The Irving School in Derby recently started a high-tech way to do the daily morning announcements.
Instead of using the time-honored “over the loudspeaker” method, students are now producing a daily video show aired within the school on “W-IRV.”
It’s called the “Morning Video Broadcast,” and the Valley Indy learned more about it during an email Q&A with Irving School Principal Jennifer Olson.
Valley Independent Sentinel: What is it? A daily news program?
Principal Jennifer Olson: It is a little bit of everything — a morning announcement, a newscast, and somewhat of a quick variety show. We have made lots of changes to the format since our debut and the kids (and staff) are really getting into it.
The broadcasts include:
- Opening/welcome from the anchors
- Moment of silence/Pledge of Allegiance
- Lunch menu choices
- Respect model reminder (how can we show respect around the school)
- Birthday shoutouts
- Breaking news at Irving School (reports on upcoming events, look for’s, fundraisers, information about programs, etc)
- Did you know?/fun fact of the day (something goofy)
- Joke of the day
- Guest anchor (teachers come on daily to share information about a special program, talk about their work at the school, etc.) This has been a huge hit!
VIS: What are the steps to get it on the air each morning?
Olson: Our broadcasting studio is below the gym in what was originally a locker room. Over the years it was transformed into an office space. It has some really cool equipment like a camera, microphones, green screen, lighting and anchor table.
The director is Lou Spetrino, who works in our library on Friday mornings circulating book. He has a video background. We are going to be training a few volunteers to learn how to use the equipment as well.
We film Monday and Tuesday broadcasts on Friday afternoons. We film Wednesday, Thursday and Friday broadcasts on Tuesday mornings. Our goal is to eventually go to live broadcasts.
We always have three news anchors for each broadcast. Currently, the anchors are selected by the fifth grade team based on interest and auditions. The anchors are responsible for reading the script from a teleprompter.
The kids have been adding a little flair and personality to their segments which have made the broadcasts light and fun.
The script is in a Google Doc and shared amongst a handful of people. Eventually, this will roll over to a fully student-directed script either through after school programming in a club, or as a volunteer enrichment activity.
VIS:How did it get started, and what is its educational value?
Olson: I wanted to find a way to bring some life to our morning announcements and to make it more student-centered and student-led. This has tremendous educational value and ties directly to the English Language Arts standards for speaking, listening, and viewing.
We have also changed the format of our program to look more like a traditional news broadcast to help students develop an interest in watching the news to get information.
The newscasts also help us develop a sense of community and belonging. Every student and staff member hears the same message and gets to connect with people through the screen.
VIS: Where is it seen?
Olson: Each day, I make a brief announcement just welcoming everyone to school. I email the link to our staff and teachers project the newscast on their ENO projection boards for students to watch.
VIS: How much does it cost and how is it funded?
Olson: The majority of our broadcasting room was funded by a $1,500 donation/gift from CDW.
We purchased some other equipment to supplement the start-up kit.
That donation came as a follow up to the Valley United Way’s “Back to School” event. Their organization participated in the event and made an additional donation to the school.
We chose this project because it was a way for CDW to really make a visible impact in our school by helping us launch this new program.
VIS:Which teachers are helping produce this project?
Olson: Lou Spetrino is responsible for all of the filming and editing. We are starting to train other teachers, including Holly Smith in fourth grade and Tiffany Montesione in second grade.
VIS: How many students are involved?
Olson: So far, there have been six student anchors. We will continue to switch anchors every three weeks to give lots of students a chance to participate. When we switched, the experienced anchors helped train their replacements. It was exciting to see the kids taking responsibility for it.
VIS: What do the students do?
Olson: The students read the scripts that are loaded in the teleprompter. They will eventually play a greater role in planning the news and writing the scripts.
VIS: Who are the students involved?
Olson: As of Jan. 17, 2017: Jamie Edwards, Machi Ingram and Seth Escalera (First anchors) Ce’Ajah Wilson, Diana Ladouceur, Donte Palacios (Second anchors)
