Kid-Produced School Broadcast

At Ashland Park-Robbins Elementary School

 

Three cheers for the educators at Ashland Park-Robbins Elementary School, 5050 S. 51st St., for putting together a daily closed-circuit TV broadcast produced by sixth-graders.

 

The production studio has been set up since 2003 in the school library. Students in teams of four take turns being "on air" talent, and working the controls, lights and teleprompter.

 

Content appears to be adult-created, rather than student-generated, to avoid slipping into nonproductive themes, no doubt. But that's OK; you can't have everything.

 

Content includes a weather forecast, announcements, lunch menu, guest teachers, and the Pledge of Allegiance. There's a scrollover announcing birthdays of famous people and students at that school, and they're experimenting with more technology such as a "green screen" that will allow a student reporter to appear with different video backgrounds.