Every Wednesday, after lunch, the 12 member Crescent Elementary Student Council gives up their lunch recess to produce a 3-5 minutes weekly news broadcast. The Crescent Cub Reporters just wrapped the 21st episode of the year.
The student council members work in 3 teams of 4 on a rotating basis to produce the broadcast. One week they prep for their next taping. The next week they tape. The third week they put up the set, produce the show, and break down the set. The show is tape in front of a green screen so that many background can be placed behind the reporters. Sometimes the students wear colors to purposefully blend in with the green screen. (see broadcast #21)
The workflow has changed almost weekly since the beginning of the year as the students get more proficient at doing more things. Starting with paper and pencil scripts, they now write their segments on iPads and turn them in to be loaded in a teleprompter app. The students work has improved each week, although they still have to be continually reminded to slow down and speak up when on camera.
Segments each week include announcements and interviews with teachers and students. They have produced segments on school behavior norms. There have also been special Halloween and Winter themed broadcasts.
A new feature is the question of the week. Students submit questions about anything they are interested in to a box in the office. Each week, one of the questions is selected and the broadcasters answer the question. The council members use the iPads to search for the information to answer the question.
The one leap that hasn’t been able to be taken yet is for the students to do the editing of the broadcasts. Due to the limited time available, the adult supervisor of the filming still does that part, although there still hope that before the end of the year the students can take over that role as well.
These students do a great job each week and are dedicated to making a good broadcast each week.
Episodes 1 and 21 are provided to show how far the students have come.
The student council members work in 3 teams of 4 on a rotating basis to produce the broadcast. One week they prep for their next taping. The next week they tape. The third week they put up the set, produce the show, and break down the set. The show is tape in front of a green screen so that many background can be placed behind the reporters. Sometimes the students wear colors to purposefully blend in with the green screen. (see broadcast #21)
The workflow has changed almost weekly since the beginning of the year as the students get more proficient at doing more things. Starting with paper and pencil scripts, they now write their segments on iPads and turn them in to be loaded in a teleprompter app. The students work has improved each week, although they still have to be continually reminded to slow down and speak up when on camera.
Segments each week include announcements and interviews with teachers and students. They have produced segments on school behavior norms. There have also been special Halloween and Winter themed broadcasts.
A new feature is the question of the week. Students submit questions about anything they are interested in to a box in the office. Each week, one of the questions is selected and the broadcasters answer the question. The council members use the iPads to search for the information to answer the question.
The one leap that hasn’t been able to be taken yet is for the students to do the editing of the broadcasts. Due to the limited time available, the adult supervisor of the filming still does that part, although there still hope that before the end of the year the students can take over that role as well.
These students do a great job each week and are dedicated to making a good broadcast each week.
Episodes 1 and 21 are provided to show how far the students have come.
by Kelly Dumont
