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Student Sportcasters

 Student Sportcasters submitted by Ron Franklin

Student Sportcasters

Turn your resource room into a virtual TV sports newsroom while you encourage a love of reading!

I'm a Resource Room teacher at the Commack Road Elementary School in Islip, Long Island. Most of my students are boys who love sports. I took an interest inventory earlier this year to find out  who their favorite sports team and players are. I then went on the Internet to find current information about their favorite teams and players, and I wrote the information on large cards.

I tell my students that they are sportscasters, and that it's their job to pick out one of these cards from the Sports Page, (a 2' x 3' formboard that holds the cards), and read it several times with a partner. I also tell them that real sportscasters usually read their scripts over several times so that they feel more comfortable when they are reading on TV.

After the students enthusiastically read their cards over a few times with a peer, I have them rehearse in front of me. Now they are ready to go on TV. I have a hollowed out TV that the kids love to be in. I put a sportscaster's cap on the student, and it's LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

This has been a very successful way to get my students excited about reading, and it's lots of fun for them - and for me!

As an extension activity I have my students writing their own Sports Page Magazine. I have sentence strips with two or three current sports news items on them. I purposely misspell words, and leave out capitals and punctuation. It is their job as sports editors to find these mistakes and retype the pieces on the word processor. I like to have my students work in teams so that the task is less intimidating and more enjoyable. They love finding my mistakes. One student commented, "I want to be a Sports Editor when I grow up."

At the end of the year my students will have their own Sports Page Magazine with pictures of themselves on the front cover as sports editors and sportscasters.

Another extension activity: If you or your school have a video camcorder, you could tape one broadcast per student and let them watch themselves on TV too! this can also give students great feedback on their presentation skills. - ed.

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