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Editor’s note: Each week, Wayne Highlands School District submits stories and photos for publication in the newspaper as part of a new weekly feature. This week, Damascus School went all out and submitted four articles. We couldn’t be more pleased. We have decided to use this story as a feature on our front page for this paper and will use the other three as part of the regular feature which will appear in our Thursday edition.
For the past decade all students, grades kindergarten through 8th, have had a technology/computer class as part of their curriculum. Even kindergarten students know their usernames and passwords to log into the computers for technology class.
Throughout the district, any student receiving breakfast, lunch or simply purchasing a bottle of water needs to ‘log in’ to a computer pad in the cafeteria. Computers and technology go hand in hand with this generation.
Students quickly learn the basics of their computer, from turning in their assignments, creating documents, and using the camera to uploading photos and more. As students advance from grade to grade they learn about internet safety and continue to learn more about educational uses of the computer for research as well as ways to creatively share what they have learned. They make power point presentations, short films, time lines, brochures and even board games generated from research in social studies, science and reading.
One group at Damascus School received a generous donation to expand on their information sources when five Kindles were donated for use in the Gifted class. The eight students who meet once a week in the Gifted program are sharing the Kindles. These students have the opportunity to use the Kindles to gain more information about subject areas that interest them.
The teacher researches available books and applications and submits approval from the district to download the information onto the Kindles. These students may “check out” a Kindle like a library book to read. The class has only had the Kindles since early December and they have already used them for individual research and sharing as a group on subjects in Anatomy and Physics, as well as taking turns on Geography and Math quiz games. They are excited and gathering lists of things they hope to read about and learn in the months to come.
I want my DTV
“Good morning, Damascus! Please rise and join me in a salute to the flag followed by a moment of silence.”
Editor’s note: Each week, Wayne Highlands School District submits stories and photos for publication in the newspaper as part of a new weekly feature. This week, Damascus School went all out and submitted four articles. We couldn’t be more pleased. We have decided to use this story as a feature on our front page for this paper and will use the other three as part of the regular feature which will appear in our Thursday edition.
For the past decade all students, grades kindergarten through 8th, have had a technology/computer class as part of their curriculum. Even kindergarten students know their usernames and passwords to log into the computers for technology class.
Throughout the district, any student receiving breakfast, lunch or simply purchasing a bottle of water needs to ‘log in’ to a computer pad in the cafeteria. Computers and technology go hand in hand with this generation.
Students quickly learn the basics of their computer, from turning in their assignments, creating documents, and using the camera to uploading photos and more. As students advance from grade to grade they learn about internet safety and continue to learn more about educational uses of the computer for research as well as ways to creatively share what they have learned. They make power point presentations, short films, time lines, brochures and even board games generated from research in social studies, science and reading.
One group at Damascus School received a generous donation to expand on their information sources when five Kindles were donated for use in the Gifted class. The eight students who meet once a week in the Gifted program are sharing the Kindles. These students have the opportunity to use the Kindles to gain more information about subject areas that interest them.
The teacher researches available books and applications and submits approval from the district to download the information onto the Kindles. These students may “check out” a Kindle like a library book to read. The class has only had the Kindles since early December and they have already used them for individual research and sharing as a group on subjects in Anatomy and Physics, as well as taking turns on Geography and Math quiz games. They are excited and gathering lists of things they hope to read about and learn in the months to come.
I want my DTV
“Good morning, Damascus! Please rise and join me in a salute to the flag followed by a moment of silence.”
Traditionally these words have started the day at the Damascus Area School, delivered over the loud speaker for decades, usually by the student council president or the principal. In the last two years Damascus has stepped into the 21st century as the first school in the Wayne Highlands School District to have a live morning announcement television broadcast throughout the building.
Over the course of nearly five years the Damascus PTA purchased and mounted televisions in every room in the school. Each room was then connected by cable to a small room in the library that was earmarked for the TV studio. The cameras, tripods, podium and switch boxes were purchased through grants from Workforce Wayne and the Wayne County Community Foundation. The studio was named “DTV” by the first group of student volunteers eager to get the TV studio up and running.
Since then, each morning, after getting off the bus, a group of middle school students reports directly to the studio to organize the day’s broadcast which includes announcements from the office, reports from the coaches for a sports report, student council news, the day’s weather, birthday shout outs, a word of the day, a feature entitled “This Day in History,” and community events announcements. The students run the switches, computer, and cameras and anchor the show.
They take turns and all learn the various parts of a TV broadcast from writing to shutting down the equipment and locking the studio door by 8:25 a.m. Students and teachers alike have created power point presentations that loop on the TV prior to the live newscast. Every staff member and several student groups have created anti-bullying messages that are broadcast throughout the year on DTV.
Students make the backdrops and come up with ways to invite younger students into the studio so everyone gets a chance to be involved.
Last year two DTV students used the cameras and created an anti-drug public service announcement for the Drug Free Pennsylvania contest and won first place in the region. They traveled to Temple University to receive their awards and attend the Media Literacy conference.
This year the entire DTV crew created a wonderful DVD for the Veterans Day assemblies. They put out a request to interview local veterans. More than a dozen veterans agreed to come to Damascus School and be interviewed on film by DTV with the final project to be shown at an afternoon assembly to all the students at school as well as at a public evening assembly on Veterans Day.
The students wrote their questions and rotated between operating the camera and conducting the interview with each veteran so everyone had a part in every aspect of the production. The process was a wonderful success. Instead of just having the veterans stand up at an assembly, the film made the veterans’ experiences personal to all the students, providing insights into the varied times and places and duties of these community neighbors who had honorably served our country.
DTV has opened the doors for creativity, organization, teamwork, volunteerism and dedication for the students who participate. It has provided an avenue for the student body to share their news and has exposed students to the possibility of pursuing a fulfilling career in television.
“As we close our broadcast, this has been Elaine LoCicero for DTV. Remember at Damascus we are Ready, Respectful, and Responsible. Have a nice day.”
Elaine LoCicero is a paraprofessional at Damascus and the assistant marching band director at Honesdale High School.
