In just two days in late January, local television stations visited Overholser Elementary School six times. Those six visits resulted in six positive stories airing on local newscasts.

How did it happen? Easy.

For television, news is rarely news unless it involves interesting or exciting video, or at least video that shows people moving. In cases where there is not something visually interesting they can shoot video of, they want the story to be timely. Overholser received positive coverage because they offered stories that were both timely and visually interesting.

One station came to watch a fifth-grade class watch the presidential inauguration. They then interviewed students about what they thought. This story was news because it was timely.

News stations also came out because there were several stories that would allow for active, interesting video to be shot.

One class of first-grade students were learning about estimating and measuring using colorful plastic links to measure school secretaries, hallways and playground equipment. Students in another first-grade class were learning similar lessons using Unifix cubes to measure a large dog, a medium-sized dog and a small dog. In still another first-grade class, students studying how animals stay warm in cold weather dipped their hands into icy water. One hand was designated as their "polar bear hand" and encased in plastic bags holding lard.

Will you soon have students out of their seats to learn material or skills in an interesting, unique or active way? If you do, media may wish to cover it.

Do you have students engaged in something timely – something that pertains to the season, the time of year or current events? In the next few months we have observances of Johnny Appleseed Day, St. Patrick's Day, Earth Day, William Shakespeare’s birthday and Mother’s Day. Daylight saving’s time will begin and the April 15 tax deadline will come along. If your students will be engaged in activities in some way related to these holidays, media may wish to cover it.

If you want to see local news media put education in a good light, you simply need to share the timely and active lessons being taught in your classrooms.

Is something good happening in your school that the community should know about? Are students engaged and learning through interesting, colorful or creative assignments or projects?

We’d like to know about it. Just send an e-mail to slindley@putnmancityschools.org

In your e-mail, let us know:

• Who is involved (Fifth-grade students at Northridge Elementary, leadership students at Putnam City High, etc.)
• What’s happening (Two sentences to four paragraphs describing the class or school activity)
• When it is happening (List day, date and starting and ending time of the activity)
• Where is it happening. (List the school and room)
• The value of the activity or event. (Why is it good for students or teachers to be involved in this activity? How will it improve learning or strengthen the district?)

We may ask a few more questions to get a good sense of the activity or event, and we'll share the final version of a tip sheet or press release before we send it to local media.