VABylineThe Newsletter of the VAJTA

datesmar 1 mar 6-9 april 16-19 june 15March 1 is the deadline for JEA Certification.

SIPA ConventionColumbia, South Carolina

NSPA Spring ConventionPhoenix. Arizona

VHSL Magazine, Yearbook & Newspaper entrees due

February 15, 2009 Volume 21 Issue 1

Inside: Division AA High School Journalism Programs p. 4Teacher Mentor Program available through

Reynolds Institute p. 6VAJTA Mentoring Programs build journalism education p. 7

Literary Magazines hold coffeehouse performances p. 10Lesson plan for mock interview p. 12

Scholastic National

Journalism Week

February 23rd-27th

VAJTABoard of Directors

Valerie Kibler, CJEDirectorHarrisonburg HS1001 Garbers Church Rd.Harrisonburg, VA 22801vkibler@harrisonburg.k12.va.us

Chad Rummel, CJEAssociate DirectorOakton HS2900 Sutton RdVienna, VA 22181Chad.Rummel@fcps.edu

Linda MercerRetiredSecretaryP.O. Box 914Halifax, VA 24558lmercer@halifax.com

Fran Sharer, CJETreasurer,JEA State DirectorVirginia Beach City PS545 Saddlehourn DriveChesapeake, VA 23322Fsharer@vbcps.k12.va.us

Martha AkersLoudon Valley HS340 N. Maple Ave.Purcellville, VA 20132martha.akers@loudon.k12.va.us

Fred CampbellSalem HS400 Spartan DriveSalem, VA 24153Fcampbell@roanoke.infi.net

Karen HardenBroadway HS269 Gobbler Dr.Broadway, VA 22815kharden@rockingham.k12.va.us

Shannon DaltonCarroll County HS100 Cavs LaneHillville, VA 24343shdalton@gmail.com

Jeanne HobbsJamestown HS3751 John Tyler HighwayWilliamsburg, VA 23185hobbsj@wjcc.k12.va.us

Eston MeltonMarshall HS7731 Leesburg PikeFalls Church, VA 22043eston.melton@fcps.edu

Jennifer Seavey, CJEThomas Jefferson HS6560 Braddock Rd.Alexandria, VA 22312jennifer.seavey@fcps.edu

Sharon LeiggGeorge Washington HS701 Broad StreetDanville, VA 24541smoore@mail.dps.k12.va.us

Chris WaugmanVA Byline EditorPrince George HS7801 Laurel Spring Rd.Prince George, VA 23875cwaugaman@pgs.k12.va.us

Board Liaison

Lisa GilesVirginia High School League1642 State Farm Blvd.Charlottesville, VA 22911lgiles@vhsl.org

Advisers

Naomi Dixon, CJERetired6992 Ivy Hill DriveWarrenton, VA 20187naomidixon@aol.com

Carol Lange, CJERetired2334 Harleyford CourtReston, VA 20191LangeJour@aol.com

Bert SmithRetired415 Creek AvenueHampton, VA 23669bsmith@vasc.org

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VABylineThe VA Byline is published to update and inform Virginia advisers

of newspapers, yearbooks, newsmagazines, literary magazines and broadcast programs.

All advisers are encouraged to contribute articles to share their knowledge and earn state recertification points.

The VA Byline is the official publication of the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers (VAJTA). To submit articles or request advertising rates, contact:

Chris WaugamanPrince George High School 7801 Laurel Spring Rd.Prince George, VA 23875(804) 733-2720

Volume 21, Issue 1February 15, 2009

www.VAJTA.org

Submission Information

Award AnnouncementsSandy Woodcock, Alan Weintraut win Pioneer Award, NSPA’s top honorSandy Woodcock is the director of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, based in Ar-lington, Va. Her work for the NAA Foundation has led to additional funding for adviser outreach and an update to landmark research about journalism education. She is also a frequent speaker and pre-senter at state, regional and nation-al conventions and workshops.

Alan Weintraut advises The A-Blast newspaper at Annandale (Va.) High School, where he also teaches media. A popular speaker at summer workshops and state and national conven-tions, Weintraut is a current member of the NSPA Board of Directors and was the 2006 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year.

The Pioneer Award is NSPA’s top honor to individuals. It recognizes substantial contributions to scholastic journalism outside regular job requirements. Seven people committed to improving scholastic journalism have been selected as NSPA Pioneer Award recipients for 2008.

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Scholastic National Journalism WeekFebruary 23rd-27th

The last week in February will be recognized as Scholastic National Journalism Week. This is a great time for schools across the state to not only educate their journalism stu-dents but to educate their entire school. Lessons on journal-ism history, 1st Amendment law and the changing world

of media are all areas of interest that can be shared with the school’s student body. There are many resources out there to help with plan-ning such events. JEA.org offers an entire pamphlet on activities for the week at http://www.jea.org/resources/jweek/weekinsert.pdf.

Here are some ways to get your staff and school involved during this week.

1. Advertise a week full of events. Use your school’s media and advertise a special occasion each day. You can select a historic journalist to mention each day of the week over the announcements. You might also make a day dress like your favorite font day. Cel-ebrate each day in a unique way.

2. This year there is a very spe-cial day during this week and that day is February 24th. This is the 40th Anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines. Many schools will be honoring this day by wearing arm bands that represent the ones worn by Mary Beth Tinker.

3. This week is also a good time to freshen up on 1st Amendment Law. While informing the school about Tinker v. Des Moines you can also instruct the school on other cases such as Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. This information is great for bulletin boards and classroom doors. Get your kids involved.

4. Contact your local news affili-ates and ask some of the reporters to come visit your school. You can set up a luncheon or speaker se-ries and have the journalist talk to your staff and school about what is going on in the professional world.

5. This is the time of year also when students start signing up for next year’s classes. Journalism Week is a great time to visit your feeder schools to talk to young students about getting involved in publications and media classes.

6. Keeping the idea of visiting in mind... set up a tour of a local newspaper or television station. Most places have a public rela-tions director. Find out who that person is and set up a tour. If you can’t bring the whole group with you, see if you can have a student intern for a day.

7. Set up a contest for the whole school. See who can design the

best Scholastic Journalism Week poster or video.

8. Follow a columnist each day. Find a noted columnist through the New York Times or Washing-ton Post and read a column each day of the week. Set aside 15 minutes at the beginning of each class to do this. Have the students send that columnist an email at the end of the week and request a response.

9. Write a letter to the editor. Have your staff follow an issue and then write a letter expressing his/her opinion on the matter. Send it to your local paper and look for it to get published. This can also work for the school. Encourage the stu-dent body to write in to the paper.

10. Learn some history and pass it on. Take a moment to incorporate the history teachers. Have them teach a lesson on yellow journal-ism and pair up with an English teacher who might be willing to talk about Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle or other related texts.

Whatever it is that celebrates the week have fun with it. Remember this is a great opportunity to get the entire school involved and the community. Don’t miss this opportunity it only happens once a year.

The first article in this series was an examina-tion of par-

ticipation and ex-cellence in VHSL Group A schools during the 2006-07 school year. This follow-up focuses on Group AA, the 91 schools in the League with populations between 741 and 1580 students that same year.

ParticipationParticipation survey data compiled and reported by school administrators, compared with a listing of schools that participate in VHSL publications evaluation services reveal that at least 71% of Group AA schools have a yearbook program in their schools, 52% have newspaper, 32% literary magazine and 3% newsmagazine. Of those existing programs, 42% participate in VHSL yearbook evaluation services, 32% in newspaper, 59% in literary magazine and 67% in newsmagazine.

Should more schools consider having their publications evaluated, and how do those schools that do measure up?

Of the 212 schools that reported having a yearbook program, 42 (20%) of them were Group A schools. Of the 42 Group A schools that have yearbook programs, 21 (50%) of them submit their publications for evaluation toward a VHSL championship. Of the 21, one (5%) received the high-est ranking of Trophy Class, four (19%) received the second highest ranking of First Place, 14 (67%) received the third high-est ranking of Second Place and two (9%) received the fourth highest ranking of Third Place.

At least 65 Group AA schools have year-book programs. Of the 27 that had their books evaluated by the VHSL, nine publi-cations received the highest ranking of Tro-

phy Class. Of the nine, six also received Trophy Class the year prior in 2005-06. Of the six, four received Trophy Class in 2004-05. And of those four, two received Trophy Class in 2003-04. In fact, one of those two schools, Broadway, has received eight consecutive Trophy Class rankings in the last eight years. The other school, Salem (of Salem), has received 16!

After a 19-year drought, Carroll County High School in Hillsville began submitting its yearbook for evaluation again under Adviser Shannon Dalton. In the three years since, the Cavalier Classic has earned two Second Place rankings and a most recently a First.

Dalton shares the evaluation criteria pack-ets with students (and administrators) at the beginning of each semester to show them all of the elements that a high quality book would contain. “I find that students new to yearbook at the high school level are shocked to see in print all of the things that we must do to be successful,” Dalton said.

The VHSL evaluation service was the first Dalton used. “It was a reasonably painless introduction into the world of ‘real’ year-books. The evaluation is very fair and as objective as possible. I like the fact that the categories are broken down into measur-able terms and skills that the students can work on to improve coverage.”

Based on recommendations given by judg-es on previous evaluations, the Cavalier Classic staff has added more writing to its publication and made major strides toward enhancing photography. “Each year, our VHSL evaluation provides valuable insight into how others outside our school commu-nity view our book and gives us fresh ideas about how to approach coverage,” Dalton said. “I also think it helps us maintain a high level of quality on things we’re doing right and gives us motivation to push for better work in areas we have weaknesses.”

Dalton proudly celebrates the accomplish-

ment of her staff and displays its certificates in the school office trophy case. “We really hold the VHSL evaluation in high regard and take great pride in saying we were sec-ond place and now first place in the state,” Dalton said. “We do make the VHSL our benchmark of success for the year, with the other evaluations taking a secondary role.”

Dalton is referring to out-of-state press associations that also offer evaluation ser-vices. The Cavalier Classic is also evalu-ated by Columbia Scholastic Press and the National Scholastic Press Association. “I think that the other evals are different because they take into effect national styles and trends, where as the VHSL is look-ing specifically at Virginia - and while it would be nice to be the best in the nation of course, we think it’s pretty special to be among the top books in our home state, and we like knowing we’re getting it right for a home audience. We have more of a sense of ownership in our VHSL state awards. It’s a system the staff members understand because they’ve grown up with VHSL in athletics and other aspects of their scholas-tic life, so it means something to them.”

Eleven other yearbooks in the 2006-07 school year received the second highest ranking of First Place. The remaining 7 publications received the third highest ranking of Second Place, and there were no Third Place finishers.

NewspaperOf the 47 Group AA schools that have newspaper programs, 15 had their papers evaluated by the VHSL. Advisers Valerie Kibler and Jeanne Hobbs of Harrisonburg and Jamestown High Schools, respectively were the only ones to lead their staffs to Trophy Class status in 2006-07. That year, there were also six First Place and seven Second Place finishers.

Harrisonburg High School has participated in VHSL evaluation services for 14 of the last 15 years, yielding consistent success based on Trophy Class or First Place rank-

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High school journalism programs in VirginiaJust who’s participating? And excelling?

Lisa Giles

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Numbers in VHSL

Publications

65 of the 91 AA Virginia High School League schools have yearbook programs.

At least 52% of the schools have newspapers.

27 of the Virginia High School League schools who participate in publication evaluation are Group AA (741-1580 students).

9 Group AA schools received the highest ranking of Trophy Class in 2006-2007 for yearbook.

2 of the 15 Virginia High School League schools who have a newspaper received Trophy Class.

Group AA Schools

29 Group AA schools have a literary magazine program.

17 Group AA schools submitted their literary magazines for evaluation in 2006-2007.

Lisa Giles is the Director of Activities for the Virginia High School League. E-mail her at lgiles@vhsl.org.

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15 of the 47 AA Virginia High School League schools submit their newspaper for evaluation.

ing in the last seven. But Kibler says she and her staff do not place much emphasis on VHSL evaluation results.

“I think it is really important when it is the only evaluation being done,” said Kibler, who has the Newsstreak evaluated by sev-eral press associations in addition to VHSL. “We look at the overall remarks and move along.”

Kibler attributes her staff’s consistent suc-cess to the students themselves who have high expectations and have developed a sense of pride in and commitment to their product. She says they never settle and constantly find ways to improve. If they have an Achilles heel, Kibler says, it might be motivation.

“Healthy competition is always a plus,” she said. “There are several publications in the state that we love to compete with – that’s great motivation!”

Literary MagazineWhen only a third of Group AA schools have literary magazine programs, some feel evaluation services for this type of publica-tion is all the more important.

“We generally look at a VHSL critique as a valid assessment of the product,” said Fred Campbell. “We rely heavily on evaluations from VHSL, because it offers feedback of a consistent high quality and that helps us take a more objective look at our efforts.”

Campbell is the literary and art magazine adviser of Delphi, published at Salem High School in Salem. “As we work on the magazine,” he said, “we get too close to it sometimes to really see it, so outside com-ments help us maintain our perspective.”

The formula seems to work, as Delphi has earned five Trophy Class rankings in the last six years. “We have worked very hard to reach Trophy Class status, and we covet it and try to protect it. Some years are better than others, so we do not always succeed,” said Campbell. “A critique from VHSL helps give us a new direction when we fall short.”

Other Group AA literary magazine pro-

grams, such as Chain of Thought produced by Tabb High School in Yorktown, do not take evaluations as seriously. “I place more emphasis on it than the students,” said Adviser Elizabeth Milne. “[The VHSL critique packet] is the first thing that I hand them, but they are more interested in put-ting out a ‘cool’ magazine.”

In doing that, the students still get a product they like and enjoy a learning experience at the same time, but producing a “cool” magazine sometimes defies award-winning conventions. Milne admits, “I will some-times avoid submission, because I don’t want to be embarrassed.”

In the last ten years, Tabb High School has submitted its literary magazine for an evaluation only four times, yielding three Second Place finishes and one First. “If we do well, I am proud. The kids are happy,” said Milne.

Salem and Tabb are two of at least 29 Group AA schools that had literary magazine programs in 2006-07. Of the 29, 17 had their magazines evaluated by the VHSL, and four of them earned the Trophy Class distinction that year. Seven placed First and six placed Second.

NewsmagazineNewsmagazine remains the least popular of the four publication types. Briar Woods was the only Group AA school to report having a newsmagazine program, though Broadway and Monticello were the only schools to actually participate in VHSL evaluation services, earning a First and Second Place rating, respectively.

Of course, it is quite possible that schools that do not have their publications evalu-ated still produce a high quality product

There were at least 19 instances of Group AA schools failing to report participation in publications programs in their schools when they actually did exist. Accordingly, even higher levels of participation than reported herein are certainly possible.

When I hear the term profes-sional development, I get a little antsy. I anticipate wasted

time spent covering information learned in first-year education courses. But for two weeks this summer I was immersed in truly helpful and inspirational profes-sional development, the kind teachers do not find too often.

Any newspaper adviser looking for some new tricks and a jump-start on the upcoming school year should apply to the Reynolds Institute, a two-week intensive course sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Washington and Lee University in Lexing-ton, Va. was one of the five hosting universities last summer, and I was fortunate to spend my two weeks there with 34 other teach-ers representing 20 states.

Make no mistake – this program is advertised as intensive, and it lives up to that designation. We spent approximately eight hours in class each day, only to spend several more hours work-ing in the journalism school lab or back at the hotel, pecking away on our laptops. Each day our classes would cover three to five topics, with a combination of lectures and workshops led by a talented group of professional journalists along with our program’s hard-working leaders, professors Brian Richardson and Pam Luecke from W&L and Jim McGonnell, 2008 Dow Jones High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. We immediately put our skills to work on assignments that included writing les-son plans, crafting a code of ethics and even writing articles and designing layouts for our institute newspaper, which we launched as both a print and online publication.

Two events in particular stand out from my time at the Reyn-olds Institute. The first is our trip to The Roanoke Times, where

we toured the state-of-the-art printing presses, met innovative new media editors and sat in on an afternoon editors’ meeting. The second is the detailed overview of scholastic press freedom Frank LoMonte, the director of the Student Press Law Center, shared with us during our second week in Lexington. LoMonte left me with clear, specific ways of expressing and defending student freedoms.

In late August when the reality of the new year set in, I threw out my old Journalism 1 lesson plans. I flipped through my Reyn-olds Institute notebook and made a list of over 100 new ideas I would try out. It’s already December and I’ve barely covered the best material, yet I am proud to report my students are demon-strating stronger writing and layout skills than ever. As I make daily changes to my classes, I approach my curriculum with renewed energy and stronger convictions, the best gifts from this summer.The Reynolds Institute provided me with more tangible gifts as well; namely, a collection of books and periodicals focused on scholastic journalism, one-year paid memberships to local and national scholastic journalism organizations, and so many online resources that I had to start a Delicious account just to manage them. Of course, the fact that all of this, along with our beautiful historic Hampton Inn accommodations and surprisingly tasty dining hall food, cost participants nothing was a rare treat. The program even reimbursed me for mileage driving to and from Lexington.

After my two weeks in Lexington, suddenly the term profes-sional development no longer has such a negative connotation. For that and so much more, I am indebted to the Reynolds Insti-tute.

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Stephanie Axelrod advises Valor Dictus, Robinson Secondary School’s newspa-per, in Fairfax, VA. Email her at stephanie.axelrod@fcps.edu

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Reynolds summeR InstItute

Stephanie Axelrod, Robinson Secondary School (Fairfax), Rebecca Doroshenk, Cumberland High School (Cumberland), and Aaron Willoughby, Prince Edward County High School (Farmville) all attended the two week Reynolds Institute last summer held at Washington & Lee University sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

Stephanie Axelrod

By Stephanie Axelrod

Although my two protégés are both named Mary and they both advise a newspaper, their situations are different and the assistance they want varies.

Mary E. is a first year adviser at the high school with over 20 years teaching experience in English. Mary P. is a second year middle school adviser with less than 10 years in teaching business/ computer skills. Clearly, their backgrounds prepared each adviser for a facet of school publications, but not the same one and not all of them.

When I visited the middle school in the fall of 2007 to see how the renovation had changed the place, I saw Mary P.’s room sign which indicated she was the newspaper adviser. I went in to meet her and offer my assistance. We had a good conversation and I returned a few times that school year with extra texts, work sheets, examples, etc. from my collection. I answered her questions and pointed her towards VAJTA, JEA, CSPA, etc. When I volunteered for VAJTA’s mentoring program, I felt sure she would be a protégé.

Mary E. was my department chair when I was teaching, and a good friend. She asked me if I would help her if she were to take over the newspaper upon the former adviser’s retirement. I, of course, said yes. Here was my second protégé.

I spent an afternoon with Mary E. in August looking at the texts and resources in place and suggesting topics that she might begin teaching to the staff. She had attended the Jcamp at Tech, so had a good idea of what lay ahead and planned to get out a paper every 3 or 4 weeks. She just needed a place to start.

Her main concerns, once school began, are the dramas created by the mostly ninth grade girl staff, keeping 23 students busy in the one class, their weak writing skills, and the hectic pace of producing a paper every 3 weeks--this schedule chosen by the senior editor who is eager and very good with technology.

Having taught junior high for nearly 20 years, I could sympathize and offer some suggestions for taming the drama queens, and I have listed some ideas and sought out others for assigning things to all the staffers. Teams on a topic or job work well with girls that age. I worked with the staff one day on their writing and Mary said they are doing better, following some of the tips I gave them. As to the rush of production, I suggested they adjust the schedule

and commiserated with Mary E. when the fatigue set in. The staff likes getting more papers out, and it keeps them busy, so it seems they will stay with it until the semester sees a change of staff, at least.

Mary P., on the other hand, works with 7th and 8th graders and they do a paper every nine weeks. Their reporting was of the “When we asked So and So what his favorite class was he said PE” variety. Actually, too many of their stories had only adult interviews. This group is shy about dealing with the other students for stories. Their layout in the first issue could be called scattered at best. There was no column plan, and they filled spaces with clip art or drawings. All photos were head shots.

In working with both the students and Mary P. I suggested they write reports rather than calling attention to the interview process, and encouraged them to get information from students, reminding them it is supposed to be the student paper after all. I urged them to select 3 or 4 columns for their basic pages, (it’s an 8.5 x 11 paper printed in-house) and to maintain them on each page. Clip art and drawings are now no-nos and they are doing much better on their writing. I went in and helped the teacher coach them on their first drafts just before the Thanksgiving break and they were much better. They have chosen a design format they will follow in the next issue.

Both teachers feel pressure to produce a publication and are struggling to find time to instruct the staff in the necessary skills to improve both writing and design. I have made several suggestions re sources of information and methods for teaching and producing at the same time. I see progress on the parts of both the advisers and the students.

I believe the advisers are glad to have someone they can call on who understands the situation and has experienced the same things and can tell them they will survive. They ask me to provide information in areas they feel less secure about and are proud to show what they and their staffs have accomplished between my visits. So far, the mentoring has been fun and productive. At least, so far, neither adviser has run off screaming into the night!

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VAJTA Mentoring Program

Linda Mercer is a retired journalism educator from Halifax County. She is currently a member of the VAJTA Board and serves as secretary. Email her at lmercer@halifax.com.

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If you serve it, they will come? What about all the world’s a stage...and now your magazine is on one too?

Too out there? Well, maybe not. Actually it’s kind of true. Think about it. Take that magazine off the page and onto the stage, make it come alive and make your audience, patrons, school, and community take notice of the talent of your students and publication. In short, having your magazine staff host an annual coffeehouse for your school is wonderful, a lot of work, but wonderful for you, your staff, the magazine, and the community. Why? I’ll tell you why. Having a coffeehouse…

1. It builds relationships with your staff and their parents.2. It helps develop positive relationships with your school administrators.3. It allows the community another opportunity to see the youth of the city in a creative and positive light.4. It garners positive media attentionand (not that publications are ever conscious of money) can make conservatively between $700-$2,000) for your publication.

Some may still be skeptical. I don’t blame you. Again, I argue that hosting a coffeehouse like the one I am suggesting is time-consuming, difficult, and in addition to your class load and the publication of the product that the coffeehouse promotes. But, it is worth it. Your staff will bond with you through this project as it is another avenue to have their work shine and to publicly show their hard work.

Secondly, having a coffeehouse nudges the some advisers to see the magazine as a product and the coffeehouse as a marketing tool. The community comes to associate your publication with a wonderful performance. The school loves the positive press. It’s a win-win all around, so let’s get started with a tentative year-long plan to host the perfect coffeehouse.

SEPTEMBER—Pick a theme for your magazine and pick a venue for your coffeehouse. Consider having the coffeehouse in your school auditorium. This venue is usually free and a centralized place for students to practice and for the community to come to. Secure a date and time for the coffeehouse. And if at all possible, have the coffeehouse during the school day after SOL’s or other testing. (Ex: May 27, 6-7th period). If your administration will allow you to have the coffeehouse during the school day, choose the ending class blocks or periods. Students will them be released from the coffeehouse to their buses and homes.

OCTOBER—Discuss with your staff what will be included in your coffeehouse. Make sure it is school appropriate. Do not read or perform on stage in front of parents, the community, and possibly your local newspaper what you would not allow students to print. You must have a written copy of all materials to be performed, and performers must stick to what they have agreed in writing to perform. Also,

make sure performers know that no rehearsal means no performance. Next, begin flyers advertising the event. We have student bands perform, read poems, read excerpts from short fiction, read satire, perform original songs, and have an art and photography presentation on the school’s large presentation screen. All work presented is original. Next, remember the theme you picked in September? Now is the time to come up with school appropriate catchy sayings to connect the coffeehouse to the theme. These flyers should be fantastic and in color. If possible, give them to all English teachers to display in their classrooms. Have multiple posters and have them prominently displayed in the halls or wherever flyers are allowed in your school. Begin making announcements about the coffeehouse.

NOVEMBER—Create tickets or have them made. Have a no refund policy for lost tickets. Have a rain check date on the ticket, and make sure all students know that no one is dismissed from class without a ticket and no one is allowed into the coffeehouse without a ticket. Organize where and when tickets will be sold. We sell tickets before school, after school and during lunches. We also give staff members tickets to sell. Students may purchase a ticket for $7 and community members may purchase a ticket for $10. This is also a good time to sell subscriptions as well. You may choose to combine subscriptions with the coffeehouse ticket sales or keep

An exciting way to raise money and awareness for your literary magazine is to organize a coffeehouse event. Literary works can come alive and bring more attention to your publication.

the way of the coffeehouse By Sharon Leigg

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10 EASY STEPS TO PREPARE FOR

A COFFEEHOUSEStep 1 Select and reserve a day early in the year. Remember to account for SOL testing days.

Step 2 Pick a theme for your event.

Step 3 Decide with your staff the selections to be performed. Remember to have a copy of all pieces on paper.

Step 4 Assign staff members to be in charge of advertising. Fly-ers, announcements and other ad-vertisement is essential to bring in your audience.

Step 5 Create tickets and print your policies for all to have. A no refund policy makes it much less of a hassle. Create a schedule for selling tickets.

Step 6 Sell tickets and take this opportunity to also think about subscription sales and other contests that you can hold at the coffeehouse.

Step 7 Rehearse everything. From stage lighting to sound cues. This is a show and you want it to look as polished as possible.

Step 8 Contact local media for coverage in your community.

Step 9 Invite teachers and admin-istrators to come watch and help with managing the event.

Step 10 Print programs and con-tinue to get the word out every day up to the event.

Sharon Leigg advises the literary magazine at George Washington HS in Danville, VA. Email her at smoore@mail.dps.k12.va.us

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them separate and sell the magazine at the performance of the coffeehouse. Either way, the coffeehouse becomes a discussion piece and the discussion is about the publication!

DECEMBER—Sell tickets and send out information about a school wide poetry contest and art and photography contest and ask school bands to participate by performing their original music at the coffeehouse. The winners will be announced at the coffeehouse. Give a small monetary prize (school check) to the winner. Remember you will have the money for the prize through advance ticket sales. The deadline for all entries should be March or April.

JANUARy—Begin blocking and lighting. Contact the stage crew or drama teacher for assistance in this area. The lighting and sound must be professional. Have practice at least once every two weeks. Sell tickets. Begin putting together a slide show of your best staff artwork and photography with a program like PowerPoint. A student’s name presented just before his or her artwork or photo on a black background works well and is quite dramatic in a darkened auditorium. If possible, time the slide show with a song to enhance the art and photography slide show.

FEBRUARy—Keep selling tickets. Keep making announcements. Keep practicing performing. If possible, ask the forensics coach to sit in on a few meetings to give students tips on performing in front of an audience. You may not have the final performers or completed works yet, but you should work out the problems of lighting, sound, and the logistics of projecting the slide show presentation during this month. Performing staff members will become accustomed to the stage.

MARCH—Now it is time to get the community involved. Contact your local newspaper, radio and television stations, and local cable network. Have information about where tickets can be purchased, and give them contact information. Tell them about the program. Invite them to attend the coffeehouse. Contact local businesses and ask them if they would support the coffeehouse by giving donations of snacks or coffee for

the coffeehouse. Ask a parent to handle the coffeehouse refreshments to be served at the conclusion of the performance. Since they were donated, we included refreshments in the price of the ticket.

APRIL—Begin preparation for the coffeehouse program. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. Have an administrator at the coffeehouse and recruit volunteer teachers as well. Have at least one complete run through where the performance is timed. Make sure it is not too short or too long. At the end of April, set the final performers. Organize stations and responsible staffers and parents for distribution of refreshments, (if you choose to sell copies of the magazine at the coffeehouse) magazines, a person to assist you with a copy of all materials to be read and slide show DVDs or files.

MAy—Performance time is finally near. Print programs for the performance a two to three days before the performance. Contact the media one final time for confirmation. If possible, have performers two periods before the performance is to begin. Notify parents of contest winners. Have the performance. Take a bow.

JUNE—Distribute the magazine and follow up with a survey about the coffeehouse.

Finally, your coffeehouse can be an annual event where student literary-art creativity is celebrated and displayed. Have fun!

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Overview and Rationale

Writing a superior profile directly from an interview when no time has been available for prior research can be daunting. Creating a mock interview situation so students can practice their skills through the research and drafting process helps boost confidence for real opportunities. The subject should be chosen with a strong and immediate news peg so the students can relate quickly and perhaps have some personal knowledge of the subject. In this case, Stephenie Meyer, popular author of teen vampire novels, was a logical choice. It is important to stage the interview such that it’s clear that you, as the teacher, are pretending to be the author and that your statements are based on your knowledge of the author taken from bona fide sources.

Goals for Understanding

Essential QuestionsWhat is the importance of news values as a key news values in choosing subjects for profile writing?How do students conduct a thorough interview with special attention to note-taking, asking questions and quote confirmation?How do students use Internet research to supplement their actual reporting?How do you structure the interview and research material for clarity and flow?Critical Engagement QuestionsWhat is news?From what news value does news peg derive?What are the four steps in the writing process (prewriting, revising, editing and proofreading)?Why is journalistic ethics important to the student press?How do you attribute all material collected outside of the primary interview?Why is accuracy in reporting important?Activities

Day 1 - 2Prior to the interview, the class will brainstorm news values (conflict, prominence, impact, novelty, proximity and cur-

rency). From timeliness comes the news peg, that which links the subject to a current event either in the immediate past, the present or the near future.

Students will access HYPERLINK “http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages” www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages.Each student will choose three different city newspapers. Each should come from a different state in the United States.

They will determine how the front page stories represent the primary news values.Students will deconstruct the stories structurally to determine what event constitutes the news peg. They will discuss how

to use current events in their schools to drive a news story.

Day 3-4Students will read the ASNE Quill and Scroll national feature winner “Pulitzer Prize Winner Visits Jefferson” by Lauren

Ruth. It is the story of author Russell Baker’s interview with ninth grade students who’d read his “Growing Up.” The inter-view/profile is available as Attachment 2.

As a class, they will deconstruct the primary components of Ruth’s piece using the profile model. (See Attachments 2.)Students will pair off and interview each other for five minutes each. The goal is to develop a visual/anecdotal lede, a vi-

able news peg and a vivid quote. After they’ve finished interviewing, they will type up their three graphs.Critique the pieces anonymously in a read-around.

Day 5-6The students are now ready for the mock interview/simulation. In this interview scenario, the students will not be given

a chance to research the subject in advance. For most of the class, Stephenie Meyer is well-known. For those who haven’t heard of her, there will be immediate interest because of the other students’ enthusiastic response.

The teacher as subject sets up a 10-15 minute press conference to talk about events of current interest and some biography-

lesson Plans foR PRofIle wRItIngProfile Writing Practice through Mock Interviewing,

and throw in lessons in interviewing, attribution and the almighty news peg

By Jennifer Seavey

Jennifer Seavey

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Jennifer Seavey, CJE, is the adviser for tj Today, the newspaper for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Email her at Jennifer.Seavey@fcps.edu.■

background information.Open to a Q & A session. Students are encouraged to ask questions until they run out of steam. Then they are asked if they’d

like to confirm any material that might be used for direct quotes. (In a real interview, students are also encouraged to ask for a cor-roborating source, someone who knows the subject well. They also will need to check name spelling and ask for contact informa-tion in case of the need for follow-up.)

If the lesson plan is 45 minutes, the Q & A will run into a second period with the fact checking phase afterwards. Each student should be encouraged to ask at least one question.

Day 7-8The students will then use the structural scaffolding model they used to deconstruct Lauren Ruth’s interview to guide their own

work and a Profile Requirements/Rubric (See Attachment 1). The rubric will serve as a checklist during the first draft.Each graph should be 30-40 words in length. In the Meyer piece, the word count should be a minimum of 400 words. Students

should look at their notes and ascertain what information they feel they still need to flesh out their piece.Using the Sourcing Guide (See Attachment 1), the students will note facts and quotes they obtained from the primary inter-

view.Students will research Stephenie Meyer using HYPERLINK “http://www.stepheniemeyer.com” www.stepheniemeyer.com.

(The site has multiple links with lots of fun information.)They will also watch a www.cnn.com interview with Meyer so they could get an idea as to her real appearance. They will use

that information to grow a visual lede. The tricky part here is to be sure they attribute to the Web site the material they use to fill in their profile. The teacher must keep track of what’s been taken from the Web site for the live interview and what’s been creative elaboration. The students must attribute with, “According to Meyer’s unofficial biography on HYPERLINK “http://www.stephe-niemeyer.com” www.stepheniemeyer.com,” or “According to Meyer’s interview on HYPERLINK “http://www.cnn.com” www.cnn.com.”

The next important handout is essential to the sourcing process. Because the students have notes from a live interview and will also have notes from an author Web site as well as a cable news vodcast, it is vital that they keep track of what to attribute to what or whom. Again, the students will use the Sourcing Guide (See Attachment 1) to facilitate the tracking process for multiple sources in their material.

Day 9-10Students will complete the first draft of the profile.They will exchange drafts with a peer editor who will use the Profile Requirements/Rubric(PRR) (See Attachment 1) to pro-

vide an initial assessment. Each student will return to word processing to update their draft.At the end of day nine, students will submit their second draft to the teacher for evaluation. The papers will be copy edited with

suggestions using the PRR. Some attention will be paid to AP Style Manual corrections, but no deductions will be made until a follow-up unit.

Students will spend their final day of the unit using their teacher’s suggestions to hone their pieces. They will submit their final drafts for a grade.

Students will then have an opportunity to read a student writing exemplar from the summer program. Together, the class will critique Luigi Cesaratto’s profile. (See Attachment 3)

EvaluationStudents will be evaluated for revision after the second draft and graded based on the final draft of the interview. I suggest a

completion grade for the second draft based on general adherence to the structural basics and meeting the word count require-ment. The final draft criteria will include: successful lede, clearly stated news peg, accurate quotes, biography background and a concluding graph that leaves the reader satisfied and interested.

Profile Rubric:Each profile will be graded based on an assessment tool. (See Attachment 1). The second draft will be critiqued with impunity

so the point totals can be eliminated. The final draft will receive a grade based on successful revision.

Extension Activities: E-mail Stephenie Meyer or her press agent. Try to get press passes to upcoming events.Plan a follow-up story for the next Meyer rolling out (Perhaps there are press passes to the “Twilight” movie premiere in your town or city).Brainstorm ideas for real interviews. Alumni are always great sources for cool interviews, and they are more easily reached than celebrities.Organize a real interview with a local personality. Emphasize the differences between the mock interview and the real one

upfront.Students will use their Associated Press Style Manual to correct any mistakes they’ve made with dates, numbers, abbreviations

and grammar.

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PREPARING FOR NEW STAFF

Chris Waugaman is the newspaper adviser the newspaper at Prince George HS. Email him with any questions at cwaugaman@pgs.k12.va.us.

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Directions: Please think carefully about each question and then rate the candidate from 5 (highest) to 1 (lowest). In some instances 5 may represent “often” and 1 “never”.

1. How does this student handle deadlines? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a(Homework, Papers, Assignments)

2. How well does this student work independently? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

3. How well does s/he work with other students? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

4. Is s/he consistently respectful to you and all teachers? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

5. Is s/he receptive to criticism? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

6. Does s/he use time in class effectively? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

7. Does s/he follow school rules consistently? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

8. How is the quality of his/her work generally? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

9. Do you believe the student to be creative in his/her approaches to assignments? 5 4 3 2 1 n/a

10. Do you believe that s/he cares more about the product than the grade?

5 4 3 2 1 n/a

Attendance Record: __________

After midterm exams are over it is always natural to want to take a break. I find myself at the point where there is so much still going on that I couldn’t possibly be thinking about next year already. But it is once again that time to start thinking about next year’s group. Once I have my staff advertise for new journalism students (who usually join because they think j-students automatically receive a lifetime supply of pizza after school) I must think care-fully about what I want to ask of the new students as they fill out their applications. But more importantly what do I ask for in a recommendation from my fellow teachers?

Here are some of my top questions that I use when having prospective students get recom-mendations for either joining the staff or applying for editorial positions. As you will see I generally care more about their ethics and attitudes rather than their grades or level of English they are enrolled in.

Chris Waugaman

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