School news can be an interesting and fun way for students to get involved in the production and technology side of the media center. I have seen different school news program and all of them have been a successful.
The program that I am most familiar with and learned about school news is through my mentor, Amanda White, who is the media specialist at Peachtree City Elementary. She talked with me about the school news and how great of a program it is. Amanda holds interviews at the end of the year for upcoming fourth and fifth grade students. These students are taught during a one week training in the summer, that she teaches, and students are taught how to operate equipment and what their role will be either with helping produce the news to speaking. The news is broadcasted on the live circuit throughout the school, every morning. The students are fully in charge of the school news and take pride in their work and taking ownership in their work. Amanda helps run the program smoothly every morning, but will sit back and be available if the students need her assistance. I think that this is one of the best school news programs I have seen in the schools.
The school news is broadcasted every morning and will conduct the pledge, inform students of the lunch choices, and then will also inform students and teachers of any changes in the schedule or any other information that needs to be shared. School programs, such as Accelerated Reader, book fairs, school festivals, and fundraisers are discussed also. There are other programs that are put into place like character trait of the month and word of the week. Students share definitions and guest speakers will come onto the news to help with the character trait.
Being in different schools over the last 5 or so years, I have seen many different news or announcement programs. I have seen where students conduct the announcements over the intercom, where school news is broadcasted over a live circuit, and where there is nothing at all. It is interesting to see how different schools go about integrating school news into their schools and daily routines. I think it can be an awesome avenue for students and can help them become familiar with using technology and building confidence in their speaking abilities.
I love this idea! My media specialist interview students and do applications. The students are trained but not like yours does. I love the idea of the week training during the summer. It gives the students something to look forward to during the next school year. Media News Camp--excellent1
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I'm looking forward to most when I move into a media center is conducting the school news. The media specialist at my school has recently revved up our program and it is awesome! She also conducts interviews at the end of the year for the new broadcast team and it has become very popular! Each member of the broadcast team will play a part in the production and run the entire program from start to finish! Of course, the program begins with the country and state pledge with guest pledgers from classes coming to recite and appear on the news. The anchors then read over announcements as they sit in chairs with a flat screen anchored to the wall behind them. The screen will change with announcements. A weather person and lunch person will also be shown. A joke of the day is read and a character word of the month. The media specialist said she is planning on the team expanding and having field reporters ready to interview around the school on special topics.
ReplyDeleteWatching the news at both Eisenhower Middle School and Orenco Elementary, made me realize how many different ways you could involve students and create a lively program. I loved ETV’s special reports and switching to different anchors. I wish the students would look more interested! It must not be cool in middle school to act excited on camera. I also enjoyed Orenco’s program, but thought it was a bit long to keep students’ attention. Both programs were well put together and much like the program at both our schools, they are completely student-run!
Thanks Nikki for the comments. It is really neat to see and to try to motivate the students to be apart of something that is so cool. It sounds like our programs are very similar. Thanks for sharing all of your information!
DeleteI think interviewing the students and doing training for the upcoming year is a wonderful idea. With this being the case, the students are ready to go at the beginning of the new school year. Otherwise, the media specialist will lose a couple of weeks trying to find interested students and training them on the equipment, technology, and what they would be best at. I am at a high school so I have not had much interaction with a news program.
ReplyDeleteOur school did have video broadcasting until a couple of years ago. I remember my classes watching and really enjoying the show that they put on. The video broadcasting class gave many students an outlet for their creative side.
I would like to see an elementary or middle school broadcast their school news while in this program. I think it would be a learning experience for me if I should be able to get a position in those grade levels.
I also think the school news can go a little deeper than the typical announcements and lunch menu. I like some of the things you mentioned. I think broadcasting Accelerated Reader, a word of the day and those types of things are extras that are very beneficial for all of the students in the school.