School Newspaper

[MissTeach]

I have been given the great honor of being in charge of the school newspaper!!! Yippee! :mad: Due to money problems in our school, all teachers had to take on new duties that teacher's aides took care of in the past. So, I get the newspaper.

I would love to have some suggestions about how to make the paper more creative and not so 'hum drum' as one student stated. Any ideas out there?

[Karenrbw]

Our school paper had a puzzle section. The would have a crossword of students names - but we are in a pretty small school. "This senior hit a parked car in the school parking lot one morning." "This sophomore likes to experiment with her hair color and changes it about twice a week."
The first issue of the year, they would interview the new staff. Trivia questions about school with a prize to the first person with the correct answer. They would work hard for just a 2 liter of soda.
Student advice column - keep it light hearted!
Matching up baby pictures with staff members?
Don't let the kids just feature their friends. I didn't supervise our scrapbook really close one year and ended up with pictures of about 5 different people and almost no one else. Everyone likes to see something about themselves.

[sarypotter]

Aaah, school newspaper. Memories of senior year, now a decade ago ... *sigh* ...

I like to think my little high school paper was very interesting, but then again, I was kind of a nerd in high school! :P We had a poetry/art section where students could submit their work. We had an "opposing viewpoints" column each month in which two people wrote from opposing viewpoints on a current issue or event. We had a comics section. We interviewed a staff member each month. We also did goofy things like printing an April Fool's issue upside-down on the back of the regular April issue.

My advice is to take the lead of a few trustworthy students, if they've got ideas. Give them as much freedom as you can to have fun with the paper. But that's the nostalgia talking ...

Yeah, I'm no help this morning. Sorry! :P

[dtrim]

I agree with Karenbrw to watch out that the same people don't appear over and over in the newspaper. The same advice I'd give to yearbook advisers goes for newspaper advisers: get a list of the entire student body from the office. When you interview one kid, highlight her name on the list. Once everyone is highlighted (or 90%), get a new list.

Try to cover things that don't usually make it into the paper. That kid in homeroom is starting a band. Who's into dirt bikes? Who works nearly 40 hours a week outside of school and why?

My rock pile of features stories included:

heap of the month (student and awful car - a big favorite)
athlete of the month (chosen by committee of sports writers and coaches)
photo poll (goofy question and answer with photos)
video game reviews


Instruct your student journalists to ask kids they interview for story ideas, too. Have them say, "Do you know anyone who does something interesting in their spare time?"

Start asking other schools to start exchanging newspapers with you, too. Those make for great classroom discussions.

Best wishes for success!

Diane

[MissTeach]

Thanks for all the great ideas! I'm going to start Monday morning by giving my students these suggestions. I'm also going to see about exchaning newspapers with other schools; thanks for that suggestion, dtrim! If I'm going to have to be in charge of the school newspaper, then I'm going to make sure it is the best school newspaper we've ever had! (Yes, I am a little competitive!)

[dtrim]

I wish you well, MissTeach! You might want to contact your local scholastic press association as well. I think it's the New Mexico Scholastic Press Association, or NMSPA. You'll get tons of help there.

As a new adviser, here's what I'd do:

Order Patricia Osborne's Newspaper Adviser's Survival Guide - it's terrific
Get information and help from the local Scholastic Press Association
Visit the SPLC, the Student Press Law Center and become a member
Order Law of the Student Press from the SPLC
Join the Journalism Education Association and hang out on their forums
Read about how to make a student newspaper an open forum for student experession (see SPLC)
Create an editorial board and let the students make the policy and decisions. PM me and I might be able to dig up my paper's old policy.
Get an editorial calendar and stick to it. Have students work on evergreen stories that you can plug in any issue.
Contact advertisers. The military is usually good for a full-page ad in every issue. :)
Plan a unit on law and ethics. Make sure your students know what they can do vs. what they should do so when those ethical situations arise, they're ready.
Visit Poynter.org's scholastic journalism site
Visit highschooljournalism.org, run by the ASNE, the American Society of Newspaper Editors
Make a friend on your local daily's staff. Call up your favorite writer or columnist and tell that person you like her work. I bet she'll adopt you and your paper. :) Choose someone in features so you can get your kids in to watch movies for reviews. :)


It's a blast, but it's tough. Good luck!

I almost forgot: my favorite printer is JS Printing.

Again, best wishes for success!

Diane