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.