Teaching To The Test Pattern

Jennifer Gainesbuilt a student broadcast program that works. So naturally, she's about tochange it.

Fresh off her LEAD CTAE graduation (the night before this recording), theStatesboro High School AVTF teacher sat down at the VidPod to talk about aseason of wins... and why next year she's stepping into territory she's nevertaught before.

In this episode:

- What LEAD CTAE actually is, and why Jennifer applied feeling "made formore beyond the classroom"
- A year in the numbers: 12 episodes of SHS Spotlight and 8 live-streamedmorning announcement shows
- Why her TikTok-raised ninth graders are pushing the program toward shortfilms
- How a broadcast-side teacher prepares to teach filmmaking for the firsttime
- Touring the Georgia Capitol, etiquette training, and the other surprisesinside LEAD CTAE
- Joining the Student Television Network (STN) and what year two looks like

If you're an AVTF or CTE teacher wondering whether your program's next chapterrequires you to become a student again, this conversation is for you.

Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.com production. Subscribe formore conversations with the teachers building broadcast and film programsacross the Southeast.

Find Jennifer's students' work on YouTube: Statesboro High School.

He coaches a two-time state champion broadcast team that just finished eighth in the nation... and his big secret isn't a drill or a piece of gear. It's that he refuses to hand out an easy grade.

Jamey Trask from Fayette County High School sat down with Tom at the Georgia ACTE conference to talk about what it actually takes to build students who can write and stack a live show in 90 minutes. They get into the brutal math of the SkillsUSA Video News Production contest, the moment a grade stops mattering, and why the kids who get told "this isn't good enough, go fix it" end up thanking him for it.

In this episode:

- The SkillsUSA Video News Production contest broken down: 90 minutes, a stack of AP wire stories, one live take

- Why "go back and redo it" builds more pride than any grade ever could

- How 22 years in the room earns the kind of trust that lets a kid hear hard feedback

- Turning daily announcements into a weekly show students actually want to watch

- Putting the VidPod to work for student podcasts (video and all)

- Teaching kids to interview: research first, then throw out your question list by question two

- Using AI as a starting line, not a finish line

If you run a broadcast or AV program and you have ever wondered whether holding the line on quality is worth the friction, this one is for you.

New episodes of Teaching to the Test Pattern drop on StreamSemester.com. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation. StreamSemester.com.

He outproduced NASA. Seven cameras to their four at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center. And at the end of the year, he sat down and told me he didn't think he grew.This conversation with Billy Dunn from Albertville Innovation Academy is one of the most honest things we've put on this podcast. Billy came from Fox 6 in Birmingham — gold standard broadcast — walked into a classroom, and is now three years in, running five jumbotrons across five sports, building a state-level AV teacher conference from scratch, and wondering if he's doing it right. The answer might surprise you.In this episode:- Why imposter syndrome in year three looks nothing like year one — and why that matters- What happened when Billy got a football jumbotron at 2pm for a 7pm game- How a student went from "how long does this have to be?" to defending a one-second strobe effect as her creative call- The Alabama AV Teachers Boot Camp — born from one honest admission: "I don't know what I'm doing. Let's have a conference."- Why Billy stopped asking when to teach frame rates — and what he's teaching instead- The HERC project and how covering a NASA moon buggy competition gave his students a real beat to workIf you're a few years into AV teaching and you're winning things while still feeling like you're losing, this one's for you.Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.com production. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode, and head to StreamSemester.com for more resources built for AV and broadcast educators.

He shot highlights for ESPN as a teenager. He built a career across four TV stations in Birmingham. And he learned to do all of it because the guy who was supposed to show up one night... didn't.

Mark Hendren is three years into the classroom at Helena High School in Alabama, and he's thinking hard about how to give today's students the same thing someone gave him: a reason to say yes before they're ready.

In this episode:

• Why "failure is not an option" means something completely different to this generation

• The camera setup that students walk right past without looking up (and what that actually costs them)

• What Mark calls his "gold" in the classroom, and it's not who you'd expect

• Availability breeds opportunity, and the real story that proves it

• Why it's supposed to be terrible, and how to actually convince a student of that

• What year four looks like when you finally have a room you can lock

If you teach AV, broadcast, or any CTE class where students create rather than consume, this one's for you.

Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.com production. Subscribe so you don't miss what's next.

He has more TV and radio credits than most working journalists — and nine months ago, he walked into a high school classroom and had to learn how to take attendance for the first time.

Alex Jones spent seven years at WBRC 6 News in Birmingham across eighteen different roles, acted on Disney XD at 13, and ran a college radio station as general manager before teaching a single class at Thompson High School. This conversation is about what none of that prepared him for — and why he already has the thing that takes most teachers a decade.

**In this episode:**

- Why Alex volunteered to present at a statewide conference in his first year of teaching (and why that instinct matters)

- The "about me" strategy he ran week one — and why it paid off in November

- What happened after his students' first show (the answer is not what you'd expect)

- The promise he made to a kid who didn't believe he was good enough to lead

- What "year two" actually means when year one is survival

- The difference between knowing your industry and knowing your kids

If you teach AV, broadcast, or media production — especially in your first five years — this one is for you.

Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.com production. Subscribe for new episodes featuring teachers, stories, and the real work of building broadcast programs in K-12.

The dean of a nationally accredited college journalism program just told me he isn't sure his faculty is teaching some of his students anything they don't already know.
Tom sits down with David Marshall, Dean of the College of Media Arts and Communications at Savannah State University - the oldest public HBCU in Georgia - and the conversation goes to places most deans won't go. Three studentsfailed the senior capstone this semester. His first question wasn't about them. It was about what his program missed. That kind of accountability, from the top, is worth the full hour.
In this episode:

1. Why PowerPoints are dead in Whiting Hall — and what replaced them
2. The senior capstone class that has exactly one grade (an A) and industryjudges in the room
3. What digital-native students already know when they walk in the door, and the one thing they're missing
4. The $1.2 million investment in new technology — and why it was spent in two weeks
5. How the VidPod ended up in the JMC podcast center (and the dean's honest take on his early skepticism)
6. What a "culture of care" actually looks like when it also includes a kick in the pants

If you teach, advise, or send students toward careers in media and communications — this one reframes what the accountability conversation is supposed to sound like.
Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.com production.
Subscribe for new episodes featuring teachers, industry leaders, and the stories between the two.

What does a marketing teacher in Gwinnett County know about broadcast education? More thanyou'd expect.

Tom sits down with Evan Rosenberry at Collins Hill High School — the first marketing teacher in Teaching to the Test Pattern history — and the conversation goes places. AIin the classroom, why banning it might be the worst thing you can do for your students, a student MLB franchise project that ended up in Seoul, Korea, and what happened when Evan handed his kids the VidPod and said "figure itout."

Spoiler: they were ready to record before he even set a date.

In this episode:

• Sports & Entertainment Marketing at the high school level — and why video is marketing now
• Using AI: (Gemini + Claude) the right way in the classroom, and why telling students not to use it at all is setting them up to fail
• Project-based learning and what it reveals about your students that tests never will
• How one semester of podcasting changed kids Evan had taught for three years
• The VidPod at Collins Hill — covering a boys soccer team's run to the state final four

If you teach, advise, or care about what students are walking out the door actually ready to do — this one's for you.

Teaching to the Test Pattern is a StreamSemester.comproduction.

Subscribe for new episodes featuring teachers, industryleaders, and the stories between the two.