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When learning about school news broadcasting this week, I realized that I would have to interview someone because my own school does not have a school news program. I had the good fortune of interviewing George Webber, a media specialist, from Barnett Shoals Elementary School in Clarke County.
At Barnett Shoals, the school news is broadcasted everyday in the morning. It is a "webcast" live to all classrooms on the school district intranet. It is filmed using digital video cameras, microphones, a cd player for music, and a computer to show graphics (e.g. PowerPoint slide, and also short clips such as the pledge of allegiance). The audio and video are mixed on equipment and then "encoded" on an expensive machine that "webcasts" the program.
This year, the new principal desired a short announcements program (no features). The students do the following: Welcome, Intro Pledge, Moment of Silence, Lunch, Birthdays, the BEAR call (behavior motto that stands for be responsible, engage in learning, always follow directions, and respect myself and others), and sign off. The principal comes on for a few short morning announcements before the BEAR call. The broadcast teams also make additional content shows using the studio equipment; these they call "BEAR-TV Extra." For example, they have made a jeopardy type game "Who Am I/Biography" for Michael Jackson.
The students run the show, and the media specialist supervises and runs the "encoder" computer that webcasts the signal. Students create the PowerPoint and video or photograph school events and the pledge of allegiance. They also operate the equipment. They are having a fundraiser right now that they coordinated and put together (a bake sale) to raise a little money for some new cords/plugs and "junk".
Three teams are rotated on a weekly basis. This year, there are five kids on a team. All of them are fifth graders. Mr. Webber and the fifth graders train the upcoming fourth graders in the spring on how to work the program and run it independently for at least a week. Students are recommended by their teacher, and they ask. A student can ask a teacher to recommend him/her. Students are interviewed and must take home a "responsibility" agreement and a form for parents to sign. Students can rotate around the jobs in the studio if they wish, and they usually do. They must have meeting or exceeding grades (no needs improvement allowed).
At Barnett Shoals, the school news is broadcasted everyday in the morning. It is a "webcast" live to all classrooms on the school district intranet. It is filmed using digital video cameras, microphones, a cd player for music, and a computer to show graphics (e.g. PowerPoint slide, and also short clips such as the pledge of allegiance). The audio and video are mixed on equipment and then "encoded" on an expensive machine that "webcasts" the program.
This year, the new principal desired a short announcements program (no features). The students do the following: Welcome, Intro Pledge, Moment of Silence, Lunch, Birthdays, the BEAR call (behavior motto that stands for be responsible, engage in learning, always follow directions, and respect myself and others), and sign off. The principal comes on for a few short morning announcements before the BEAR call. The broadcast teams also make additional content shows using the studio equipment; these they call "BEAR-TV Extra." For example, they have made a jeopardy type game "Who Am I/Biography" for Michael Jackson.
The students run the show, and the media specialist supervises and runs the "encoder" computer that webcasts the signal. Students create the PowerPoint and video or photograph school events and the pledge of allegiance. They also operate the equipment. They are having a fundraiser right now that they coordinated and put together (a bake sale) to raise a little money for some new cords/plugs and "junk".
Three teams are rotated on a weekly basis. This year, there are five kids on a team. All of them are fifth graders. Mr. Webber and the fifth graders train the upcoming fourth graders in the spring on how to work the program and run it independently for at least a week. Students are recommended by their teacher, and they ask. A student can ask a teacher to recommend him/her. Students are interviewed and must take home a "responsibility" agreement and a form for parents to sign. Students can rotate around the jobs in the studio if they wish, and they usually do. They must have meeting or exceeding grades (no needs improvement allowed).
Except for the “no features” on Barnett Shoals broadcasts, that school’s news sounds very similar to my school’s segments.
Atkinson does do announcements every morning and teachers and group or club leaders are quick to submit requests to have their upcoming event or honor mentioned on the news. But Atkinson’s “news department,” also known as TNN for Tiger News Network, is well-known for their features. In fact, they’ve created special projects and filmed them for the media center. This year prior to the presidential inauguration, the TNN team set up a mock-inauguration with one of the students dressed up as the President-elect and another as a Supreme Court Justice. They broadcast it on the news the day of the inauguration to show all of the students what they would be seeing later that day and explaining the importance of the day.
Another “special assignment” the TNN crew has had was to film a media center orientation video at the end of the last school year. They did a great job and walked students all around the media center showing them where the circulation desk and various sections of books are. My mentor says my orientation PPT is more thorough, and she is going to use it from now on, but I got some of my outline for what to include in my orientation from the TNN kids.
One of the TNN students is a roving reporter and conducts interviews with “special guests” to the day’s show. And the show is filmed in at least two different locations. It isn’t as professional as the high school Tiger News that we saw, but Atkinson broadcasts from the studio desk located in the audio/video room in the media center and from the Narnia reading room, where interviews are often conducted. Then, if special events are happening around the school, one of the cameras and reporters will often tape from there. It isn’t high tech or anything, but I think the school does a really great job. And all of the students want to be on TNN!