How Video Teachers Define Industry Standard Equipment
The following message is a call to arms for video production educators throughout the world. It may be a wake-up call for some. It may be a shot in the arm for others. It may upset some yet put some at ease. The following message is not to be used as fodder to get an administrator to dump money into your program. Nor is it to be used as a hammer against other programs. The following message is to be used as the surfboard to help you crest the wave of 2021 and beyond because frankly —nothing will ever be the same for you.
Wednesday, January 27th
7:40am - Teacher looking to help with a poster
7:55am - Media Specialist email asking for videos from youtube
7:58am - Program Specialist email asking about videos for Media Specialist
7:59am - Media Specialist enters the room asking about the videos for youtube as well as a conversation about what we need to do about all of the videos on her youtube when she retires so I will have access to them.
8:05am - Student ambassador sent to my room to make sure my doors were open for the 8th-grade tour.
8:10am - I begin to film the lesson for that day for one of my classes.
8:15am - Student ambassador returns, at the behest of his leader, to remind me that I need to have the door open before 9:15am.
9:15am - Door open, preview video cued, and studio/classroom ready to host 100 8th graders.
9:30am - 2nd period starts - Advanced Animation. Last day of work on their current project - 1,000s of questions
9:50am - First group of 8th graders enters for the tour - 90 seconds later they are gone. - MS teacher’s parting shot “I’m going to email you about a video I am working on.”
9:55am - Second group of 8th graders enter for their tour. - 90 seconds later they are gone. - “I saw that thing your kids did for the football team. Can you do it for the Middle School team?”
10:05am - Coach enters the room and starts the conversation with “I know you have a class and 8th grade tours but I am on planning so I can work around you….”
10:10am - 3rd group of 8th graders come through for their tour - 90 seconds they are gone
10:15am - 4th group of 8th graders do their tour - 90 seconds later and they too are gone
10:25am - 5th group of 8th graders do their tour - you get the routine now…
10:40am - Coach leaves the room….
11:00am - I sit down to actually work on my lesson for 3rd period.
11:05am - Advisory Period - meet 1:1 with students about their classes for next year. Email parents notes about the conversation.
11:35am - 3rd Period Begins - Students working on a commercial for the school store as well as gathering footage for the podcast on Thursday. Tough meeting because there were three groups - 1 got all of their footage; 1 got half of their footage, and 1 got none of their footage. Oh yeah! The guest for the podcast the next day just backed out. It became “how can I save this day and actually get some decent content out” mode.
1:05pm - 3rd-period ends/lunch (Realize I hadn’t eaten breakfast)
1:35pm - -4th period begins - Group 1 is preparing the newscast / Group 2 is working on social media announcements. This is the highlight of my day. These kids are rockstars and keep me on my toes.
3:10pm - Students leave… time to go to the bathroom
3:15pm - Meeting to discuss potential new equipment.
4pm - Drag myself to Dunkin to get a cup of coffee for my ride home….
Sound familiar? I bet it does. If it doesn’t, it means you are virtual and do NOT want to climb that tree anytime soon. I pray for you regularly - I don’t know that I would still be in the classroom if we were in a virtual environment.
We thought 2020 was a game-changing year. Everything virtual. Zoom. Meet. Facetime. Classes are now virtual. Staff meetings…. Virtual. Our favorite professional development conferences... all virtual.
Here’s the deal. 2021 is the year for you to make your impact. It’s the year for your program to leap to the prominence it deserves. It’s your time to go from “that’s pretty cool” to “how can we live without them.” Now’s the time.
(This is the part where I rock the boat a little) When the global shutdown of 2020 happened, construction teachers were not the ones the communities leaned on. Neither were automotive teachers. Culinary had its role teaching students how to cook meals at home while they were in quarantine but pretty much everything else became a secondary thought. Except for one field…. Video!
Who did the English teacher call when they needed camera advice? When the Band wanted to do a virtual concert... who did they call? When the superintendent wanted to send a video instead of an impersonal cold email? When the mayor needed to talk about shutting down services…. Who did they call? Video!
Here’s the problem. They don’t realize who much we are needed unless we tell them. It’s like when you get home at the end of the day and you switch on your lights. You never think about how important it is until the power is out. The world of video production education is changing rapidly. It’s going from “that’s a good way to give announcements to the kids” or “that was a really awesome movie they made” to “Parent Night is virtual and we need videos” and “We are limiting the number of people at this event and we need to live stream it.”
The demand for your talents as an educator has never been greater. You sharing those talents with your students has never been more important. You can’t do it yourself. You must find ways to use your talents to build the talents of your students. All the while building the confidence of your students and the confidence IN your students by others.
Now is the time to make sure colleges know you exist. They need to know that you are building a workforce that if given the opportunity will take their program to the next level. Now is the time to market your students and their skills to the institutions around you. Take the time to reach out to the school leaders in the media/communications/athletics departments and let them know you exist and that you are interested in working with them. It’s a really easy email to send and can create a reciprocal relationship quite easily. They need students and you have them. You want goals for your students and they have them. Also, if you want to win points with your admin, email them and let them know that a professor from a major university is coming to work with your kids…. Or better yet, if the professor sends the email because they are blown away by what you are doing.
It’s now time for the industry to take notice that no longer are the Big 5 conference schools building huge media programs - high schools are getting in on that action. All schools are looking to build media programs to market all aspects of their school. The key for the industry, when it comes to your classroom, is to prey on the loyalty of students when they are ready to take their next step. The equipment and software that students use in high school will most likely be the tools they want to use when they go to the next level. Building brand relationships at the high school level is something that has been ignored by most schools and industry leaders but there are many high schools throughout the country that would rival or surpass mid-level post-secondary institutions yet they get little recognition from many industry leaders.
Now is the time for you to charge the gates and get the recognition that you deserve. For too long, you have been sitting in the shadows as a “cool thing” or worse, a dumping ground. It’s now time for you to come from those shadows and let the world know that your program is making a difference in your community and you are creating the next generation of content creators and they are skilled and ready to tackle the world.
Meet the Author, Tom White
Tom White is the digital media instructor at Morgan County High School in Madison, GA. Currently teaching TV production and animation pathways, Tom's programs have received state and national honors including the 2016 NFHS Network School Broadcast Program Of The Year.
Prior to teaching, Tom was a marketing, promotions, and online content director for a major radio corporation in Atlanta. Tom studied exercise science at High Point University prior to his radio career. Despite his winding career path, his mother still thinks he is special.