Getting ready for a new school year
With the arrival of August comes the unofficial end of summer vacation. For publication advisers and their students that means gearing up to tell the many stories that will unfold this year both on and off campus. And IJEA is here to help, starting with our blog!
August 1, 2015
Hard to believe, but August has arrived. Even though most of us still have a few weeks before school begins, our minds are already back in the classroom.
For the publication advisers out there, whether you’re IJEA members or not, this means thinking about how your students can make their 2015-16 yearbooks, newspapers, magazines, websites, broadcasts, social media accounts and other publishing platforms as good as they can be.
Here at the IJEA website, we’re also focused on the coming year. With the help of our friends at SNO, we’ve planned some changes to the site that will improve our service to advisers and students.
We’ll talk about the various changes in greater detail as we roll them out during the school year. For the time being, though, a few words about one of these changes — this blog.
As a supplement to our Twitter feed, the IJEA Blog is where you’ll find additional links to articles, tips, advice, lesson plans, videos, podcasts and other practical material helpful to journalism teachers and students. We’ll also share news stories relevant to scholastic media, plus other items that might serve as story ideas. Of course, we’ll also highlight examples of outstanding journalism, both scholastic and professional.
The fashionable term for this is “curated content.” But whatever you’d like to call it, we want the material to be useful and to the point. Our blog posts will be short — generally under 500 words — and the emphasis will be on sharing.
Journalism advisers are expected to know an astonishing number of things about a subject that seems to change at the speed of light these days. So give us your feedback on the topics, questions and problems you’d like our blog to address.
But don’t stop there. Share with us some of the lessons you’ve learned from your own experiences. Whether you’re a teacher or a student, tell us about the things that work for you. We’re eager to pass along your advice. Remember, we’re all in this together, and that means learning from each other.
Here’s to the start of another great year!
PHOTO CAPTION AND CREDIT: Journalists at work covering a press conference — in this case the 44th Munich Security Conference in 2008. Photo by Kai Mörk, published with permission under Creative Commons license.