The ATA Magazine - Editor’s Notebook
Volume 69, Nov/Dec 1988
Teachers Teaching
When the whole thing began in the spring of 1985, I started having serious doubts about what I was getting myself and the Association involved in. It seemed like a simple concept—get some teachers together to give homework assistance to junior high school students by means of telephone and television. The people at the ACCESS Network were very receptive to the idea, and Homework Hotline went on air that fall. Maybe the short time span between talking about the project and actually doing it worked to the advantage of the show. If there had been more time to dither and second-guess about where we were headed, Homework Hotline may never have made it to air.
But I still harbored some concerns. For example, the teachers. Now, I believe that any teacher who has the nerve to audition to teach on television probably has the professional act well in hand. The truth of this statement was borne out in our first auditions. But teaching to a television camera and to a classroom are really worlds apart. Teaching on television presents a whole new way of doing things. In a typical four-minute shift, the teacher has to teach a lesson, cannot write on the board in lines longer that two feet, cannot digress to other topics, must confine his or her movement on the set and must continue talking almost non-stop. During this time, the teacher must contend with being wired for sound, talk coherently over the noise from the teachers on the telephones, follow camera cues and fit the commentary to the persistent time signals from the unforgiving floor director. Not easy tasks. And few of our teachers came with the television skills that were needed. The doubts began.
Homework Hotline is a coproduction of the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the ACCESS Network. The basis of this partnership is that each party contributes what it does best. The Association provides people who teach. ACCESS provides people who make fine television. As the first year of the show unfolded it was fascinating to watch the melding of these skills. On the production side, the ACCESS people learned what the teachers wanted to get across and adapted it for broadcast. In return, the teachers learned not only to cope with the restrictions of television but also to turn these restrictions to the advantage of even better teaching. Watching from the sidelines, I saw our teachers adapt and grow, and I saw the show quickly develop into high quality television. My doubts eased and quickly disappeared.
In October, Homework Hotline began its fourth season. Over the years, different faces have appeared, and teachers new to the program have learned about teaching on television. Our veterans just keep getting better at this hybrid form of teaching, and each year this has been reflected in the high production values of the show. The people at ACCESS keep the heat on by continually updating Homework Hotline with everything from new sets to graphic embellishments, puzzler prizes and imaginative promotions.
The program works and the numbers show it. One hundred and ninety-eight programs in three years. Two hundred and sixty-four hours of live, interactive television, plus 99 hours of rebroadcast, and 27,500 telephone calls from all over the province. A combined budget this year of over $365,000, including a substantial grant from Imperial Oil. I think it’s safe to say we’re onto a good thing.
There are some other indicators of success. One is the type of callers who seek assistance. Junior high school students are the people we’re trying to help. But lots of calls come from upper elementary kids, high school and college students and, bless ‘em, adults who need help with specific, one-time problems. Like, how many cubic metres of cement do I need for my new garage pad?
Another indicator, one that I have been told about but have never witnessed, apparently occurs on the premises of a well-known home-furnishings store. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, all the television sets on the display floor are tuned to Homework Hotline. The store’s patrons stand two and three deep and catch bits and pieces of the program. This phenomenon gets right down to why the show has succeeded. ACCESS has provided the blend of enigmatic arts that results in high quality television. As viewers, we tend to take this marvel for granted. But what this contribution allows is that most of the province gets to watch something that is almost never seen by anyone over eighteen years of age, something inherently fascinating. The mystery factor is commonplace to teachers because it is something they do every day. But you might like to consider how very special it is to many people.
It is simply teachers teaching.
Volume 69, Nov/Dec 1988
Teachers Teaching
When the whole thing began in the spring of 1985, I started having serious doubts about what I was getting myself and the Association involved in. It seemed like a simple concept—get some teachers together to give homework assistance to junior high school students by means of telephone and television. The people at the ACCESS Network were very receptive to the idea, and Homework Hotline went on air that fall. Maybe the short time span between talking about the project and actually doing it worked to the advantage of the show. If there had been more time to dither and second-guess about where we were headed, Homework Hotline may never have made it to air.
But I still harbored some concerns. For example, the teachers. Now, I believe that any teacher who has the nerve to audition to teach on television probably has the professional act well in hand. The truth of this statement was borne out in our first auditions. But teaching to a television camera and to a classroom are really worlds apart. Teaching on television presents a whole new way of doing things. In a typical four-minute shift, the teacher has to teach a lesson, cannot write on the board in lines longer that two feet, cannot digress to other topics, must confine his or her movement on the set and must continue talking almost non-stop. During this time, the teacher must contend with being wired for sound, talk coherently over the noise from the teachers on the telephones, follow camera cues and fit the commentary to the persistent time signals from the unforgiving floor director. Not easy tasks. And few of our teachers came with the television skills that were needed. The doubts began.
Homework Hotline is a coproduction of the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the ACCESS Network. The basis of this partnership is that each party contributes what it does best. The Association provides people who teach. ACCESS provides people who make fine television. As the first year of the show unfolded it was fascinating to watch the melding of these skills. On the production side, the ACCESS people learned what the teachers wanted to get across and adapted it for broadcast. In return, the teachers learned not only to cope with the restrictions of television but also to turn these restrictions to the advantage of even better teaching. Watching from the sidelines, I saw our teachers adapt and grow, and I saw the show quickly develop into high quality television. My doubts eased and quickly disappeared.
In October, Homework Hotline began its fourth season. Over the years, different faces have appeared, and teachers new to the program have learned about teaching on television. Our veterans just keep getting better at this hybrid form of teaching, and each year this has been reflected in the high production values of the show. The people at ACCESS keep the heat on by continually updating Homework Hotline with everything from new sets to graphic embellishments, puzzler prizes and imaginative promotions.
The program works and the numbers show it. One hundred and ninety-eight programs in three years. Two hundred and sixty-four hours of live, interactive television, plus 99 hours of rebroadcast, and 27,500 telephone calls from all over the province. A combined budget this year of over $365,000, including a substantial grant from Imperial Oil. I think it’s safe to say we’re onto a good thing.
There are some other indicators of success. One is the type of callers who seek assistance. Junior high school students are the people we’re trying to help. But lots of calls come from upper elementary kids, high school and college students and, bless ‘em, adults who need help with specific, one-time problems. Like, how many cubic metres of cement do I need for my new garage pad?
Another indicator, one that I have been told about but have never witnessed, apparently occurs on the premises of a well-known home-furnishings store. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, all the television sets on the display floor are tuned to Homework Hotline. The store’s patrons stand two and three deep and catch bits and pieces of the program. This phenomenon gets right down to why the show has succeeded. ACCESS has provided the blend of enigmatic arts that results in high quality television. As viewers, we tend to take this marvel for granted. But what this contribution allows is that most of the province gets to watch something that is almost never seen by anyone over eighteen years of age, something inherently fascinating. The mystery factor is commonplace to teachers because it is something they do every day. But you might like to consider how very special it is to many people.
It is simply teachers teaching.