Jillian, a second grader, came up to me one day and told me a joke: "Why don't skeletons like scary movies? Because they don't have the guts."On the one hand, very cute. On the other, Jillian did something that kids do naturally. She shared a joke. And just like that, Jillian had unwittingly launched the latest page of Edgewood News, our Jokes page.
Edgewood News, in case you haven't visited the site, publishes audio and visual content that highlight special people and events in our school. And while the web site has been magnificently designed and maintained by Edgewood's super tech genius, Mr. Cadalzo, the content is generated entirely by students.
Mr. Cadalzo, along with Mr. DelMonaco, Mr. Scholl, and myself are the staff advisers for the Media Club, which includes students from grades 3, 4, and 5, who gather during weekly lunch sessions to work on their news stories for the web site or produce Keynote slides for EagleVision, the wide screen TV in our main lobby.
Student work in the Media Club is impressive for its scope and independence. The students pitch the stories, take photographs, identify resources for interviews, develop questions, book, conduct, record, and transcribe interviews, extract audio excerpts, write a script (sometimes collaboratively) grounded in research information culled from interviews, then either produce a Keynote slide or edit an audio story using the Garageband software. Not a bad working lunch.
The angle of each story, whether for EagleVision or Edgewood News, is the kid's perspective. Staff advisers provide some technical and editorial assistance, but mostly we help students stay focused on their story, perspective, and voice.
We're also working on multiple ways for kids to interact with the website. For instance, we provide a moderated comments section in which visitors can leave positive feedback for published students. And it's a good way to practice appropriate online behavior. Visitors can also upload video suggestions for our 3 Words segment, which is in its infancy, but gaining traction. And finally, our latest venture in online interactivity, the Jokes page.
Ultimately, stories produced by the Media Club for EagleVision and Edgewood News will give readers, viewers, and listeners a sense of what we value in our school, from our school's most important contributors, those in the K-5 demographic.
Do you want to see photos of the entire school making our Swimmy photo? Edgewood News has it! Want to know about life as a firefighter? Got that too! Ever wondered why the teacher always wore sunglasses to school? Well, I won't spill the punchline, but you can find it here too.
