Publications
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This is probably the hardest working classroom in the school. I am in the process of redesigning the course to model a "learning hospital" type of learning environment. Journalism colleges often use this model to have students learn by doing. There will be traditional instruction, but most learning will happen through actual live coverage. That means that our mistakes and learning curve will be published. When I flip through any yearbook, I can see the "early pages" and notice the growth difference compared to the "later pages." The same will happen with the online newspaper this year.
So what is Publications? Well, it's actually three classes in one: Journalism (ethics, history, principles & skills, etc.) Newspaper staff (Crown) and Yearbook staff (Memorare.) Usually, we have two teachers manage this classroom (one per staff) but this year, only one teacher will be managing the day-to-day class operations of both staff. I am very excited to gain experience into our Yearbook side and combine our staff to gain journalistic experiences as being a part of both staffs!
On the YEARBOOK side....
The yearbook staff starts and end in the summer. As we are wrapping up a book, we are already planning the next one. Students will be given the opportunity to select their pages for coverage during our summer camp and within the first week of school. This year, we have assigned our yearbook spreads by quarter. That way, we have opportunities to help manage workloads. The first weeks of school are a flurry of activity as we plan the new book, manage the school-wide distribution of last year's books, and enter in sales for this year's books.
On the NEWSPAPER side....
This year, we will be continuing with our electronic newspaper publication, School Newspaper Online (SNO) in addition to producing our commemorative physical issues for the Seniors. This means that newspaper staffers will have articles due every two weeks. I do not want students to "specialize" in any one type of article, or have a "beat" of coverage during the first quarter. It's important that they learn how to cover all sorts of events - as that usually is the case with their entry-level journalism assignments. Editors will have their hands full keeping up with those submissions - but hopefully, it will be a healthy system. Since it is our first year, it's difficult to determine exactly how things will go. The best we can do is to go into it with a plan and anticipate a certain amount of adjustment along the way.
