A class of Rancho San Justo middle school students Friday got a
feel for the technical and conversational sides of the news
business. As part of a new media arts program at the school, the 15
students and their teacher Erinn Mitchell had the first of many
visits throughout the semester-long elective’s curriculum from the
education coordinator at Community Media Access Partnership.
A class of Rancho San Justo middle school students Friday got a feel for the technical and conversational sides of the news business.
As part of a new media arts program at the school, the 15 students and their teacher Erinn Mitchell had the first of many visits throughout the semester-long elective’s curriculum from the education coordinator at Community Media Access Partnership.
CMAP Education Coordinator Laura Zaylea Rodriguez had the stage Friday while introducing the students to basics involved with using a camera and interviewing subjects. It was the start of the more hands-on portion of the program.
On the interviewing end, they did it in front of a live audience, too, so the students got an understanding of the jitters that might come along with questioning someone in front of other people.
Those questions ranged from “What’s your name?” to “What’s your favorite food?” to “What sports do you play?”
By the end of the session – which also included instruction on how to operate a camera, set up a tripod and frame shots – the class had set off toward its ultimate goal this semester, to launch a televised news show that would broadcast throughout the school once a week.
It’s part of a multi-faceted, wide-ranging experience with media that Rancho teachers are fostering through the partnership with CMAP. Until Friday when the instruction on equipment started, the students had learned about such topics as media history and ethics.
They also put together the first edition of a school newspaper, “The Bronco Times,” which included such topics as “The History of Our School” and interactive features such as a column called “Guess Who?” that includes hints about a teacher at Rancho.
“It covers a little bit of everything,” said Mitchell, of the program.
Rancho staff members had been working on a curriculum for months after Rancho teacher Alec Griffin approached CMAP about the possible partnership.
Griffin said the staff recognized CMAP could provide “the kind of training we needed” because the organization already had been operating three digital media, afterschool programs in the area.
At Sunnyslope and Gabilan Hills schools, and also at San Juan School, those programs are through a partnership with the YMCA of San Benito County in place for two years now. They cover video pre-production all the way through the process, explained Rodriguez, the CMAP education coordinator.
She also noted how CMAP puts on related summer camps and held its first student film festival in Hollister last year, while it’s planning another for this year and Rodriguez expects the organization to continue expanding such offerings in the area.
For the Rancho program, CMAP and staff members are in the midst of fully developing the curriculum, “which is very exciting,” Rodriguez said.
“Some of it’s going to be new and specific with this program,” she said.
Ultimately, the Rancho students are working toward that goal of putting together a televised news program that would air each Monday morning along with the usual announcements. At some point, they might even get to use a green screen – as used on TV news – in their productions.
As CMAP and Rancho staff members continue the pilot version of the program, they expect to continue improving it and to make it “more fluid” next year, said Griffin.
He said CMAP and Rancho’s staff hope that funding from community organizations and individuals will help make the program sustainable in the years to come.
“Both CMAP and Rancho San Justo are committed to growing it from a pilot project to becoming a sustainable, long-term program available to students every year,” he said.
In the meantime, students in this semester’s class have a chance to help set the program’s foundation.
Student Ryan Rodriguez called the class “cool” and said he’s excited to be part of a TV news show.
Said student Kenny Perry, “It’ll help me progress my filmmaking techniques and my interviewing techniques.”
