Okay so I accidentally commented when I meant to post.
I am Virginia and I have been teaching at Turlock High School in Turlock, CA for four years, I have taught journalism here for three years.
I took over our school paper under rough conditions. I have worked hard just to rebuild the newsroom after more than a decade of having it passed from teacher to teacher, no one staying for too long. Now that I have all the equipment needed and have resolved some of our business issues, I am interested in making the experience more beneficial to the kids. We have worked for so long on survival mode, just trying to have enough kids in the class to cover events, having enough computers that work, finding talented writers (at one time our paper was the dumping ground for any kid who did not have an elective), and dealing with a new staff every year (we had a high turn around) that we have not had time to build a solid understanding of journalistic writing, reporting, layout and interviewing. My main goal is to learn how to take my students out of survival mode and start creating a more appropriate, higher level of education, a paper that we can all be proud of and better understand the laws that govern journalism.
To top all this off I am teaching summer school, moving, going to the Reynold's Institute and attending Yearbook camp. Who said teachers get three months of vacation?
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Hi Virginia - It sounds as if we might be trading places next year. You will be moving forward, while I feel as if I will be moving backwards. I am just coming off a three-year streak of having the same students in Journalism I, II, and III. By the end of this year, my advanced students pretty much ran the show. They knew what I was looking for as far as stories, coverage, angles, photos, graphics, layout, etc. The also had the "system" down and directed the Journalism I students throughout the production of the newspaper. I lost all of my strongest Journalism students to graduation this year and am looking toward a year with a LOT of Journalism I students and 3 of 4 Journalism II editors who are very weak. I hope we both learn how to move forward out of survival mode, a mode I will be in for the first time in three years.
ReplyDeleteHello Kye and Va! I, too, am trying to figure out how to teach the skills of a journalist to kids who are taking the class because they did away with study halls. I really want to make it interesting and fun and grow some civic-minded citizens. Can't wait to meet you both. Lynn
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