In late January of 2022, the morning announcements at KSS were changed in a fundamental way. Instead of being read over the PA system, a Google slide was sent out each morning for teachers to present to their classes. There have been diverse opinions on this change.
Google slide announcements definitely have benefits. Students who had trouble hearing the announcements can now read them off the screen. Teachers can make sure students are paying attention while the announcements are being read. They also include visuals and daily jokes. “Occasionally, one time, one of the jokes is funny,” said James Lewis. High praise indeed.
But does any of this really matter if the announcements aren’t being shown? This new method of Google slide announcements could work if teachers were enthusiastic about reading them and remembered to do so each morning. Sadly, this may be expecting too much.
A survey conducted at KSS on May 27th suggested that the majority of teachers do not read the announcements. Out of 43 students interviewed only 7 said their teachers consistently read the morning announcements. 56% of students said their teachers did not read them at all, while 28% said only sometimes. These statistics indicate that most students are not getting essential information on a daily basis.
A few EAs said most teachers forget (or neglect) to read them. “Quite a few teachers don’t bother putting them up,” said Ms. Fegan, who felt the new system was not effective. “I think it was way better when they were being announced,” admitted Ms. Cappus.
“I think more students get the information they need when they [the announcements] are done over the PA,” said Ms. Meier. She wasn’t the only teacher who thought so. Some teachers reported that it was frustrating how most of the information on the Google slides was just for grads and irrelevant to everyone else. This raises another issue that is applicable to both the PA and the Google slide announcements. Some teachers suggested that separate announcements be done for grade 12s.
Effectiveness aside, many students, teachers, and staff genuinely enjoyed the old PA announcements. “I love the announcements being done over the PA in the morning,” said Ms. Johnson. Ms. Meier agreed.
The announcements started being student-run in October of the 2021/2022 school year. The students who took this on added a little jingle at the start of each announcement: “Good Morning KSS,” could be heard over the speakers each morning. A surprising number of students have reported that they loved these announcements, “The songs made me happy” said Laila Brown. Sasha Frizell also confided that she enjoyed the songs. Frizell said they were somehow “comforting and soothing”. Leo Fenton reported, “the songs gave me a strong will to live.” A few students said they didn’t love the intro song and thought it was “cringy” but they were in the minority.
It seems that the PA system facilitated a more fun and interactive method of announcements. However, it wasn’t perfect.
Students reported the sound of the announcements in the gym was especially loud and overwhelming. In other classrooms, the announcements were talked through and barely heard. Despite these disadvantages, 72% of students said they preferred announcements over the PA system to Google slides.
There is overwhelming evidence to suggest that the current announcement system at KSS does not work. While the PA system was more popular than what is in place now, a superior alternative should be looked into. “Anything, in my opinion, is better than what we have now,” said Maya Sailland. This seems to be the general consensus among students.
Students, teachers, and staff were asked what they would think of video announcements. Many were confused as to what this would entail. Student-run video announcements are often seen in American films depicting high school life, but they don’t just exist in the movies. “At Southgate Middle School [Campbell River B.C] there was an audio-visual club where the students did video announcements in the morning,” said Mr. Dodd. He emphasized that the video announcements were “very successful.”
Video announcements could be a great way to engage students and brighten up everyone’s morning. “Video announcements would be alright as long as teachers remembered to show them,” said Ms. Fegan, bringing us back to the original issue. Perhaps a combination of the PA system and video/Google slide is what’s needed - a quick message to welcome students and to remind teachers to present the announcements and then the video or Google slide which will have been sent out to each class.
There are lots of possible solutions but what’s happening now isn’t working. Going into the 2022/2023 school year the announcement system and teachers’ attitude towards the announcements must change.
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