Just For TV Teachers

I left Anaheim last Monday afternoon exhausted. My eyes burned, my head ached, and my body told me it was going to be a long week ahead. It was. I only taught three days because on Tuesday, ice caused the cancellation of school. That was a very nice thing since our HTV gang returned to Springfield at about midnight Monday, aboard a school bus that picked us up at the Tulsa airport for the three-hour drive home.

It was my last year to chair the STN National Convention. I have been “plaqued and packed,” as my friend Rae calls it. They gave me far too much credit, and too much attention, at the convention. It’s not about me. I believe that. So it was hard to stand up front at the closing ceremony and say anything coherent. (What DID I say anyway?) I just wanted to hop on a bus with my HTV staff and head to the beach for a few hours. I got to do that later.

What I will remember from my last STN convention as the chairman:

*Bob Dotson and Les Rose are great guys who enjoy what they do. It rubs off on everyone around them.

*Wes Leggett is a go-to guy. He ran the contests with poise and patience. He too is sailing into the sunset, and he will be missed come convention time.

*Tim Smith, Paul Griffin, and Mike Teuber will do whatever it takes, whenever they have to do it, to make the convention work.

*The interns, most of them former students of mine, will work 25 hours a day if we ask. Their dedication and work ethic are, well, what I expected when I chose them.

*STN does more special things for teachers than any similar convention I have ever attended. A free continental breakfast, then a free plated breakfast, a free lunch, free thumb drives with lesson plans and other teacher-friendly content, and sessions designed to help teachers with things like class structure, grant writing, and other things that say “you are important” in a big way.

*Kids will create amazing video pieces despite the limitations we place on them. Some will push the envelope, and teachers will struggle with that. It happens every year.

*Natalie and the Disneyland staff are thoroughly professional. They made our job easy, and we think we did our best job ever working with them to make the event succeed.

*Our theme was “networking” for this convention. I think that was consistently conveyed.

*Finally, those darn contests. They are the biggest pain to manage, they cause the biggest headaches, and they get blown out of proportion every year. When they work, like in the “Sweet 16,” amazing educational moments present themselves. And the actual awards, designed by Mike Teuber, were absolutely the coolest I have seen yet for scholastic broadcasting.

Here’s hoping your second semester goes well. Time for a nap.

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It’s been quite couple of weeks for three of my students. They’ve been working hard on an investigative, two-part story for “HTV Magazine.”

Rachel Miles, Kendra Weatherford and Lillian Olive are gifted student broadcasters, and I’ve been privileged to have them in my class the last three years. They understand our show’s focus, and they have often stunned their veteran teacher, who is not easy to surprise, with the stories they have found.

The latest segment begins with Rachel reporting on how easy it is for teens to purchase alcohol online. She found a site, used a pre-paid VISA, and ordered a bottle of vodka. Four days later, it was left on her porch.

The story moves well, and includes as much information about the process as possible. We first got a letter of immunity from the Prosecuting Attorney for the project. That was the key. Then the VISA purchase, the ordering process, and ultimately, a call by Rachel to the company that made this buy so easy. That conversation was pretty short. They said they’d call her back, but she’s still waiting.

The second story reveals the dramatic high you get from a drug called “salvia.” Youtube clips of young people experiencing the drug help punctuate the story, reported by Lilllian. She also did her legwork and found an 18-year-old who has used salvia more than once. His identity is hidden, but he gave the story more credibility with his first-hand account of the drug’s effect. Here’s the kicker–salvia is legal in all but a handful of states, including ours. It’s a “schedule one” drug, according to Lillian’s report, putting it in the same class as heroin. But did I mention it’s legal in most states?

As the three girls ran down the two stories, I had the chance to teach (okay, demand) something I learned from Dale Russell, reporter for the I-Team at Fox News in Atlanta. It’s “transparency.” I heard Dale say that is what good investigative reporting strives for–transparency, so the viewer trusts the information and the process you went through to gather it.

Most high school broadcasts do not delve into a lot of investigative reporting, and I don’t blame them. It’s certainly challenging, and teachers and kids must continually consider journalistic ethics and responsibility, along with scholastic restrictions placed on them in most districts.

I do not advise any new broadcast teacher or program to jump into the fire right away, but I do think more of us should encourage our young storytellers to go past the features they often cover, and dig into issues that need a closer examination. The process kids go through to gather those stories is as valuable, and educational, as anything they can do in your class.

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