Acton Middle School students take the spotlight through news broadcasting class

The Gifted and Talented (GT) students at Acton Middle School have many exciting curriculum opportunities at their school. The sixth-grade students even have the chance to broadcast their talents through a news broadcasting class that started five years ago.

There are two classes where students are challenged and pushed to become better public speakers as well as collaborate and grow individually.

Coleman Gibbs and Stephanie Schinnerer are both sixth grade technology teachers and also each teach the sixth grade GT broadcasting classes where students are able to create and produce a newscast for the students of AMS each week.

The students work together to research news topics, gather questions, conduct interviews, film, and edit videos. Students are assigned jobs such as camera, scriptwriters, reporters, editor, anchor and more to make the broadcast come to life.

“What we’re trying to do is showcase all the cool goings-on at AMS to all the different kids at AMS that might not know about certain programs,” Gibbs said.

The two classes switch back and forth from working, being behind the scenes and being on camera. The students not only focus on AMS but also will touch on Granbury and events happening around the town.

“One of the most fun parts of teaching GT is to challenge these kids. We hold them to very high standards. We want to take our GT kids and try to make them the business leaders of tomorrow, the engineers working on the NASA space shuttle. We try to push them to the highest level we can and coming up with ways to challenge a kid that’s not always used to being challenged by their schoolwork is the best part of being a GT teacher,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs added that he assigns one student to be in charge with another being second in command. He noted that this way the students understand the hierarchy of business and are able to be both followers and leaders.

“My favorite part is we get to all work together and get to know each other every week,” CEO of the broadcasting class Harper Fox said.

“I just have a lot of fun doing it,” AMS student Ethan Cessna said.

Gibbs is looking forward to seeing the students grow as the year goes on and is excited for what is to come.

For those interested in watching the AMS videos, reach out to Coleman Gibbs through email coleman.gibbs@granburyisd.org.