Lights, camera, access!
After-school program lets students explore public access television

Computer teacher Wade Werner has found a way to turn his passion for video editing into a learning opportunity for students at Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop (GFW) Elementary School in Gibbon, Minn., a small town 75 miles east of Minneapolis.

Werner, a member of the GFW Education Association, an affiliate of Education Minnesota started KGFW-TV in 2001. The after-school program is open exclusively to the school’s fourth-grade students and introduces them to the world of public access television. Werner knows a lot about this topic. He’s managed the public access channels for Sibley County where he has lived and taught for seven years; in fact, the public access TV facility is conveniently located in the elementary school building.

His students meet every Monday for an hour to plan the show from start to finish: developing story ideas, determining interview questions and reporting on-air.

“A big portion of our show is focused on the community,” says Werner.

Over the years, students have done stories ranging from the community bank to railroad safety. And they’ve interviewed dozens of guests including former U.S. vice president Walter Mondale and country singer Brad Paisley. The students also get real-world experience, often working side by side with reporters from local radio and TV stations, and sometimes interviewing them. After the students complete their work, Werner edits the footage into half-hour programs that are aired on two of the county’s public access channels.

Werner marvels at how fortunate he and his students have been.

“Sometimes I look at the interviews and wonder how in the world we pulled them off. I’m just trying to give [students] an opportunity to meet people they see in the media or in the community” and get them to share tips or help the students along the way.

Ten-year old Lucas Blumhoefer says he’s gotten loads of advice from interviewees, adding that “it’s been a lot fun.” He works mostly behind the scenes as a cameraman.

Werner finds that adults tend to be a little bit less apprehensive when working with children, and he says the students are complete professionals.

“When the students come in, they are usually shy in front of the camera, but their curiosity allows their shyness to take a back seat,” explains Werner. “The microphone empowers them.”

Fourth-grader Kristen Kolkesh says the experience has made her consider becoming a reporter in the future.

His students’ experience is most important to Werner. “Everyone has different hobbies. A lot of my free time is spent giving these kids something to look back on and be proud of.”

Building on democratic roots in African traditions
Curriculum guide details civics, politics, history and governance in Africa

A new resource to teach students about democratic governance is now available to AFT members. “Democracy in Africa: Building on Democratic Roots in African Traditions” allows high school students to study the struggle for democracy and rights in African nations.

The curriculum guide is aimed both at drawing attention to African politics and filling the gap in high-quality curricular material on this topic.

“Democracy in Africa” encourages students to think critically about complex issues of governance across the African continent. Students identify problems and possible solutions surrounding self-governance through guided study into key elements of democracy. One of the primary strengths of the unit is that it includes readings from African leaders, academics and citizens.

“African voices and ideas are too often ignored,” says Barbara Brown, outreach director at Boston University’s Center for African Studies. “The inclusion of African political leaders and scholars reminds students that Africans are makers and shapers and analysts of their lives.”

The lessons are designed to address core civics concepts. Students are offered an overview of the diversity that can be found today on the African continent. The lessons consider how history has shaped modern Africa and help students assess contemporary democratic movements.

“Too often, people believe that the past has no bearing on the present—that we can simply wish democracy into existence,” explains Brown, who reviewed the guide. “Democratic practices … [are] an important legacy that is part of Africa today and one that counters invidious stereotypes.”

“Democracy in Africa” was shaped by an advisory team of AFT members. The lessons were developed with a grant from the Center for Civic Education and funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The 52-page guide is available free with a small fee for shipping and handling from the AFT store (www.aftstore.org); click on “special resources.”

Hot buses pose health problem for kids, drivers
Study by AFT affiliate finds heat inside some school buses hits 116°

In August, AFT school bus drivers in a Louisiana school district conducted a study to gauge the dangerously hot conditions in their buses. Over a three-day period starting Aug. 14, the first day of school, the drivers, with the help of the Caddo Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel in Shreveport, La., measured the temperature and humidity ranges inside their buses three times a day.

What they found: Each day, temperatures in the buses spiked well over 100 degrees in the afternoon. The top reading was 116 degrees. Heat that oppressive causes headaches, nausea and light-headedness.

The Caddo local presented its findings to the school board, which planned to take up the issue at its September meeting. Caddo federation president Jackie Lansdale, speaking at a news conference, said the union wanted the district to push back the start of school to a reasonable date.

The main reason school officials keep setting the calendar earlier, Lansdale explains, is to get a jump on instructional time before high-stakes testing in March. “We’re forced to do this for the convenience of the bureaucrats,” she says. “We’re putting their convenience over the safety of the children we’re transporting. If you did this to a dog, you’d be cited for cruelty.”

The district is slowly replacing its fleet with air-conditioned buses, but so far, only about one in five school buses has air conditioning.

Besides restricting how early in the summer school can reopen, Lansdale sees other possible remedies, including using temporary air conditioners in the buses; training drivers how to recognize and tend to children’s heat-related distress; and letting drivers cool off inside schools instead of sweltering in idling buses.

Failing all that, she says that when temperatures near 100 degrees are forecast for the next day, the district should plan for a noon dismissal to avoid the worst of the heat, just as school systems up north accommodate for snow.

“It’s time for the tail to quit wagging the dog on this one,” Lansdale says. “It just doesn’t make sense.”