CMS EAGLES ON AIR
News team takes to the airwaves
Cutter Morning Star Elementary School’s news team, Eagles on Air, recently returned to the airwaves to keep the school’s students, parents and community members informed.
The newscast, which started in August 2016, is broadcast over YouTube and typically plays on a loop on the school’s televisions in the hallways. Until the end of 2018, the show was a weekly production. Now, it typically premieres one new episode a month.
The show currently has 197 subscribers and 71 news episodes. Over 60 students participate in the production of the newscast, according to Kachera Felts, first grade teacher and Eagles on Air facilitator.
Though the episodes vary in length, the latest installation was about 15 minutes long.
The show rotates between over 20 segments, including “Band and Choir Showbiz,” “Mad Scientist Minute,” “Kindergarten Cares” and “Who’s in the News,” which focuses on students and clubs featured in The Sentinel-Record.
“Whatever they’re doing, the teachers can actually record it and AirDrop it and send it to my phone, and we can include it. So we try to keep up with
what every teacher is doing in their classroom,” Felts said, which includes book reports, science projects and students of the month.
Regardless of grade level, all students in the elementary school are encouraged to participate, Felts said.
“I want everybody so it doesn’t make it where it’s always the same children who do it. I think it’s important for the kids who don’t have a whole lot of confidence to do it because that’s who it’s for; the ones who need a boost. That’s why I try to include as many as I can.”
The inclusive nature of the broadcast is important to students, as well.
“I feel like everybody gets included in Eagles on Air. There’s part of Eagles on Air where it’s just pictures of everybody in the school,” fourth-grader Charlotte Roberts said of the broadcast’s “60 Seconds in the Life of a CMS Student” segment.
“I feel like everybody gets to feel like they’re important and on the news in every video we make.”
Felts said she selects and assigns news stories to each of the students. However, students are responsible for writing their own scripts, and mostly prepare and rehearse at home or during free time at school. The program does not have a dedicated class period or time.
“Whenever they get a break in class, they will start to work on their scripts. They can email me or see me after school or before school. We don’t have a set time for it,” Felts said.
While many students and classroom teachers capture their own footage, Felts also films certain segments. After initial filming, she said it takes between six and eight hours to edit and make ready for broadcast.
The Eagles on Air show helps bridge any communication gaps between students, parents and the community, students said.
“It’s a fun way to know what’s happening around the school,” sixth-grader Henley Post said.
“It tells our school about the news and what’s going on during the week and during the month,” fifth-grader Garrett Duncan said.
Students also see it as an important outlet for students to discuss topics important to them.
“Like, if there was a lot of bullying or something like that going on, we could talk about it on Eagles on Air,” Roberts said.
The program not only keeps the school and public informed about the goings-on at the school, but the experience also has the potential to assist students in their future career endeavors, according to its participants.
“I think that it will help me because I really like acting and I feel like that helps me speak up a little more. So if one of the producers of a show watch that, they’ll say ‘Oh wow, she can stand out,’” Roberts said.
For Duncan, who is interested in becoming a news anchor, “It’s going to help me show that I can participate.”
Felts said the program has also helped her students improve in the areas of public speaking, eye contact, posture and confidence.
“Some of the older children have learned to do it without a script, so they’ve learned to summarize, make better eye contact and not read straight from their script,” she said.
To view Eagles on Air news episodes, visit http://youtube. com/user/CMSFeltsNetwork.