And now, the News

Fourth-graders at Brookside Elementary School might be the next generation of Matt Lauers and Katie Courics as they have been really delivering the news.

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Rebecca Droke today. She is one of the teachers who really got this program rolling. She and the music teacher, Penny Lane (Cool Name, :) wrote a grant for some funding that Best Buy gives to teachers who creatively incorporate technology in their classrooms. They received the money for some classroom broadcasting equipment, and through the help of Charter Cable, Sullivan County School's Maintenance Dept, and Eastman, the kids are able deliver their program to the whole school. Thus, WBSL Channel 3 News (aka. Brookside Live News) was born.

There are so many things that go on behind the scenes! Every morning, a team of teachers comes in to setup the studio with backdrops that must be taken down after the broadcast. The kids (made up of teams of 7) come in early to find a "good" news story for the day, a weather forecast, and a sports story as well. Plus, they add Brookside only elements like the Word of the Week, Moment of Silence, Pledge of Allegiance and the Cafeteria Menu. The kids do it all, too, from research to copywriting and production (cameras and stuff!) And it's all ready to go by 8:25am!

Mrs. Droke said that the kids are always super excited about the newscast and that it's hard to choose who gets to be "on-air" and who needs to be behind the scenes each day. However, she's quick to stress that EVERY job is important, even if it isn't seen on camera.

What a great lesson to learn!

--Quick Notes: The Elementary is looking for help to update some of the older TV sets across the school with space saving models. If you'd like to make a donation, call the principal, Betty Odom, at 423-354-1730.

--In Middle School, a group of about 10 of us had the chance to do something similar for WCMS News (Cleveland Middle School--TN). I just hope some of those tapes aren't still around. Yikes, that could be really scary and embarrassing.

Chalmer