Blog 4—Dedicated. Determined.
Dependable??? Reporting Live from the Campus
By Team 5 Contributing Writer Sarita
R. McGhee
Wouldn’t
it be wonderful to have live action school news on every school campus and
students available to actually report on it 24/7 with a live feed? Just picture
it—it could range from being awe-inspiring showing typically unnoticed acts of
kindness to being a disaster in the making catching someone red-handed doing something
sneaky. And in the most ideal cases, we would have a student live on the scene
with the bud in their ear, a microphone and a camera to report straight to us
about the goings-on. I think it would inspire budding career aspirations for a
great deal of future television reporters and news journalists. But for now, we
do have the benefit of having a school community team that tackles the massive
and steadfast task of reporting the school news—just the facts and nothing but
the facts, please!
Usually
this team consists of a leading teacher, paraprofessional or Media Specialist
designated to supervise and oversee the production, and then the student team
members who make up the squad who report the information, ranging from morning
and afternoon announcements to acknowledgement of award recipients, leading the
daily Pledge of Allegiance, Moment of Silence, the Word of the Day with its
definition and even the lunch specials to look forward to for the day—yum! At
Lovejoy High School, in Hampton Georgia, our student team reports on these
specific things as well as including an inspirational quote for the day. There
is a pep team for the morning announcements of about three students who are
usually lead by select members of the chorus coming on the PA system in order
to start the day off with a few lines from a song that they are current
practicing on with an occasional solo spotlighting a good healthy voice. A good
way to start the morning off.
Our
SGA president, Lauren Cush, leads our announcements and she was chosen clearly
because of her talent with the diction and tone of her voice, which is as
smooth as butter. She can read the phone book and make it sound interesting! I always
rave to her about how talented she is. That voice is a gift. She leads a team
of announcers who are certainly dedicated, determined and very dependable
because they are consistent in their delivery and it sets a very reliable tone.
One of our male ROTC leading cadets conducts the morning pledge, then we have
another SGA female student who will report on our Word of the Day, its
definition, antonym and synonym, and also use it in a sentence. The Word of the
Day is set as a reminder during the afternoon announcements and the definition
and such are reiterated. The team in the afternoon consists of about four or
five students and there are typical more announcements from teachers, coaches
and other staff members in the afternoon. Any special announcements about
upcoming important testing sessions or assembly events are often including to
remind students of what to expect the following day in the building. Also, scores
from games that happened the previous afternoon and special congratulations for
certain MVPs is a huge deal in the Lovejoy High School. Students readily shush
each other anticipating that part.
Our
school news, which is overseen by the English Department Head, is only delivered
in the form of announcements, there is no visual presentation. Teachers and
Coaches must turn in their announcement wishes into a drop box before the end
of each day in order to ensure that there is enough time to have it included in
the upcoming announcements. Students who wish to participate in the announcements
only get one chance per school year to audition and being selected is serious
business.
I
have worked at schools in Alabama in the past that had the benefit of Channel
One in the morning at the same exact time every day, and the televisions were
programmed to turn on automatically when it started up. This was an excellent
way to start the day, beneficial and kept the students well-informed as well as
captured and held their attention. Channel One was an effortless way to call
students to attention without having to say anything and the interesting news
reports expanded beyond just our school. They were interested topics that were
of relevance to the students and to teenagers everywhere. In those schools, our
normal morning announcements with the pledge would follow. I miss Channel One!
Very innovative and impressive!
To
me, it would be ideal to have a situation where a daily morning news broadcast
could be created that reported the events of the school and announcements that
would offer a live video feed to each and every classroom. As a Media
Specialist that is something that I would love to be able to organize and offer
if technology capabilities at my future school location will allow. It would
make me nervous though because as students become accustom to it and learn to
look forward to it, I have to hope that our connection to technology is always
reliable, daily, and we all know how sometimes technology can be very…temperamental.
While audio-visual technology can allow for the creation of some wonderful and
inventive things, it is fragile and sometimes can make you feel as though it requires
big, neon Professional-Use Only sign. One missing cord or one button go
unattended and things go awry very quickly. Yikes!
Showing
something that is prerecorded is always a fool-proof way to reduce those kind
of fears, and some schools do offer this method, however, news that is live is
always better because it is happening “in the now” and the most up-to-date and
that’s what adds the intrigue. I can imagine that the students who are
reporting would be very excited about reporting to their school community live
as well, and the live feature is a part of the fascination of watching!
Anything can happen—from an interesting on-camera blooper, a foot-fumbling trip
that nears a goofy fall, or even a good tongue-twisting blurb.
There
is almost nothing more interesting and relatable on the news than kids reporting
the news to other kids who are watching. While it may seem like a very small
and brief part of the day, it is imperative, humorous, quite memorable and
highly-anticipated, if delivered the right way. I think students find it to be
very captivating and there is a competitive group of future Mass Communications
majors, future Journalists, future radio/TV hosts and future Action News reporters
who all want that swift chance to shine in the spotlight.
I'm impressed with the way your school handles the tv news. This is very organized and thorough. We do not, at this time, have any school tv news at the high school. We do have a media class that occasionally records videos to show during advisement (once a week). However, the primary school used to do this (but no longer). They actually had the younger students on video filmed the day before by the Media Specialist. They showed the pledge, moment of silence, lunch menu, announcements, and any upcoming events. Sometimes they would interview staff and feature them on tv. Every Friday there was a "no homework dance" for the weekend. Year before last, in a faculty survey, the administration was "marked down" for not participating in morning announcements and they thought the kids needed to hear them and be visible. So now, according to their MS, the Principal has a pre-recorded, automated announcement. This has not gone over as well. It's very impersonal and monotonous. At this time, no school in our county is utilizing this but it sounds like we are missing out on some great opportunities.
ReplyDeleteLike Kristy, I am very impressed with how your school runes their tv school news. At this time, my elementary school does not produce any school tv news. Part of the problem at my school is we no longer have a school wide tv broadcast system in place. This past year, we moved to Safari Montage and have stopped utilizing a school wide system. I have actually volunteered to assist the Red Ribbon Committee by videoing and editing some videos for RRW, and I will be uploading these to both Safari Montage and a school weebly site so that teachers can access and show these videos. After reading through your process, I am thinking we could utilize this same type of production for at least a weekly if not monthly broadcast produced by students. At this time, we do have daily announcements that are read by our administration and we also have a "Word of Wisdom" that is read by a student each day. Your post gives me me some inspiration to think of ways we could make this more interactive for students through videoing and broadcasting.
ReplyDeleteI know of many schools that use the overhead for their daily announcements and I think that is fine. I have even heard some do a really great job with it. However,if the technology is there and the media specialist chooses not to use it... I do have an issue with that. I think some media specialists are intimidated by the amount of work that goes into a production like this every day. I know of schools that record the day before and have time to edit before it plays the next morning and I also know of schools that have elementary students presenting the news on the fly every morning... that gets very interesting! In the elementary school where I spend most of my time, it is an honor to be chosen to be a part of the CETV team and the students take it very seriously.
ReplyDeleteSarita, good job on linking in how important it is to get the sort of information received in daily announcement whether or not it is broadcast visually or just via audio. Benefits to students that you mention from being involved in broadcasting include learning to be “dedicated, determined, and dependable”; very important things to instill in our students! And yes, being on morning broadcasts sometimes does inspire kids to go into broadcasting and journalism. I know of 2 examples from the school where I work. One is now a senior at Ole Miss who has done live TV local news clips in Biloxi, and the other is a sophomore in college who earned the opportunity to observe, help, and direct a clip at the CNN studio in Atlanta! Since I work at an elementary school, our broadcast is consistent and scripted. We use a power point script from which the anchors read the show elements. Video clips, Google Earth clips, and guests often are included in the live show so our mixer techs have to pay close attention and bring up the right show part at the right time. We practice for about 15 minutes, then go straight to live broadcasting each morning. A weekly crew consists of 5 students – 2 anchors, 1 teleprompter, and 2 audio/visual techs. The show is run by the students, but the media specialist and I (the media clerk) are available when problems arise. 4th grade students audition to be on the news crew each spring and they must fill out an application and have a teacher recommendation to be considered. Usually we have about 25 students out of 80-90 fourth graders audition and we choose between 15 -20. For our school the broadcast is a great way for the media specialist and I to be actively involved in the daily happenings of the school!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on discussing this topic and your positivity and energy is wonderful. I agree that while it may a brief portion of the day it can be one that really sets the tone for the kids. I teach at the middle school level. Our school’s secretary does the morning announcements, pledge, and moment of silence over the intercom the traditional way each morning. However, as the Business Connections classes meet throughout the day, students are selected so that they all get a turn throughout the semester to appear on the school news. It is completely student-written and student-filmed, and it is apparent that they are having a great time doing it. They are always upbeat, smiling, and preaching about school pride which really gets the kids going. The student-produced announcements include news, lunch for the next day, encouraging words, weather, and a sports report. It generally lasts about 3 minutes and my 8th graders love watching and seeing who made anchors for the day. Another catchy idea is the song that introduces the news: One Direction’s “Drag Me Down.” My whole class sings along and it really gets them excited and full of school spirit. And, I admit that I sing along, too. ☺
ReplyDeleteTeam 5 Amanda Hollomon’s Response to S. McGhee’s Original Post
ReplyDeleteA school broadcast is an excellent way to make school news relevant to students and a way to get them involved. I have seen this done by a technology teacher teaching broadcast video productions but I also see this as a beneficial way to get students involved in the media center. The broadcast serves as a way to bring the student population together instead of merely existing in the same building.
Sarita – in reading your post, I read some good ideas about morning announcements. I like the inspirational quote, word of the day, and student involvement. I am wondering though, are morning announcements done during homeroom and how long does it take to go through the announcements? In my school, we had to cut down the number of announcements, recognitions, showcases, etc. because it was taking too long to get everything in and cutting into class time. That is just me wondering from a teacher’s perspective. One thing I miss and LOVE is Channel One! I think back to my high school days to remember watching Channel One. As did yours, our TVs automatically turned on during a specific time each day and students watched the Channel One broadcast and had an open discussion of current events and issues. Students were more aware of the world around them other than by means of social media. I could see splitting this time to air a school news broadcast along with the Channel One broadcast to help enlighten our students.
I like the scenario you developed, Sarita. It is an exciting prospect to think of the possibilities school news could have. It sounds like Lovejoy incorporates a lot of students in creative ways to develop that community. It’s refreshing to think of a voice “as smooth as butter” instead of the principal or secretary’s daily drone. People simply don’t notice it after a while; it’s just more noise. I had forgotten about Channel One. I taught in Alabama at the turn of the century (I just had to say that), and I remember how engaged the kids were with that broadcast. We looked forward to it, and there was no burden on anyone in the school for producing it. It would be an excellent idea to have our students report real news. We simply don’t go beyond announcements, sports highlights, and around campus topics.
ReplyDeleteYou also bring up a good point about the benefits of the live feature. Several years ago we had an engaging, enthusiastic group of budding broadcasters (one has just completed an internship with a Columbus, GA television station and has applied for an ESPN stint as he graduates from college). They were also crazy high school students who pushed the envelope sometimes. The administration at the time decided to react extremely and not only stop all live broadcasts but also preview and approve all potential broadcasts. This put a tremendous burden on the teacher and the students, and it severely affected the quality of the broadcasts. We still haven’t recovered, but we have a new principal, and we all have our fingers crossed that the creativity and relevance can be restored.
Sarita, it appears that you have had some really great experiences with school TV news. I am an elementary school teacher, so if we can nurture and groom students during the primary grades to carry out the news broadcast, by the time they are high school students they will be just as skilled as some professional reporters! My daughter is a member of the newscast at her school and it has really sparked an interest in broacasting for her. I definitely see these opportunities as ways to showcase talent, highlight students who communicate well, and even nurture career goals. I have always looked foward to viewing the school news, unfortunately I have been let down because of glitches with technology and poor planning. I definitely see the importance of providing these opportunities for students and making sure that proper planning and hard work is put into each and every broadcast.
ReplyDeleteI am currently getting my volunteer experience hours with Rhonda Boggs at Sammy McClure Middle School in Paulding County. That school has a school television news program called the Wolf News Network (WNN). According to the school’s website, it is a live morning news program produced daily (Monday through Friday) at the school in the media center. Eighth grade students produce the show including operating the equipment, writing the text, and performing as “news anchors”. The program is shown via the closed circuit television system during the homeroom period. Honestly, I have not ever seen the students write the text. I have observed Ms. Boggs write the text for the newscast. I have even written the text for her. I think that the “operating of the equipment” is usually done by Ms. Boggs also. The “news” usually consists of any announcements that the students need to be reminded of, the weather forecast for the day, a bit for “this day in history”, and some highlights recent sports teams. There is also a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. I think that a school television news program is a great concept, and I do understand the reasons why Ms. Boggs can not be completely “hands off” when it comes to the production of the news program. I do however think that this could easily be a type of elective class, if the school schedule allowed. If it were a class instead of something done during the brief homeroom period then there would be time for the students to really produce it themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of having an action live broadcast in your school. I have to admit it could catch some unwanted attention but it also provides a fantastic opportunity for the students to learn so much about journalism. I am currently at an elementary school and I admit it would be difficult to have anything like this at that level. However, in the last high school that I worked at they did have a broadcasting course that was taught by one of our former local news reporters. It was an excellent class to improve writing, speaking, acting and oral presentation skills. After reading your blog I now see that there were so many other avenues of learning they could have gotten into. Investigative reporting takes research, audio visual graphics takes computer skills, community relations takes communication and organizational skills, I feel like these things would have been utilized greater if they had reached beyond the morning announcement segment. I was actually surprised to hear that channel 1 was still on the air. I remember watching that as a high school student back in 19... well back then. I do remember it was entertaining and educational but it was a nationally recorded show so therefore there was not any student production or participation. I hope you realize your dream of a live action news reporting at your high school some day. Best of luck!
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