I enjoyed the news
presented by the students at Eisenhower. It was very kid-friendly. It seemed as
if they took their jobs seriously as they “mocked” what they have seen on news
shows shown on cable television. I also liked the headline news segment and the
interviews the students conducted with the teachers. I can tell the students
collaborate on a regular basis.
Orenco Elementary
also had a nice news broadcast. I watched the latest episode where original
cast members made an appearance on the show. I think it’s great that they came
back to interact with the new hosts. The graphics were awesome and music was
also a good addition to the show as well. As a teacher, I can appreciate the
students incorporating some mini-lessons within the broadcast. That is such a
great way to keep the students engaged in an informal way.
I am fortunate to teach at an elementary school that has live news broadcasts. Fifth grade students are given an opportunity to apply for a position on the WRAM Crew. This group prepares and presents the school news program each day. To be considered for this challenging, educational opportunity, students fill out a job application and provide two teacher references. Students are rotated every nine weeks. They are expected to give up their recess time to prepare for the next morning’s show. The show is produced by the students and they are helped by the Media Specialist or the clerk.
It is streamed
through a program called MediaCast. The content of the WRAM consists of the
Pledge of Allegiance, the school’s pledge, lunch choices, birthdays, weather,
happenings within the school, and community events with our partners in
education. This year the counselor was able to have a segment where students
running for student council were given an opportunity to persuade the students
in the school to vote for them. Another interesting segment of the show is when
the students give a short summary for the person of the day. The person’s
picture is shown during the moment of silence and is referred back to later in
the broadcast. Various teachers and sometimes the principal will make an
appearance on the show as well. The WRAM Show has been in place for years and
most likely will be a staple in our school culture for years to come.
I read your blog with great interest because I would love to start broadcasting our morning announcements. I'm not yet a media specialist, but our media specialist has been very open to the new ideas I've been sharing with her -- and our administration is over the moon with all I've been sharing. I'll admit, I know nothing about how to even begin broadcasting. We just began our discussions this week about how we might implement it and at the moment it seems to be a little overwhelming. Thanks for sharing MediaCast. I'll be sure to check it out. If you'd like to share more information on the actual streaming process I'd LOVE to hear about it. I think broadcasting could present a great opportunity to boost moral and confidence while encouraging our students to be more involved and focused. After all, who wouldn't love the privilege of being on the news crew?
ReplyDeleteEmily, like you, I work in an elementary school that has a daily broadcast that is very important to the school. The broadcast is called CKN – Clubview Kids Network. To be involved students must be model students, audition, fill out an application with an explanation of why they want to participate, and they must have a teacher recommendation. All chosen students (usually 15-20 fifth graders) eventual will learn all the tasks throughout the year and each week we have 5 students who do a role for 1 week: 2 anchors, a teleprompter, and a 2 person team on the mixing board. The show is completely run by the students but the media specialist or I (the media clerk) help with “emergencies”. The broadcast includes the Pledge of Allegiance, the GA Pledge, the school pledge, focus country of the month, focus personal attribute, birthdays, AR Hall of Famers, special school announcements, and regular weekly segments such as Love of Literature – book reading by student about positive personality characteristics, Tuesday’s Time to Travel – info about focus country, World News Wednesdays, and many special clips created or found online by teachers and students. The script is run as a power point which our anchors practice for 15 minutes prior to the morning broadcast (unlike the paper scripts used by the Oregon and Eisenhower schools). Usually the broadcast takes about 10-15 minutes each morning. Both the students involved in CKN and those who see the broadcast daily are enthusiastic about the production of the show and learn many beneficial things from it each week. It is great thing for the media center because we are involved as a key informational and instructional element every day!
ReplyDeleteTeam 5 Amanda Hollomon’s Response to E. Sadler’s Original post
ReplyDeleteI think it would be so much fun for elementary level students to participate in the news broadcast whether it is live or recorded. I find myself only considering the impact for high school students since I do teach high school. I love how your school has already made the news broadcast a tradition and plans to continue it to give students something to look forward to participating in each year. Rotation of students is important to allow for more participation, keeping the show fresh, and allowing for more opportunities. I have read several articles on producing a live media broadcast for schools and I have the paranoia that the technology will not perform when it is time for the show. Perhaps in a more metropolitan area the internet is more reliable and servers work faster but my experience tells me that in my area we should always record what we are planning to broadcast. It does tend to lose something with the lack of the live broadcast, however, there is still great potential for learning and inspiring future news broadcasters while not completely depending on technology to always be there when WE want it.
Emilia -
ReplyDeleteCould you provide links to the sites that you looked at and talked about in your post? I'd love to take a look. I am supposed to be heading up the newsbroadcast for my school but our equipment is minimal. So I am always checking out other school and trying to get ideas.
I think the things you mentioned that your school covers is great! I love the you guys do a person of the day - what a way to highlight not only students and teachers in a building but also people these students can aspire to be like from history!
Do you guys do any character development activities? I am thinking about adding something like that - even though my age group is Middle School. I have no desire to do a live broadcast so - I think ours will just be prerecorded each day like what we are doing now.
Thanks for sharing the ideas!
I think this is AWESOME! I love the fact that your Elementary School is conducting a live broadcast. I think it would be neat if the High School I am at would use more technological resources, step outside of the box and do a live broadcast. Being that I work at one of the most divers High Schools in the country, I think we could make this a beautiful. If you do not mind, could you send some links, the equipment used or anything so that I can present this to our current media specialist. I am not sure if she would be interested being that she is close to retirement, but it is something we could put in place for the years to come. I would love to get the international students involved so that they can keep their peers informed of what is going on in their countries as well.
ReplyDeleteMy school also produces live news broadcast everyday. The program we use is called IPTV instead of Mediacast. It is streamed for the entire school to see. We allow 5th-8th graders to apply for the news casts. They also had to apply for the cast and required to have two teacher evaluations submitted. We are currently getting the group trained on the equipment and are gradually showing them how to work the chromakey and picture in a picture. Once they are comfortable with those we will introduce them to editing in recorded video and working with multiple cameras.
ReplyDeleteSchool news is a positive group for students to be involved in. It introduces students to occupations they may want to get into in the future. It teaches them responsibility and the importance of working as a team. It even builds the students self esteem. You and the others who commented have given me some great ideas of segments my school can include in the broadcast. Thanks for being so informative.
My school has a student produced morning show on Road Runner TV. There are a team of about 10 4th and 5th grade students that collaborate and rotate between behind the scene production and on air presentation. Our also students have to apply to be a part of the show, some of the requirements are that they have a teacher recommendation, demonstrate leadership qualities, are able to maintain a b average (which may be waived in the case of it being a student we feel it will help challenge) and they must be able to continue to complete their morning work in a timely manner after the broadcast ends. In addition to the regular morning announcements they periodically have "guest speakers" or "special guest anchors" that join the show. These guest spots could be someone from the school (teacher, counselor, principal, etc), a community member, or a lower grade student who may be auditioning for the upcoming school year. All of the student look forward to the morning weather and announcements by their peers. It is a great opportunity for learning and collaboration.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post! I think that the school news is such a great addition to school programs! I really liked the segment of WRAM where they did a person of the day. That is such a good idea because not only are students teaching their peers about an important individual, but in my opinion I think that kids are more likely to listen if a peer is talking about it instead of an adult. Giving kids an informative daily program, whether it's the lunch menu or fun facts, students are learning and teaching. I just think it's such a great way to motivate students. The schools that I have been volunteering with only announce things over the intercom which doesn't really capture a lot of listeners. I would love to see school news in every school!
ReplyDelete