I attempt to put banter between the anchors and this has helped the students to be more comfortable on camera.