Pinpoints Pinpoints Magazine Spring 2020 | Page 14

— FOR NEWS —
“I like the video camera best . It’s not like the regular
one that connects to the computer. It’s neat how you can
get the chip from the camera and load onto the computer
and piece it all together. That’s our newscast over there on
the screen.” Sixth grader Diego captures the magic.
TLS newscasters can hardly get to the iLab fast
enough. Then they can hardly get to off-site locations fast
enough – Madagascar, the Arctic Circle, Easter Island,
Timbuktu, any place that relates to their stories. Naomi
explains, “I’ve always heard of green screens being able to
see what’s on-site. Standing right here, I can be on a boat
in the Marshall Islands, talking, giving a newscast.”
The culminating project of Becky Johnson’s sixth
grade social studies class was Global Read Aloud: One
Book to Connect the World. Mrs. Johnson read out
loud to the class, while teachers and classes around the
world were doing the same thing, forming connections
to global issues. Students pitched ideas for their focus
study area and the story they wanted to tell. Targeting
issues affecting humanity worldwide, Middle Schoolers
chose water, poverty, pollution, and health and disease.
Classes then divided into three groups, telling 12 stories
through newscasts in TLS’s new and first and hugely
popular iLab. It’s part of the Academic Center that seems
to have a giant magnet attached to the door that draws
enthusiastic students and holds them.
Mom of sixth graders Jordan and Kristian Middleton,
Kristi Runyon Middleton is a TLS board member and
12
former Emmy-Award-winning television and radio news
anchor and reporter. She spent a day with the group,
giving important introduction to the multiple layers
of video production. She also shared specific details on
how to make stories compelling, showed how to film in
front of the green screen, gave helpful cue card tips, and
explained how to pull in images of other locations for
background. Her audience was at rapt attention.
Honing their collaborative skills in creativity and
technology, the students began their research, wrote
drafts, then polished their scripts. The process wasn’t
easy, but it was captivating. Each student had the
opportunity to appear on camera as one of the two
news desk positions. Some were naturally inclined to
love the mic. Others, like Zachary, opted to contribute
to the team in another way, saying, “I like to edit. I
like the freedom to paste pictures where there was only
one screen before. I use my creativity that way.” The
on-scene reporter was a popular spot, with the ability to
stand at the foot of K2 or to tell the story with a giant
mosquito looking over the left shoulder. Everybody
had a hand when it came time to splice film, add music
and voice-overs, touch up lead-ins or news openings.
Madden speaks for the group when he says, “It makes
me happy to have a computer lab. The green screen will
be handy for any type of video.”
Emmys in TLS students’ futures?