Tag: school news

5 Misconceptions about Pre-Recorded Video School Announcements [ep.120]

Check out the full episode on 5 Misconceptions about Pre-Recorded Video School Announcements:

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Episode Summary

Have you been hesitant to start a school-wide news club because running it sounds like a lot of work? Maybe you believe you don’t have access to what you need to get started. In today’s episode, I’m debunking 5 misconceptions about pre-recorded video school announcements and sharing many of the benefits of transitioning from traditional announcements to video announcements.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

5 misbeliefs about pre-recorded video school announcements
The truth about these misconceptions
Benefits of pre-recorded video school announcements

Resources Mentioned:

Join the school-wide news workshop: naomimeredith.com/newsworkshop
iMovie
WeVideo

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What is it typically like when the announcements come on at your school? Over the intercom. Usually, this happens in the morning. The kids are coming into the building, they're unpacking their backpacks, they're getting ready for the day, pulling out their homework, and checking in with their friends. You, as the teacher, are managing all the things. Like always, you might have a couple of emails you're finishing up. You're greeting students, fighting fires, and getting everything ready so you guys can have a successful day. Meanwhile, the school-wide announcements come over the intercom. Sometimes, they're at the typical time they're scheduled for, or maybe they're a minute or two late.

Naomi Meredith [00:00:45]:

But either way, they are often really disruptive. No one's really listening, teachers or kids. And sometimes, they seem to go on forever and ever. I totally get it. It was like this at my school. And out of the three schools that I worked at, it was like this in every single building. But it doesn't have to stay this way. In fact, our school-wide announcements totally changed at my school when I switched to a prerecorded video model.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:23]:

But I know what you're thinking. That sounds great, but that's too much work to do. Video news? Can't we just keep doing what we've been doing and no need to change it? Who cares if anybody's listening anyway? Don't worry. In fact, I have heard all of those sentiments before when I got the video news recorded at my school. So, in this episode, I am debunking five common misconceptions when it comes to starting video school announcements and what it really is like behind the scenes.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:24]:

If you haven't already checked it out yet, I am hosting live a workshop to take you through the whole process of setting up your video school-wide news. From the pre-prep to the script, recording, organizing all the content, and editing to publishing, I'm going to be showing you it all in this live two-hour workshop. Now, if you're listening to this episode live, you can definitely still jump in on that workshop and interact with me and other teachers who will be there. But if you're listening even months down the road, don't you worry. This workshop will be recorded so you can listen on the go and get some awesome wins in 2 hours. Not only will I be talking through the process and helping you get set up with your video school-wide news, there will also be templates and examples to help you visualize and get this running with your students for all of this information and even more to jump on in find it naomimeredith.com/newsworkshop. So you're hearing me talk about this video news, and you're thinking, okay, that's great, but we just want to keep it the way it is.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:47]:

That just sounds like too much work. But what if, in education, that's one of the most detrimental things to say is, well, we've always done it this way, we're just going to keep doing it this way. That was definitely the school that I worked at. Video news, I know, isn't a new concept, but it was something new at my school. And really, teachers were very wary of it. They were unsure of how it would go, what information was going to be shared, would it actually be helpful? Would kids even sign up for the news? Spoiler alert: I had 40 my first year sign up for my news club and 80 the next year. So yes, kids are very interested. The biggest barrier was the actual teachers.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:36]:

So here I am breaking down those misconceptions and how video news can actually be a great success in your school and help you understand the reason why this is important. Even just by shifting the way that the information is presented, you might even have great content coming over the intercom. You can still keep that great content, but just shifting the way that it is presented can make an even greater impact on your school community. Video is not going away. Video is not a new thing. In fact, I am here recording this podcast. And yes, podcasts are excellent. I am all for audio only, but also you have the pleasure of listening to this whenever you want.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:29]:

Same with your video news. You can watch it at any time of the school day. That works best in your schedule. And likewise, I understand the value of video. So, while I'm recording this audio, I am looking directly at a camera. So you can actually absorb the information by looking at my face. So video is extremely powerful, and it's definitely not going away. So let's get into these misconceptions and why this can actually be a game changer in your school.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:04]:

Switching your school-wide announcements that are blaring over the intercom and in a video format. The first misconception you might have when setting up your school-wide video news is that you need fancy equipment to get started to record. Guess what? I thought the same thing. I thought the same exact thing. And this even goes back to when I was excited about starting this podcast. This actually is the second podcast that I've ever had, and we use some fancy things back on that podcast. The innovative teacher podcast. I think it might still be around.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:43]:

You might have to go check, but I realized that you can do amazing things with minimal materials. Really? Right now, all I'm using is software to record. My phone is my camera, and then I have a microphone. So, I thought of the same concept when it came to my school video news. Looking in my classroom, I had iPads and tripods, and really, I had my phone also had a slightly better camera than the iPads. And that's all we used to get started. We just used the camera app on the iPad and hit record. And maybe you're saying, okay, well, we don't have iPads, we give up.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:25]:

The second year, we actually switched to the cameras on the student devices. So we use that front facing camera as a way to record our news. Now, when it came to the editing side, the first year, I used iMovie, which is something that is embedded in iPads already. And also, on my computer, I used iMovie to edit. The second year, we used WeVideo to edit. So it works a lot like iMovie. But I had more students who were actually helping me edit instead of me being a team of one editing with a couple of students who joined me in the second semester. But those were the platforms that we used when it came to the editing side.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:07]:

And then I posted everything in Google Drive, and it was shared within our school. We actually didn't post on social media. That was just something that we decided for school and student safety that this wasn't something posted outside of our school building. So, the tools to get started were really simple, and there are two things. First, like I said, these were things that we already had on hand, so I wanted to use these tools in an effective way. And the second thing is I wanted students to see that you can create great content with minimal tools. And these minimal tools are actually really good. The videos that I'm creating here at home are way better than the ones that I was creating at their age.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:54]:

Our technology is so much better, and it's even smaller. So let's use it. You can start implementing a green screen. I did write a grant for a greenscreen, tripod, so that is something we add in later on. Again, the technology of editing is very simple. You can do that in iMovie. We video or. My favorite iPad app is Dew Ink Green Screen by Dewink.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:20]:

It has a pink octopus on it, but you don't even have to do that either. Half the time, we didn't edit the green screen, and it was okay. So if you're letting just the actual tools hold you back, you probably already have the one tool to get started in your back pocket your phone. The second misconception when it comes to having prerecorded video school announcements is you need a lot of prior experience to get started. Teachers and students. Guess what? I always would tell my students this I wasn't born knowing how to use any technology. Surprise, surprise. I didn't come out of my mom and know how to use a 3D printer or make a video, they don't either.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:07]:

Now, kids these days, sure, maybe they're able to adapt and learn technology a lot quicker, but it is a big difference to using technology in academic ways that can be a whole podcast in itself. Likewise, with you, everything can be learned. I have a book that I really love. It's a business book by Marie Forilio, and it is called Everything is Figureoutable. And I told my students that that is true. So, just like with the news, we were building the airplane as we flew it. And good thing for you, in the workshop, I kept track of everything that we did for two years. So you don't have to worry about having any prior experience.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:46]:

If you can turn on the camera on your phone, you are good to go. If you can hit record on the camera on your phone, then you are ready to start the news. With that and with the scripts I'll give you in the workshop, you are going to be creating a repeatable structure that you can build upon as the year goes, especially if you are doing this every single day, then you're going to figure out some kinks along the way. That's just how teaching is. When you're teaching something new, you're going to be a lot of times learning along with the kids. So, as long as you have the structure set up like the one I'm going to be giving you, then you can jump in and get started. It is totally okay. And with that, when it comes to, oh, we don't have any prior experience, that's the whole point of it.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:37]:

With this club, you have the opportunity to even connect to important standards. I'm thinking about the Common Core State Standards and specifically speaking and listening standards for every grade level. There is something about being able to share your ideas in a clear way and also create digital presentations. Now hopefully, you're doing that anyway in your classroom. But this is a big presentation where students' work is being shared right away, and there's immediate feedback. Along with that, you can even check out the SD standards for students. The prerecorded video news really go along with a lot of standards within that, those technology standards. And I'm even thinking about a global collaborator where we are getting information from their real world, their school.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:30]:

They're getting that information and presenting it in a way that it makes sense for not only teachers but especially students. So this is a really great way that will build upon skills that they may or may not already have and ones that we're already hoping to teach our students. When you're thinking about setting this up and the skills that you will be teaching your students, your recording team will actually help you create parts of your script. So there will be sections that they will actually have to prepare before they even hit record. It's not something where they will show up and the script is 100% done for them. They have to have a bit of buy in to get it ready so they can record their day. Then as the year goes on, you can teach other things like green screen going in other locations, interviewing people, you can add in other elements like that even. There were times of the year when kids get a little bit squirrely, where we had to remind them of ways of how you should present on camera.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:38]:

Sometimes I would even show them videos of this podcast of me talking to you and I would show them, am I messing around on camera? No. Am I climbing all over the chairs and bugging the people next to me? Now for me, it'd be bugging my dog Frederick who's behind me. No, because I need to give the information. And so, same with them. You can make silly videos all day long, but that's not the purpose of the news. So you're really teaching them a different way to present on camera. Same with your editing team. You're going to be teaching them skills as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:13]:

And even if you don't know how to edit yet, these platforms are so much easier to edit in, don't you worry. So they'll learn how to clean up your video. And I even have a whole checklist that we created together. I had an initial checklist, but then as we got going with kids, me and the other teacher who ran the editing side as we got going, we added some things to this checklist and we really made it a must do and may do checklist when it comes to editing. And again, same exact checklist that I use when I edit my videos, which will also be included in the news workshop. Again, you are teaching kids when they're on that editing team, skills that are important to publishing a great clean video. And you can build up those skills as you go, like editing the green screen, adding music, adding text overlay, adding transitions, so you don't have to know all of it at first. Your students might not either.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:09]:

And you'll learn and grow together and be amazed by how far you come. The third misconception when it comes to starting your prerecorded video news is that audio announcements are sufficient enough, no need to change them. Sure, it's probably easy for your admin to pop on the intercom and disrupt what you are doing, and go on and on for five or so minutes about information that may or may not be heard. Great, keep doing that. That's fine. You can still have the same people present and have the same information. You're just making it more visual. What's really great when you have the news that's actually pre-recorded and not live, is that teachers can actually plan it into their systems and routines.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:58]:

And when we're really thinking about, okay, what's working best for students, what is really going to help the learning environment, what is something that kids can count on? This video news was something that worked for every teacher, and they put it in at a different part of their day. And actually, funny enough, if kids were being a little naughty in the morning, the teacher would not play it, and they had to earn it back, so they would eventually play it later on. But they loved it so much that kids didn't want to miss out on watching the news. I reached out to a lot of the teachers that I worked with, classroom teachers, and also my teammates when it came to what they thought of the news. And here's what one of the third-grade teachers said I love the RHL news. That was our school RHL news because it's a consistent way to receive and spread information to my students. It provided reminders for teachers about after-school clubs and upcoming events. It was five minutes every morning to help kick off the day.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:03]:

My students love seeing themselves and their friends deliver the news. And here's what one of our fourth grade teachers said about the news another teacher who is implementing this into her daily routine our school news is wonderful. It is a great way for the entire school to get information, but not at the same time. It gives teachers the flexibility to do the morning announcements when it fits into our mornings. It is also great to see students step up as leaders. And it was a great way for teachers and staff to promote their own clubs and after-school activities. And, of course, the joke of the day. It genuinely made me laugh alongside my students.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:44]:

Another thing I loved was the crosswalk questions with Ms. Meredith. It was interesting and fun. I highly recommend all schools create something like the School News to better build your community. This is just another way, again, where you can build your community in a fun way that is super visual and has that video component. And I've said this before, but YouTube is the number two search engine next to Google, and we're giving kids the experience to create high quality videos that when they're outside of school, they can start doing this process on their own. This was a big one. I actually got pushback from some teachers when I got this started.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:27]:

They were very skeptical of the news. But the fourth misconception for starting your pre-recorded video news is that only adults should be saying the announcement. And I got this one quite a bit where, oh, aren't kids going to be missing out on important information? How are they going to know what to say? Well, the answer could be yes. They could be missing out on important information if you have no structure in place and you're doing everything last minute. So, thankfully, in my workshop, I have a very easy content plan where you can collect the information in a very easy way, and you're not missing out on anything. Also, if you're really concerned about adults presenting the news, we actually did use adults at the very beginning of the school year, busy times a year when we couldn't do after-school clubs and the end of the school year. So if you really, really need adults to be on camera, don't worry, there's plenty of chances to do that. There's about 180 days in the school year, so there are going to be days when adults are on camera.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:34]:

Another thing I got when it comes to having only adults present on the announcements was we should be hearing from our principal every day, and yeah, that can be actually really important. So again, when we started off the school year, we did have our school principal do the announcements and get them going. And also the end of the year, we also recorded our principal saying the Pledge of Allegiance, since that was something that our school district does. And so we put that video clip on our announcements. So every day the principal was saying the same thing, and the kids actually knew the tone of voice in the way that she said it, so they would actually repeat it, which is kind of funny. And then we also had the principal record segments that we would throw in throughout. So the students were very aware of who our principal was. And let's be real, yeah, they like seeing our principal, but they like seeing their friends a little bit more on camera.

Naomi Meredith [00:20:27]:

So there was plenty of opportunities for our principal and admin to be on screen. Also, in episode 119, in my guest interview, Becca and her teammate Carly, she was saying that her principal had a hard time giving up these school announcements, which mine did too, at first, but then they actually ended. Up really liking it a lot better because it freed them up in the mornings where they weren't rushing to the intercom and saying something really quick and then being on their way. So it might be a transition at first for your admin, but they might end up really liking it a lot better. It will secretly free them up quite a bit. And this is the last misconception when it comes to having pre recorded video news is if the school announcements aren't live, you can't add any last minute changes. I had a lot of teachers who were very worried about that one, but there is still a way to add in those things. A huge benefit of not going live is you're not reliant on the technology working.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:31]:

There are more things that can happen if you're going live instead of pre-recorded. So many different things, especially your school might have been like mine, where the WiFi wasn't very good, so I did not want to risk it. And that would have been my plan time every day if we ended up going live. So what we did is we pre-recorded the news on Monday and the whole school was aware of that. So again, with the content calendar and the way that we set up the year and also the way that teachers can submit information, it helped them be on track of getting that information in so it could be presented on the news. And they knew if they didn't give us the information soon enough, they're going to have to wait and it's not as urgent. So it did help everybody who wasn't necessarily on the news crew team be more efficient with their planning to make sure that we can present the news. And that also helped with Admin as well, making sure they were organized.

Naomi Meredith [00:22:29]:

I would definitely send out a lot of emails and ask people questions and stay on top of those things. But it helped everybody get on the same page because they knew if they want other kids to hear about it, they need to get their calendars ready to go and send them our way. So I know Carly also said this in that same guest interview with Becca, that it also helped their school with their communication as well. So it really can streamline that information even though we weren't live, because people knew we were going to pre-record it now, because it was pre-recorded, mistakes do happen. And I did watch every single episode before it was posted. So I would sit down after our editing team and I would take all the videos, watch every single one, and if there were things that had to be added last minute, I could easily do that. I got pretty fast at editing and when it's the same structure, the videos are what, five minutes? Five or so, seven at the max. Sometimes, they were two minutes.

Naomi Meredith [00:23:30]:

Then you can get really quick at editing because you know where certain parts are supposed to be. And with that it's really fun where you can add in those fun segments like crosswalk questions with Miss Meredith or even commercials for clubs, so it does free up. We're adding in those fun little things not dependent on technology, and you still can add in those last minute things. And when worst comes to worse, I would even type a little note on our news page and teachers would get the information and it would be okay. As a recap, here are the five misconceptions when it comes to having prerecorded school video news. The first one was you need to have fancy equipment to record. The second misconception was students and teachers need prior experience making videos before getting started. The third misconception was audio only announcements are sufficient enough.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:24]:

The fourth misconception is only adults should be speaking on the announcements. And the fifth misconception is if the announcements aren't live, you can't add any last minute changes. Like I've said in other episodes, I am very passionate about this topic and getting kids to create videos in structured and productive ways. And in fact, in the next episode, I will be talking all about the benefits of students making videos. So yes, with the news and other ways of making videos in general. And if you haven't already, it's not too late to sign up for the live workshop you can jump on in naomimeredith.com/newsworkshop. Hopefully, I can see you live, but if not, join us for the recorded session. And I know that you're going to have some great wins in our 2 hours together.

Naomi Meredith [00:25:17]:

See you in the next episode.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

Check out more inspiration on her website: naomimeredith.com
Connect with her on Instagram: @naomimeredith_
Watch this episode on her YouTube Channel: Naomi Meredith
Join the Facebook Group, The Elementary STEM Coach Community | Technology & STEM for K-6 Teachers

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate?

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long.

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

How this School Started their School-Wide News with Becca McMillan and Carly Dolliger [ep.119]

Check out the full episode on How this School Started their School-Wide News with Becca McMillan and Carly Dolliger:

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Today’s episode is an exciting one because it is the first time we have two guests! In this episode, I chat with two of my friends, Becca McMillan and Carly Dolliger, about their experience with how their school started their school-wide news. Becca and Carly share so many great insights on the importance of collaborating, how they’ve made their school-wide news engaging, and so much more!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Insight into how Becca and Carly's school started their school-wide news club
What it’s like to have a partner teacher to support with running a school-wide news club
The benefits of pre-recording your school-wide news
Things to consider when resuming your school-wide news after the summer break
Advice for getting started with your school-wide news club

Resources Mentioned:

Join the school-wide news workshop: naomimeredith.com/newsworkshop

Meet Becca McMillan:

Becca McMillan is a STEM Teacher and Coach at a Title 1 elementary school in Colorado. After teaching in the classroom for 9 years in all different grade levels, she took on this role as a new passion and challenge. For the past 4 years, Becca has taught K-5 STEM and also coaches teachers to integrate STEM into their classroom curriculum. She is in a unique, flexible role that allows her to meet the needs of her school community. Becca plans and co-teaches with teachers, which allows STEM to be applied in all content areas rather than being an isolated subject. Becca believes that STEM education is more than just Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, it is a mindset that provides engaging, real-world problem-solving experiences for students.

Connect with Becca:

Email: becca.mcmillan22@gmail.com
Instagram: @beccaroniandcheese22

Meet Carly Dolliger:

Carly is currently a K-5 performing arts teacher in Colorado. She is in her 5th year teaching and incorporates theatre, dance, and music Colorado standards in her curriculum.

Episode Transcript:

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

What is it really like having a daily recorded school-wide video news? I know I can talk about my school's success since this is my favorite type of club I've ever hosted in my school. But let's hear it from some other teachers.

Naomi Meredith [00:00:18]:

Today's episode is so much fun because I have two guests, some of my teacher friends and friends in real life who implemented their school-wide video news with the system and resources I shared with them. These ladies use these resources in their school-wide news and had great success that they are so excited to continue this tradition in their school building and bring their school community together. Both ladies actually teach at the same Title One school, and they have a lot of ideas of how to make their school-wide news even better and get kids involved in various ways. Today, I'm speaking with Becca McMillan, who was on the podcast before in episode 40, and Carly Dolliger. Becca McMillan is their K-5 STEM teacher and coach at their school, and after teaching in the classroom for nine years in all different grade levels, she took on this role as a new passion and challenge. Carly is currently their K through five performing arts teacher, which is such a cool position. You don't hear about that very often in the elementary space, a performing arts teacher. She is in her fifth year teaching and incorporates theater, dance, and music with the Colorado Standards in her curriculum. I am so excited for you to hear this interview and how their school-wide news positively impacted their school community. All right, well, thank you ladies so much for being here on this episode. I'm really excited about this one because this is the first guest interview where I've had two people as guests. And so we were talking, I was actually in Becca's classroom for back to school and helping with her Maker space stuff, but then we were talking all at the InedCo conference about doing a potential podcast episode, so we planned it out, and here we are to talk about school-wide news. I'm super excited.

Carly Dolliger [00:02:59]:

Excited to be here.

Becca McMillan [00:03:01]:

Double trouble.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:02]:

Yeah, double trouble. And is this Carly, your first podcast episode?

Carly Dolliger [00:03:07]:

It is. Little newbie.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:11]:

You'll be great. And is Becca's second on this show? She was in episode 40.

Carly Dolliger [00:03:17]:

She's a pro at this point.

Becca McMillan [00:03:19]:

Second overall.

Naomi Meredith [00:03:22]:

Second and second. Perfect. Well, speaking of just creating things. We're talking about setting up your school-wide news, and I know that you two do this together, so you work at the same school, and you've had a lot of success. So I would love I'm so excited to talk about this because I'm sure people are yeah, yeah. Naomi, I'm sure it went great at your school, but it actually can work at other schools, so we're going to be talking about that today. So, Becca, how did you get started at setting up your school-wide news at your school, and what is the format of it? How does that all go down at your school?

Becca McMillan [00:03:59]:

Yeah, so I kind of noticed the need for it, and I knew that Naomi had started it at your school successfully. And so we chatted about it during one of our PLCs that we had together, and you shared all your stuff with me, and I just felt like our announcements in the morning principal, she means well, but it's a crazy time of the day. Everybody's coming in at different times. Every classroom is different, and whenever the principal gets on the intercom, you can't necessarily hear if kids are needing to talk. Maybe kids are more of a visual processor. So I didn't feel like the morning announcements were super productive. Not everyone. Yeah, they would drag on sometimes. And so the news, I felt like, was the answer, and then along came carly.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:09]:

Showed up. Did you start it before? Like, was it already going and then Carly showed up, or how did that oh, no, okay. Nope.

Becca McMillan [00:05:18]:

I had been wanting to start it. I just didn't get it off the ground.

Carly Dolliger [00:05:24]:

Then you needed the perfect partner.

Becca McMillan [00:05:27]:

When Carly came along, it felt like it would be more manageable.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:32]:

So, Carly, how did you hear about it? How did you get roped in? You're, like, show up. You're like, all right, I'm here. What happened.

Carly Dolliger [00:05:39]:

Well, I hadn't even had the job yet, actually, and I was talking to the principal, who, love her, created this performing arts position that I now have. I taught high school theater for a few years before this, and she had just casually mentioned before the interview, oh, everybody's really excited, and Becca, our STEM teacher, really wants to do the news. So I had already known that I was going to do this part of this job before it existed. But it was really exciting to kind of already feel a little welcome, at least by Becca, like, have that enthusiasm. And like, oh, okay. I have a little place that I can go to, and I have something that I can work on with these kids that I know that they'll be able to be excited about. So I got roped in really early. I think I knew I was doing the news before I knew that I had the job.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:43]:

Well, I'm glad you guys did it together, because I kind of had the same situation when I started the school news at my school, I kind of talked to a teacher about it the year before, and we were like, just talking back and forth. I'm like, hey, we should do the news at our school. She's like, okay, whatever. And then I figured it out in my head, and I texted my principal and all, okay, I'm going to do the news. This is how we want to do it. We're just going to try it. She said, okay. So it was me and another teacher. We did it the first year together, and then the following year, I roped in a few more teachers. Kind of the same thing, like, you need to be on my news crew next year. But it does help having more than one person, just like management, but also bouncing ideas off of each other. It makes a huge difference.

Carly Dolliger [00:07:26]:

Well, and it's nice because Becca can really then focus and hone in on the STEM aspect of it. And then I can take those maybe different kids, maybe same kids on a different time in a different day, and then really focus on that performance aspect, the being on camera, being our news hosts and the anchors of the day. And then they can really get excited about that and then move to a new space, a new person, and then get excited about the editing and the tech side of it as well.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:03]:

There's a lot of moving parts, even if you're not going live. So you don't go live either, right, with your news?

Becca McMillan [00:08:09]:

No, we record a week ahead at least.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:14]:

That's good. So do you record on one day, or do you just try to fit it in in your schedule when it works?

Carly Dolliger [00:08:21]:

So it really depends on the year, what we try to do, because obviously it's the beginning of the year now, and recording in advance isn't possible with kids right now. So usually I have the club after school on Mondays, and we'll record the entirety for the next week. And your materials were super awesome for how to format it. And then I'll put it in a slideshow so it's like a teleprompter, and we'll just record the week straight on one day.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:56]:

Perfect.

Carly Dolliger [00:08:57]:

But Becca now, because it's the beginning of the year, kids aren't super in routine, and we don't have clubs yet. She's been really awesome at snagging those teachers who are in the right place at the right time to be on our news, and she just does it. She's running around fitting it into her schedule right now.

Becca McMillan [00:09:17]:

Yeah. Last year I had a group of kids that loved giving up their lunch in recess to come edit the news. That was their thing. So I'm not sure that we'll have that this year. So I might do it after school, maybe with Carly, maybe another day. We haven't figured that out yet, but that's what we did last year. And then I would just make sure it was good after school and then post it on our Google site.

Naomi Meredith [00:09:46]:

I like that how you tried both just with being flexible, because I know some teachers really don't want to stay after school, or they would rather do it in the middle of the day as a club, which is definitely an option. I think that's totally fine. And then we did it where my first year, we recorded on Tuesdays, and then I was the editing team, so I edited all of them, and then I roped in two kids later on in the second half of the year, but then more kids wanted to edit. So the following year, we recorded on Mondays after school, and then the editing team did it on Tuesdays after school. Same thing with the beginning of the year, like getting teachers and kind of finding your flow of how far ahead you have to get so that it works out. You have to really map it out where, okay, we have to record on this day. We have to be ahead this many days for it to work out. So I think you'll get well, the.

Carly Dolliger [00:10:49]:

Problem that we faced last year is we would be like because Becca is very organized. I'm somewhat organized, but we would be ready weeks in advance. We'd be like, okay, but we would need the announcements from administration. And so there were times last year where Becca would have to input it a little last second because of I feel like her and I collaborating. Has pushed for better communication school-wide. Just because we're like, if you want it, you got to give it to us. But some teachers have really honed in on it, and some teachers are really excited to share, especially this year, what they're doing in the classroom and then have it all over.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:32]:

I love that. Okay, so you're kind of what, year two on this?

Carly Dolliger [00:11:37]:

Yeah, year two.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:38]:

Okay, so year two. So teachers are more excited. The communication has gotten better, getting the content. What was it like when you first got started? Was it the same response? How did teachers feel about it? Was it different between teachers, students, and Admin? What was that like when you first started?

Becca McMillan [00:11:55]:

I felt like our principal was she liked doing the morning announcements.

Carly Dolliger [00:12:03]:

School?

Becca McMillan [00:12:04]:

Yeah. I think it was hard for her to give it up, but once it happened, I think she liked that extra time in the morning to not have to be ready to do the announcements right at whatever time. And teachers loved it because they could just play it whenever they were ready in the morning. And kids loved it because they got to see other people from the school doing it, and then some of it was their classmates, and then they were excited to try it too. So feel like very positive response all around.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:41]:

Did you have any teachers who were like, oh, I missed the old announcements. Did you have any of that pushback?

Becca McMillan [00:12:48]:

No.

Carly Dolliger [00:12:48]:

That's good. Not a single one.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:53]:

That's good.

Carly Dolliger [00:12:54]:

Excited too. And we put actual jokes in there that we try to be silly with our scripts and we can add a little extra flair when you have the time to create a script rather than just giving information over an intercom.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:11]:

Yeah, I agree. Did you see this, too, that it was more student centered? That because you have student presenters. So once you get going, you have teachers, obviously, but when you have kid presenters, did you feel like the announcements just were more relatable for the kids to watch instead of just hearing something over the intercom? And they don't know who this they may or may not know who the person is that's drowning on and on. But did you see a change in how kids absorb the information too?

Becca McMillan [00:13:41]:

Definitely. I mean, kids would be like, I saw you on the news, or in the beginning, and I think we need to bring this back. We haven't been doing it this week, which is fine, but we were doing book recommendations. Like teachers would come on and do book recommendations and then kids would go to that teacher in another grade level and ask them to borrow that book. I thought that was really cute. But yeah, I think they definitely are more engaged in the information than they were just listening on the intercom.

Carly Dolliger [00:14:14]:

A lot of the times now they're actually excited for the news because they get to watch becca's really creative and is awesome with coming up with daily themes that we've recommendations and then we've added on as the year goes. And so I think this year we're continuing to add on to those. We've gone through a few right now. Our favorites are. Would you rather Wednesdays?

Naomi Meredith [00:14:45]:

What's that?

Carly Dolliger [00:14:49]:

Either students make it up or we'll get a segment from some teachers last year where they would have to come up with a would you rather question. So with just two options, it would just be a question of the day or Would you rather Wednesday? And it would usually just be something silly and we'd give a few seconds for them to think about it and it's just like warming up your brain in the mornings and just with something fun and silly to ponder.

Becca McMillan [00:15:17]:

And it gets kids to talk about their opinions, which they have to write about anyway, so getting them to talk about that leads into the writing process too, when they start to do persuasive and opinion writing. That's been really cute.

Carly Dolliger [00:15:33]:

And there's like full debates on it too.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:35]:

Really?

Carly Dolliger [00:15:36]:

Yeah. These kids will seriously, especially behind camera when they're figuring it out. And one of them before we start recording or while recording, they'll be like, this is it. And they really mean it. It's really cool to see for sure, and they never matter, but they do.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:57]:

So cute. Okay, so before you tell me the other segments you do, you're not just doing Would You Rather, what is the news actually like when they watch it? What do you do every day that's the same?

Becca McMillan [00:16:11]:

So we have whoever's reporting introduce themselves. They say the date we do birthdays today was National Eat a Peach Day. Whatever. Whatever.

Carly Dolliger [00:16:28]:

What national holiday is it?

Becca McMillan [00:16:30]:

And Naomi, you had those great videos, too, with the More Common Holidays, which I think has been great to embed those. So kids are learning about what other kids celebrate. We have a joke of the day. What am I missing? Carly and lunch.

Carly Dolliger [00:16:50]:

What's for lunch?

Becca McMillan [00:16:52]:

What's for lunch?

Carly Dolliger [00:16:54]:

And like, clubs after school, if there are clubs, it's just reminders of we.

Becca McMillan [00:16:59]:

Were doing a sight word of the day. But kindergarten is not doing that this year, so it's okay.

Carly Dolliger [00:17:05]:

So there's a lot that we have to put in that core little bit.

Becca McMillan [00:17:10]:

And then we do commercials, too. Like if there's special announcements of upcoming events, we'll do that.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:16]:

That's perfect. So then you have that, and then you were doing themes. So you had the Would You rather day. And then what were your other days?

Carly Dolliger [00:17:25]:

We have thankful Thursday. Oh, we've got a lot mindful Monday.

Becca McMillan [00:17:31]:

We were doing with our school psychologist for a while. It was with a specific group of kids that she would meet at a certain time, and I would record her using a mindful strategy with those students. She went on maternity leave, so we're going to get that back up and going. But we're trying to figure out Tuesday. Tuesday has been tricky. Would you rather? Wednesday thankful Thursday. And then I think we're going to try what fun Fact Friday?

Naomi Meredith [00:18:03]:

Yeah.

Carly Dolliger [00:18:06]:

Last year we didn't have Fridays because Fridays were still the day that the principal got to announce, okay. So she could still hold on to something. So this year we're excited for Fridays. I feel like Fun Fact Friday is the way to go.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:19]:

What about Tuesdays? You do talk about it Tuesday, and there's like, reminders about how to behave in the cafeteria, how to line up at recess. It could be, go check out the lost and found. We did that one a lot. That one was a really popular segment.

Carly Dolliger [00:18:40]:

Our last lost and found segment was a fashion show. It was so great. It was a good one. The kids really got into that one and they would be like, that's my jacket. Yeah, go get it. Go get it.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:59]:

When the teacher is wearing it, because sometimes you can find some good stuff as a teacher, too, you're like, hey, this fits me. I might keep my eyes.

Carly Dolliger [00:19:06]:

I will say I did carry a lunchbox and have a little hat on at one point in the fashion show.

Naomi Meredith [00:19:14]:

Okay, so what else did you do? Okay, so you had all those themes, and then you have your normal structure, which I did the same one. And it works really well because the kids like that consistency and knowing what to count on, knowing what the news is, all the events. But then the fun things just adds that flair and building community, which they're really fun, and the kids will think of stuff, too. So you did that. Okay. I loved this one so much. And I need to get a video clip from you, Becca, because it's so funny what you did for Reading Madness. What was that one?

Becca McMillan [00:19:50]:

Yes. So we had a whole month last March where we had a school-wide competition all based around literacy. And one of the ways that classes could earn points was by guessing the mystery reader that was on the news. So if you've seen Mystery Singer, where they wear the ridiculous costumes and they sing, and then people have to guess.

Carly Dolliger [00:20:21]:

Who the celebrity is.

Becca McMillan [00:20:23]:

Mass Singer. Mass singer? Yes. I guess you could call it Masked Reader.

Carly Dolliger [00:20:30]:

I think it was like Mass Mystery.

Becca McMillan [00:20:32]:

Reader or something like that, probably. So we got what do you call the animal that represents your school? Our mascot. It's too late.

Carly Dolliger [00:20:47]:

Support.

Becca McMillan [00:20:49]:

Our mascot is Mighty the Mustang. And we have a costume that teachers take turns wearing to be Mighty the Mustang. And so I recorded a bunch of teachers just wearing the head mask, the head of Mighty, and they each read a Michelle Silverstein poem wearing it. And so then classes had to guess who the Masked Reader was for that day on the news.

Carly Dolliger [00:21:23]:

If they got correct, they would earn quite a few points for our school-wide competition.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:29]:

This reminded me I'm sorry, go ahead.

Becca McMillan [00:21:33]:

We have found that our teachers are quite competitive. So it was very engaging for the whole school.

Naomi Meredith [00:21:40]:

Yes, well, it reminded me I think I sent you the episode of Abbot elementary where they have a literacy like competition, a reading competition. And I'm like, oh, this is so perfect for this. I was dying. And the way you edited the video clips were so funny, too. I loved that segment so much. It was pretty good one that I did last year. And it was honestly, because I had to do crosswalk duty so many times, and I was bored out of my mind because it wasn't very busy where I had to stand. So I did crosswalk questions with Miss Meredith, and I had the art teacher actually film me crossing the street, holding up the sign. And so I had a question of the day, like some random thing. Like, if you were to do one of these things, ride a hot air balloon or go deep diving in the ocean, what would you pick? And I would record the kids answers and put all the clips together as, like, a little segment. I would just pop in. So the kids were hounding me all the time. When you go to crosswalk duty, when you crosswalk duty. I'm like it's on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Okay, go find me. But they were sad when I didn't bring my microphone. I'm like, Sorry, I don't have time to edit this. But it's just fun doing that kind of random stuff that I feel like is missing sometimes. Or we don't do as many assemblies, or it's that stuff that makes school fun and memorable. So did you do anything else, like, any other segments that you loved?

Becca McMillan [00:23:19]:

We've done so many things.

Carly Dolliger [00:23:21]:

I feel like we've been, like we use last year as kind of an experiment. Like whatever we felt like trying, we would at least record and we would at least see what happens with it. And so I feel like coming back to school, there's just a lot of things that we're like, oh, yeah, we did do that.

Becca McMillan [00:23:41]:

That was awesome.

Carly Dolliger [00:23:42]:

It's just reminding ourselves of everything. The other day, we were recording some teachers for it. We did whole groups of grade levels because we only have two or three on per grade level. One, they are just like the kids when they record. They're on campus.

Becca McMillan [00:24:03]:

Yeah.

Carly Dolliger [00:24:04]:

They're like, oh, I messed that up. I'm like, It's okay, keep going. They're like, no two. We finished recording, and then all of a sudden, Becca was like, oh, we need our would you rather Wednesday? And my mind was blown. I was like, oh, my gosh, we did so much, I forgot.

Becca McMillan [00:24:21]:

Another popular one is the Bloopers. They get sad when there aren't any Bloopers certain days, but the Bloopers are the hardest to edit. But they do love the Bloopers well.

Naomi Meredith [00:24:34]:

And it's hard, too, because you don't want to encourage Bloopers. Like, you have to do Bloopers, because sometimes some kids would say you would hear them, I'm going to mess up on purpose to make sure it's a Blooper. So there are some groups you're like, hey, you need to calm down. It's not about the bloopers. It's about delivering the high quality content. But here and there, if it pops up, I love the Bloopers too. They're my absolute favorite. And the first year, I saved every single Blooper and made an Ultimate Bloopers reel that was 20 minutes long and.

Carly Dolliger [00:25:08]:

Played week of school.

Naomi Meredith [00:25:10]:

And the kids had no idea I was doing this. This is what happens when you're the only editor. So I was able to save them all. But I think the segments are just like, a fun way. And in the workshop I'll be hosting, I actually have a growing list of different segments that people can grab on. So the link will be in the show notes for that workshop, but definitely you guys will remember them, too. I'll share it with you guys. You get in on this free, but everybody else check out the link in the description.

Carly Dolliger [00:25:42]:

I will say you and your resources were super useful. When we first started to set up, it gave us a lot of confidence of like, okay, there's already something that we know for sure does work in a school environment, and it's similar to ours. We're in the same school district, but regardless, it's very applicable to a broad range of, like, okay, this is exactly how it goes. This is the order. This is smooth. And, yeah, it definitely helped a lot. Just give us the confidence to actually start. Good.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:17]:

I'm so glad it was helpful. And yeah, I'm all about that. Try it out, and then I'll share it with you guys. So the same stuff is in the workshop. So I'm so glad that it worked for you, too.

Carly Dolliger [00:26:28]:

Well, and Becca was just because I hadn't met you yet, but Becca goes, I have a shared drive with my friend.

Becca McMillan [00:26:33]:

She's amazing.

Carly Dolliger [00:26:34]:

She has everything here. I'll just share everything with you. And so now whenever I go to my shared drive, it's like collaborators, and it's the three of us. Every time I pull it up, you're.

Naomi Meredith [00:26:44]:

Like, It's all there. It's all saved. Well, I'm so glad it worked out well, and it was something that was repeatable, but you've obviously added your own twist and things that other people can do. And if someone in a couple of words or a sentence, if there was someone who is hesitant about starting their school-wide news, what advice would you give them?

Becca McMillan [00:27:07]:

Start small. I would say start small and then get kids to do most of the work.

Carly Dolliger [00:27:16]:

Agreed.

Naomi Meredith [00:27:17]:

Yeah.

Carly Dolliger [00:27:19]:

I would say just do it. It's okay to make little mistakes. Honestly, it's okay to make big mistakes. You might accidentally say somebody's birthday on the wrong name. But at the end of the day, creating that production with those students is giving them way more opportunity and student leadership, and they get so excited. I couldn't imagine not having it, just with how pumped those kids get. And I say, just go for it. Jump in. Start little, but jump in.

Becca McMillan [00:27:59]:

And we had all different kinds of kids want to do it, and we had kids who were struggling readers, but they wanted to perform, and they learned those scripts, and it helps their literacy. So if you're questioning if it's applicable to your standards, it is.

Naomi Meredith [00:28:25]:

I would totally agree. Oh, go for it.

Becca McMillan [00:28:27]:

Sorry.

Carly Dolliger [00:28:27]:

Well, it's so personable. Whatever you need to exemplify. Our school-wide goal last year was literacy, and we did really see that improvement with what we were doing. You can choose what you want to exemplify and what you want to really hold the students accountable with, and there's just so much buy-in that it really works well.

Naomi Meredith [00:28:51]:

I'm so glad that I had both of you here to share your experience and just, like, getting behind the scenes, and I'm glad that you're going to be doing the school again, and you already have ideas. You're probably going to jump off of this and think of, like, 5 million more things that you want to try. So, all the places to reach out and connect with you. I'm going to put this in the show notes for everyone. But, thank you so much again for sharing your experience. And it's just good for other teachers to hear that it can be done. It's actually not that scary to pre record your school-wide news. There's so many benefits to it, and you guys are definitely a testament to that. So thank you so much for your time.

Becca McMillan [00:29:30]:

Thank you for having us. Yeah. And for your help, 100%.

Carly Dolliger [00:29:37]:

And for your help, of course.

Naomi Meredith [00:29:39]:

That's what I'm here for. Thank you.

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More About your host, Naomi Meredith

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

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