Does your school have a television news program? If so, are you, the media specialist, responsible for this program? I was curious, so I sent a message to all the media specialists in my district.
What I found was that majority of elementary schools broadcast a short live news show each morning. The media specialist is most often the "coach" and has an application process for students that want to be on the team. Some have several teams that rotate in and out throughout the year. Shows consist of live feeds such as the weather, the pledge and morning announcements, but also incorporate some prerecorded segments as well. From the comments, most elementary media specialists enjoy working with the students to produce the news. However, they do say that it takes quite a bit of time. For instance, one media specialist said that she only has the news show once per week, but her time commitment to prerecord some segments and do the live show is two to four hours per week, similar to those that produce a daily show.
In contrast, the middle school responses were varied. In very few schools, the librarian was in charge of a daily live television broadcast. Several schools told me that another teacher, sometimes the technology 'connections' teacher sponsors the news team. Some middle schools had no daily or weekly television news, but these school media specialists worked with students to read the morning announcements over the school intercom.
Overwhelmingly, high schools, have a Broadcasting class that is responsible for all aspects of the news though usually the closed-circuit equipment is housed in the media center, so the media specialist has to set up the channels. I work in a high school recently talked with our broadcast teacher about how the class is structured. She has a rotation for her students to cover sporting events after school. Since the news has six mandatory segments, she gives groups assigned segments for the week. Segments include sports, club news, fine arts, "Hawk of the Week", "Coming Up", and "Hawkeye" (a very creative storyline for the week). Students are responsible for scripting, recording, editing, and producing a prerecorded news show that is aired once per week during homeroom time. This is always prerecorded. For a while the equipment in our broadcast classroom did not work, so the class would download the broadcast and send up a DVD for us to run on the closed-circuit system.
One thing that was pretty consistent in all schools is that most media specialists are responsible for maintaining some type of scrolling announcements that play on school televisions. At my school, teachers send us a PowerPoint slide and run dates. Every day, my library aids put together a slideshow that runs throughout the day on Channel 4 (we have televisions in all the hallways). Morning announcements are read over the intercom by SGA officers.
I take my hat off to those media specialist that sponsor the news, especially those that have a daily show! It is a time commitment, but a great way to interact with the student body.
At my school, we have just now, in the last 3 weeks, started video morning announcements, created by our video broadcasting class. They have been very good however get some getting used to. We are having problems showing them because they are not live but streaming from the internet. Most days its takes a long time to buffer and view them. Most teachers give up and start class.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to observe an elementary school, they did their announcements live and in the media center as you mentioned in your post. It was quick, simple, and done closed circuit, so there are no viewing issues. I keep suggesting we do the same but I am not sure we will be able to incorporate all the great technology that they video broadcasting class can do.
I agree with you commending all those who are responsible for this. It is not an easy task.
I am the media specialist at an elementary school in Columbus, Georgia and I am responsible for the morning announcements. Granted, to start the process was a pain in the neck, but now that we are about a month into it, the kids can practically run the live show themselves. Every morning at 8:00 our tardy bell rings and shortly after we turn on the camera and start our live morning broadcast. I have 4 teams of 5 teams. These teams rotate weekly and the students rotate duties daily. For instance, I have 2 students who are actually speaking, one student holds the the flags, one student runs the teleprompter (PowerPoint on a laptop connected to a bigger monitor), and the other student runs the camera. After a full 5 day week each child has had the opportunity to be on camera twice. It truly is a rewarding experience to watch these students simply come alive on camera.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as I said getting started wasn't easy. Our Video Distribution System is set up with 3 channels we run the announcements on channel 2 every morning. Once I was able to get the kinks worked out with the video issues I sent permission letters/ agreements home to all 4th and 5th grade students. If they wanted to try out they had to pledge to keep a "C" average, keep excellent behavior, and to be at school on time every morning they are scheduled for the news. I auditioned about 45 students and only 20 made the teams (that was the hardest part)! Next, I broke them into groups and we practice for two days and then the next week we started live with the first team. We have been going live ever since. I love the live part of the show because the students understand the importance of being professional and they are learning how to speak loudly and clearly. The best day of the news team so far was last Wednesday, I was away for a training and I asked a teacher to supervise the students during the announcements and they were able to completely run the show on their own, all she did was watch! I was one proud coach!
Morning news can be scary, but honestly, it doesn't take as much time as you might think. I have a generic powerpoint (script) that we use daily, and we simply add announcements as they are given to us. We practice twice starting at 7:45 and we go live at 8:00! It is very rewarding as a media specialist to see students using technology so efficiently!
Very interesting to read about your findings from your survey. Does not surprise me of the findings, but interesting to here that maybe in many counties this is the norm with the older the students the less the media center has to be involved and they place it within a classroom for students to learn the skills of in-front and behind the camera. Right now I am very glad that the video production of announcements is not on my plate of duties. With everything so far this year, I am packed with getting many other items completed.
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