The Campbell Reporter

Cover Story

Making Headlines

O n the wall of Campbell Middle School's KDOG studios hangs a 10-year-old photo of the station's first crewmembers. Scrawled just above one of the smiling faces is the autograph of Ryan Wieber. Now 24 and a digital effects professional making his living in Hollywood, Wieber just may be one of the studio's most famous alumni: In September 2007, he received an Emmy award for his work as lead visual effects compositor on Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Battleground, winning in the category of "Outstanding Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special."

In all probability, few of the students producing the daily newscasts at CMS are likely to take home a similar statuette. But under the tutelage of technology teacher Carrie Tibbs, who has overseen KDOG for more than a decade, the budding broadcasters are all acquiring skills that will make them winners.

In 1997, Tibbs was a sixth-grade teacher who sandwiched technology lessons into her classes. As the school prepared for a major renovation, Tibbs began thinking about building a video studio. A visit to Redwood Middle School in Saratoga, where students were already working with digital media tools, convinced Tibbs to lobby for a similar program in Campbell.

"The people at Redwood put me in touch with the company that had installed their system, and I got to work closely with the architect who built our own studio," Tibbs says. "There had never been anything like this in our immediate area, so it was a real leap of faith on the part of our administration to put this in."

Though Tibbs was conversant with computers, video production was a new arena for her. Still, the first day the KDOG studio-- named for CMS' bulldog mascot--and computer lab were open for business, Tibbs gamely plunged in.

"I didn't know how to do any of it, but that first day we still did a live broadcast," she says with a laugh. "Then we shut down for a month and trained all of the crew. And at the end of September we started doing regular productions, and have done so every day for 10 years since."

Why do Tibbs and her crew of 12 adolescents come in every morning, a full hour before school starts, to put KDOG on the air? "Communication is really important, and the broadcasts ensure that everyone gets the same message at the same time. Plus, the shows give our school an identity, and our kids a voice," Tibbs says.

Adds student Veronica Harris, "My brother Patrick was on KDOG four years ago, and he had tons of fun. So when I asked Mrs. Tibbs if I could join the class, she said yes ... and now I'm having lots of fun, too."

Understandably, the chance for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders to run cameras, record sound, edit video and otherwise do what Tibbs refers to as "tinkering with the toys" does sound more enjoyable than, say, taking a math test or writing a book report. But it's much more than fun and games, Tibb believes: Her students are picking up behaviors and skills that are necessary for their future success. "My forté is in creating an environment where the students are self-directed," she says. "When someone says he or she doesn't know how to do something, I'll ask who does ... and when five hands go up, I'll say 'Check with them first, then if you're still having trouble, come back and see me.' Isn't that the way things work in the real world?"

Tibbs adds that the creation of a daily newscast encourages her students to acquire digital literacy skills in a transparent way. "Hardly anyone ever mentions technology; they talk about the fact that they're working toward a common goal. For them, technology is basically invisible," she says.

Each morning, Tibbs arrives before the KDOG crew and writes the day's script, which typically runs five to seven minutes in length. The content usually includes announcements about upcoming school activities, sports events and the like, and the occasional short film produced by a student. When time permits, KDOG's production staff can add any news items of their own; anchors Nick Staub and Misty Davis are free to toss in ad-libs as well. But mostly, Tibbs says, students follow the approved flow of the broadcast, always ensuring that the content is G-rated.

"Never in 10 years have I had to worry about someone saying something inappropriate," she notes.

"Someone said 'damn' on-air once, when the DVD player wasn't working," Nick points out helpfully.

"OK, you're right," Tibbs responds. "But that was the exception. For a lot of kids, that would be a fun thing to try to get away with. I think the fact that our students don't even attempt anything like that is a testament to their character."

Ask any of the KDOG team what they like best about producing the morning newscasts, and some very similar themes emerge: meeting new friends, working together and a sense of belonging. The "cool" factor is inevitably mentioned as well.

"The coolest thing is having a bond with these people; getting to know people I probably wouldn't have gotten this close to," Misty says.

"I like having this close bond with everyone, but also using this cool technology stuff that I'll get to use in the future," Mariah Zuniga adds.

Clancy Hickinbotham says his experience in front of the camera gave a definite boost to his status on campus. "When I was the anchor, everyone came up and said hi to me. They still do; it's really cool," he says.

When the question is put to Nick, he immediately starts snapping his fingers, bopping his head, and singing the chorus of Sister Sledge's 1970s anthem, "We Are Family."

Listening to her seventh-grade anchor's performance, Tibbs can't help but smile. "This really is a like a small family," she acknowledges. "They're all like brothers and sisters, and I guess I'm the mom. We have fights and we argue, but we all take care of each other, and we always make up. Ultimately, I think all kids are looking to connect with an adult. And with this small class size, our kids get to do that."

In Tibbs' view, the biggest benefit to the KDOG initiative is that she can use technology to connect with today's generation of students, whom she refers to as "digital natives," in a way that is meaningful to them.

"Our kids are wired from the day they're born; they come out of the womb with a cell phone in their hands," Tibbs says, "but when they get to school, we tell them to turn off the phone, put the headphones away, and open up a textbook and take out a piece of paper. That's not where these kids are coming from."

Tibbs, whose license plate reveals that she's a devoted "MAC USER," instead prefers to use technology tools to engage her young charges, while reinforcing traditional academic disciplines. She notes that writing and editing scripts requires both web research and language arts proficiency, while history and social studies often figures into the creation of broadcast content. Ensuring that music, voiceovers and visuals are all in synch requires that students keep their math skills honed as well. Perhaps most importantly, from the start crew members must learn to manage deadlines and work independently.

"Sometimes it's a challenge with the sixth-graders, because they don't know how to behave in an environment where the teacher is more of a facilitator," Tibbs says. "But by the end of the trimester, they've learned to be much more self-directed. And that is the greatest gift I could give them."

Over the years, Tibbs has hosted a number of teachers from inside and outside of the school district, showing off her students' technical and teamwork prowess. Fisher Middle School video teacher and technology mentor Dianna Williamson gives kudos to Tibbs for mentoring her in launching her own daily broadcast in Los Gatos. "A lot of our success was because of Carrie," Williamson says. "I modeled our program on our shared vision of what's possible for kids; the logistics of the class, and establishing high standards for what kids can do. We owe a great deal of credit to Carrie and Campbell Middle School."

Williamson's KRJF team will headline "School Night at the Apple Store" in Los Gatos on March 25, demonstrating the team's digital mastery. Tibbs ensures that her own students have the chance to do similar presentations at the Apple Stores at least twice yearly, so members of the community can help celebrate the KDOG crew's achievements.

"I spend a lot of time taking kids out to places like the Apple Store, and bringing people in to see what they're doing, because I want the world to know what's going on here," Tibbs says proudly. "This is a great school; absolutely great. And our kids are doing fabulous things."