Just For TV Teachers

Next week, I have to move every single item out of my classroom/studio to make way for a major renovation this summer. That will take a major effort by my students, because their final exam will now include a section testing their “manual labor” expertise. What, it’s not in the syllabus? Sure it is, under “class participation.”

My final words of wisdom for the 2007-2008 school year follow.

Teachers, more of us need to get our kids IN THE FIELD, talking to sources, gathering information from somewhere other than the local newspaper, the school building, or the Internet. Make them connect with human beings who are newsmakers, who are real characters with important stories to share. This generation is about to lose the skill of having conversations that don’t involve a palm-sized electronic device doing the communicating.

Personally, I know I need to do a better job of getting kids to push past the obvious. I challenge them to tell me at least one thing I don’t know in every story they do. It sounds like a modest goal, but how many scholastic stories have you watched and later thought, “tastes great, less filling” was a fair review? Pretty pictures and graphics, but no new or surprising or compelling content.

So finally, let’s turn to some professionals for inspiration as we prepare for summer, and sunny days away from the studio and the young people we seek to inspire.

These are your Final Axioms. Please memorize. There may be a surprise quiz in July. Oops, there goes the surprise.

*News is people, producer Tiffany Bommarito of KSDK once told me. It’s simple, I know. But it’s so true.

*Bob Dotson of NBC News says every story should be about “you,” the viewer.

*Steve Hartman and Les Rose of CBS News consistently proved “everybody has a story.”

*Say it, prove it. Thanks to Jerry Jacob for passing that along at “Camp STN” a few years ago. News is still about attribution and truth.

*Wear your headphones. Sorry. Not real deep. That’s mine. We mess up audio all the time. Just thought I’d toss that in.

Here at Hillcrest, the “goodbyes” are over, my seniors have walked the line, and sometime in late August, the 20th year of “HTV Magazine” will begin. We’ve got plenty of work to do soon enough. For now, some frozen custard and the occasional Starbucks mocha will suffice.

Have a great summer, teachers. You deserve it.

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I’ve seen a couple of episodes of MTV’s “The Paper.” It’s a reality (sort of) show about a high school newspaper staff in Florida. These kids at Cyprus Bay HS have a newsroom many professional staffs would envy. Computers everywhere, all the resources to produce a great product. Their paper is called “The Circuit.” From what I’ve seen, they take their content seriously, and they work long hours to produce a quality publication.

It all got me thinking about the daily drama that takes place in the HTV “newsroom.” Would it make an entertaining reality show? Should we call MTV and make a pitch? Nah. Not much going on here.

We just finished a year of almost no drama. The kids played well together, and everyone respected each other. Even those who aren’t the closest of friends worked well together, or gave each other plenty of space. The loudest arguments were usually about lunch choices.

It can work both ways, really. I’ve had great staffs that bickered a lot, but still found a way to produce good shows with good stories. It was not fun for me to constantly referee the conflicts, or navigate around the egos. I enjoyed the kinder, gentler atmosphere of 2007-2008. Our leaders on staff set a nice tone, and it all came together nicely. We had a great team, with some outstanding individuals.

To be honest, TV is a lot like baseball. While it takes a team effort to achieve the desired result–a good show–it’s all the individual efforts that make that possible. In baseball, you have to hit the ball, catch the ball, or run the bases all by yourself. The production of a news story is about the reporter doing homework and preparing for interviews. It’s also about a photographer checking all of the equipment, and knowing how to use it when he or she is in the field.

The final result of a lot of great individual effort is a program that collectively, the entire staff can be proud of. That’s why we teach each kid to shoot, edit, interview and write. Some will gravitate to one role or another eventually, but by giving them all the tools they can individually utilize, we strengthen the entire team’s performance.

As for the drama and conflict on “The Paper,” it’s reality TV. Egos and conflict and sometimes, “manufactured” moments are what we have come to expect. It seems to me that those kids in Florida do care about their final product. Too bad they can’t find a less volatile way to produce it. Of course, if they did, MTV wouldn’t give them the time of day.

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Just back from the Windy City. What a great couple of days, despite being a “Cardinal in Cub country.”

I was privileged to take two of my students, Rachel Miles and Kendra Weatherford, to the ceremony for the National Television Academy’s “Awards for Excellence” Friday evening. There are only seven categories for high school broadcasters. Back in January, and Rachel and Kendra produced a piece called “Easy Access” that proved how easily teens can purchase alcohol online. It was the winner in the “News” category.

What a thrill for them to meet Av Westin, who worked for Edward R. Murrow, ran ABC News, and created a show still on the air called “20-20.” At Westin’s request, the girls’ segment ran in its entirety, and was the last award presented. He described it as a story that “didn’t leave anything out.” He said it could run on network news as is, and was just so nice in all if his remarks. Quite a memory for the girls, and for their teacher.

It was nice to see the gang from Carlsbad High School, a fellow STN school, and their teacher, Doug Green, at the event. They won for Craft Achievement. The other five winners were from schools I did not know. We got to watch clips of all the entries, and enjoyed a great meal and plenty of photo ops. Both Rachel and Kendra’s parents made it to the ceremony, which made it even more special.

The other highlight was taking the girls to “Wicked” the day after the NTA ceremony. Or did they take me? As soon as they learned of their award, our effort to get tickets to the musical began. We were successful, and I have to admit, it was a great time for all of us. Don’t ask me what we paid, but I think it was enough to merit a personal ride on the witch’s broom. I loved watching the staging of the show, and how they were able to transition between sets and scenes in just seconds. It takes us just a little longer to re-light during our HTV anchor taping.

One line from the play had me laughing out loud. “There’s a goat on the lamb.” I guffawed, while Kendra and Rachel sat quietly. Turns out they had not heard the phrase “on the lamb” before. I explained it later, but when you have to explain a joke, it loses its impact.

So we arrived home safely, only about 35 minutes late, which is as close to on time I ever get anywhere on United. To escape O’Hare Airport within an hour or two of your scheduled departure time is also a victory. So all in all, it was a great weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom, Martha, and all the mothers out there.

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So I will be filing three more blogs to wrap up the 2007-2008 school year. It’s been a good year for me, and our broadcast program. The students have been fun to work with and I will definitely miss the seniors when they leave. Now, what to write about in this third-to-the-last blog…

I could write about the renovations to my classroom taking place this summer. What that means is we have about 19 years of stuff to move out of our room and store in well, another room, by no later than June 2. I am afraid to see what long lost “treasures” have been hiding on top of Edit Bays 5, 6 and 7, where we tend to toss stuff to get it out of the way.

I could also write about the next “HTV Magazine.” It appears it will be a pretty good show. I would not have been too confident about that two weeks ago. Seniors tend to check out early, about a month before their bodies actually stop showing up. This year, we’ve had a very dependable staff, so iit looks like the class of ‘08 will go out in style.

I could discuss our annual media banquet, which takes place May 22. We give out awards, honor our latest HTV Hall of Fame inductees, show some funny clips the parents in attendance haven’t seen before, just to remind them we media types are far from normal at times. It’s a great night, but there is quite a bit of preparation put into it. Just one more deadline to face.

I could give you a veteran teacher’s sage advice on how to cope with the end of the school year. That advice would probably be pointless since teachers, administrators, secretaries, cooks, custodians, and bus drivers are just as anxious to get to the end of the year as the students are.

Instead, I think I’ll write about Carrie Underwood’s new music video: I like it.

Okay, two to go.

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