LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Thanks to the many who responded to my request for ideas to spice up our
news broadcast! Below are all the comments I received. Great ideas.
Appreciate your sharing.
A couple of features we have used are "Artist of the Week" in which the
school art teacher selects a finished product to be highlighted. She
puts
two or three questions related to the activity on the back and a student
interviewer brings teh artist and the work on the show and asks the
artist
the questions from the art teacher and any of their own. Having
individual students on and activities the students are familiar with
helps
hold their atention. We also highlighted a piece of student writing
each
week. The reading teacher works with each class in a writers workshop
format and she identifies a good piece to have an in dividual student
share on the air. We also did a "Once Around the school" highlighting
any
special events or activities in each grade level or classroom. That was
coupled with a "this Day in History" piece. Ourt problem is getting
kids
to want to put the time into preparing the content of teh show, Lots
want
to do the technical part, but balk at the other.
How about using puppets?
Do you do the dreaded lunch menu? If so, try this for a while. Get a
little, table and chair (the cardboard decorator tables with a cloth
work
great). A potted palm tree or whatever, a picture on the wall and a bud
vase and flower on the table...and, of course, your fine china (styro
tray
and spork). Have the menu reader sit with a menu (ours says Atlantis
Cafe) in front of their face. My anchor walks up, hands the kid the
mike
and says, "May I take your order?" The kid then lowers the menu (which
was
in front of his face) and reads the menu of the day, saying. "I'll
have..." It is cute, I think, but like anything, it gets old after a
while, so we change the waiter/waitress (sometimes an Italian chef,
sometimes a French waitress or a 50's waitress, etc.) Occasionally we
get
one of our violinists to play a short piece as the waiter comes on; then
pretend-play as the menu is read. Try it!
Another dreaded list we have is the daily report from patrols as to who
has
been good. We use a large folk-manis ostrich puppet with a patrol
badge.
He is called Patrol Pete.
I have also seen an ugly monkey-like puppet used as Birthday Bob. It
was
cute. They put different hats and sunglasses on him daily. I haven't
been
able to find a suitable "Birthday Bob" yet, but I'm looking!
We just started doing a weekly video news broadcast - we have the
capability to do the show live. We include news, sports, weather,
school announcements and we have a weekly taped section - the taped
section could be anything( the gym show, plays that first grade did,
second grade taking a spelling test) we only show 5 minutes of the
tape. The thing is no one but myself and our 2 anchors know what the
taped segment is. The rest of the school watches with great
anticipation to see if it is themselves!!!
How about a feature on Beanie Babies? Our news team (kids) feature a
Beanie
Baby of the Week (actually 2). All the kids at the school can
"nominate"
their Beanie Baby by filling out a brief form-- your name, Beanie Baby's
name, teacher name. Then the news team draws two per week for our news
magazine show. The owners bring their "babies" and introduce them on
the
air
How about a science project segment? Look in those fun science project
books and do one a week.
Book reviews - act out a poem - read a chapter
Go to the classrooms and do reports from the rooms.
How about interview shows that feature students' grandparents or other
interesting relatives to foster a connection between the generations?
Also, how about connecting the video production to a study unit - ie
Civil
War or the Jazz Age.
How about interviewing one of the younger students favorite characters
such
as Barney?
I don't know what kind of technology you have, but in our school, we
can do a "live" show such as you described. We have had a "call-in"
from
our students--we announce ahead of time to the teachers that there will
be a
call-in, and tell them the question (e.g. Where are you going on spring
vacation?). Then, at the appropriate time in the broadcast, the kids
are
instructed to dial the extension of the nearest phone to the broadcast
area,
and we take their answers. As I said, you have to have live
capabilities,
and a phone nearby, but this has been fun!
What about trying interviews with students who have done something good
that week? Or interviews with students about books they have just read,
or
having them pretend to be famous authors?
Our fifth graders also produce a weekly news show with
announcements, news stories of general interest about the school, and
features about the different classes. We have found that doing feature
segments about the various classes is a great way to create interest.
One
of the rules for EBTV is that all stories must be school related. We do
not include any national, state, or local news if our school was not
directly involved. We also stick to a set format each week and our
shows
run from 7-10 minutes. We have a contest each week also with the
winners
receiving a small prize from the media center. The catch is "You must
have
a book checked out from the media center with NO overdues to claim your
prize" We call out 10-15 lunch numbers for each show and those students
have 1 week to return any overdue books and still get a prize (by the
end
of the year every number will have been called. The prizes are from a
novelty store or have been given to us. We also have a joke of the week
contest. Students are encouraged to put a joke in a box in the media
center. The news crew for the week pull a joke out of the box. The
computer specialist and I have editorial privilege and if the joke is
inappropriate or too unfunny we have them choose again. The joke is
then
read on the air and the contributor gets a slightly more expensive
prize.
We work with a different crew of 5-6 student every two weeks and by
the end of the year we have had all 5th graders participate. Our
teachers
and students really do look forward to EBTV. Also the features at the
end
of the year are a good way to look back at the things that have happened
at
the school for the year. We may not get everything but we get a little
bit
of most special events. If you want to talk about other video projects
we
have done contact me directly. We have also done some special
video/hyperstudio productions with various classes on earthquake safety,
creative book reports, and an informational video about "EBTV Behind the
I have 2nd-6th graders involved in our News Show. Usually we do these
"stories": Opening and calendar, Late Breaking News, Grade or class
news,
a feature story (or two depending on what's going on), an interview with
some adult who works at school, a joke, and the credits. Probably the
most popular thing is the interview, as kids love to see another side to
the teacher or staff person (but a lot depends on how at ease the adult
is). The other thing that helps is if the kids have "things" to show
along with their story. What's awful is when some kid just reads from
his/her paper with their head down (and it happens...). They keep
telling
me they want a teleprompter!
I've had no training in drama and very little in video production, so I
could use some pointers. Our "set" is a table at the end of the
library,
with each story blocked at one end of the table. While the camera is on
one story, the kid(s) at the other side get their part set up and ready.
Then the camera pans over to them and the kids in the first story can
get
up. We have no way to edit, so we do a rehearsal and then shoot it
straight through. Some years I've done it live, but it was hard when
buses ran late and kids were rushing in out of breath. Now we shoot it
at
the end of the day on Thursday and show it Friday morning. We plan the
stories on Monday afternoon, and the kids work on their own except for
that.
Our students have acted like news broadcasters or war correspondants
at the various world wars or major historical wars; i.e., Trojan War,
the Civil War.
Jill Webb, Library Teacher
Glen Lake Elementary School Library
3375 W. Burdickville Rd. Maple City, MI 49664
webbj@glenlake.k12.mi.us
http://204.38.134.2/el/library/homepage.htm
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