Friday, September 02, 2005
Just getting started
As I start my sixth year here at Wheeling High School, I thought I would follow in Jack Kennedy's lead. No, not the former president. Jack is a newspaper adviser in Colorado who has been chronicaling his adventures starting a newspaper at a new high school.
My students and I heard Jack speak last spring at the NISPA (Northern Illinois School Press Association) Conference. He inspired my students to be better writers and to write "stories" not "articles" in their newspaper. He inspired me to do some writing of my own. As we walked to lunch, he was telling me how he goes about writing his "South of Denver" chapters and said something along the lines of "As teachers, we should be writing too, it helps us teach better when we're in practice."
So, here I am, practicing. I'm not sure how good I will be, but maybe by the end, the readers of "The Wheels of Spokesman" will have a better understanding of what it is that we do down in room 135.
My students and I heard Jack speak last spring at the NISPA (Northern Illinois School Press Association) Conference. He inspired my students to be better writers and to write "stories" not "articles" in their newspaper. He inspired me to do some writing of my own. As we walked to lunch, he was telling me how he goes about writing his "South of Denver" chapters and said something along the lines of "As teachers, we should be writing too, it helps us teach better when we're in practice."
So, here I am, practicing. I'm not sure how good I will be, but maybe by the end, the readers of "The Wheels of Spokesman" will have a better understanding of what it is that we do down in room 135.
