Teaching Journalism: The Newspaper Production Cycle

Someone found this blog, saw in my profile that I'd taught high school journalism, and asked me if they could ask me some questions about it.

Since I wouldn't have survived as a journalism teacher (or as a teacher, for that matter!) if I hadn't asked a bajillion questions of kind, patient colleagues, I am always glad to pass on what I've learned - which, unfortunately, not every veteran teacher is willing to do as a help to poor idealistic novices. I love being able to share what I learned the hard way, to help minimize the painful trial and error of others! The knowledge shared here is from four years of teaching a foundational journalism class grades 9-11, four years of advising a high school newspaper staff, and 1 1/2 years of advising a high school yearbook staff. Not a LOT of experience - but just enough!

So, this being the end of the school year, I was asked about the newspaper production cycle. If you would like more details, please let me know!

To give you a VERY general idea of how the production cycle for the Newspaper class worked at the school where I taught:

(1) Every person on staff (so each student in the class) brings in 5 written article ideas (HW from the night before). These can be gleaned from current events, the newspaper, magazines, the Internet, their friends/parents/coworkers/teachers, WHEREVER. (One of our problem areas was with sports, so I usually required that at least 1 of the 5 ideas had to be a sports or related idea.)

(2) That day (and maybe the next), the ideas are presented by each person, just going around in a circle. The editor-in-chief (EIC) and the adviser takes notes. The written ideas - the homework from the night before - are collected at the end of class to count for a grade. Also, while presenting ideas, most tangents are ok, because that's how more ideas are generated (typical brainstorming).

(3) The EIC - we had 2 co-editors - (sometimes with the adviser) organize stories into categories - sports, opinions, features, news, entertainment, etc. They see where deficits are in article ideas, and the class brainstorms some more about the deficit areas to come up with enough ideas. The EICs then choose which story ideas will make the issue, assigns stories to people (some staffs allow people to choose what story they want, but that's an explanation for another day!), and deadlines are announced for research/interviewing, rough drafts, and final drafts. At each stage/phase in the process, work is checked for grade purposes and to make sure people are making progress, as well as to spot problems and answer questions.

(4) The EICs, other editors, and adviser read through stories, etc. etc. (repeated process until final draft is reached).

(5) Page/section editors begin layout of pages, graphics are designed, headlines written, photos taken, etc. (Repeated revision/editing process.)

(6) Finalized version of newspaper is sent to press (we used the local newspaper for printing) and distributed around the school (different schools do distribution differently).

(7) The day after papers are distributed, as a staff we go over the print copy with a fine tooth comb, looking for proofreading mistakes and critiquing story/writing quality, AS WELL AS critiquing layout/design - what could have been better, what comments have they heard in the halls and from friends, etc. (Usually this is done in groups, and then presented to the class and written on the board. I bought magnetic clips to post each page on the board for everyone to see, in addition to the hardcopy each student had in hand.)

(8) The next day after the critique is (ahem) free day, and if they want snacks/food, it is up to THEM to plan it and bring it! Their homework that night of the free day is to bring their 5 ideas the next day for discussion, and the cycle begins again.