Friday, September 02, 2005
Week 2
In the true nature of my teaching style, I am a little late starting this. It is the end of week two and I was really hoping to start with week one. Oh well.
In light of all that is happening in the world this week, it is a little difficult to be upset about the lack of organization on the newspaper. However, sometimes the little world that we live in needs attention before we can begin to fix the larger problems of the nation.
So what are our problems? Well, too many staffers missed deadlines. The second week of school is no excuse for not getting interviews and writing stories. On the first deadline, over 20 stories were not turned in. At first, I thought maybe this was just new people not understanding the system (which is understandable since it does move so fast). However, it turns out just as many returning staffers missed the deadline as did new. So on to the next theory.
I talked to the Jake about it, and then I had a little discussion with the staff. I had high hopes for the second deadline which came on Thursday. Based on a brief glance though, nothing sunk in. So now I will sit back and let them reap the consequences. Layout is on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see what kind of paper we can plan without stories.
Which brings me to the photography section. Since our two photography editors are both new, and do not have class the same period, we have run into all kinds of communications issues. First it was how to assign photo assignments. Then it was how to keep track of who was doing what. Then it was no one taking photos. I'm afraid our two editors may be in over their heads, and I want to help, but they don't seem to want my help yet. We'll see where this ends up on Tuesday as well.
I think this is where most of my fear lies; it is in the helplessness that I feel since I am not in the room with every period of staff. I feel that the glue I often offer to the staff is a little less sticky this year. The first issue is always an adjustment period, so I expect no less from this year. However, I am very anxious to get it over with and move on to the bigger and better things we will accomplish once we start issue 2.
In light of all that is happening in the world this week, it is a little difficult to be upset about the lack of organization on the newspaper. However, sometimes the little world that we live in needs attention before we can begin to fix the larger problems of the nation.
So what are our problems? Well, too many staffers missed deadlines. The second week of school is no excuse for not getting interviews and writing stories. On the first deadline, over 20 stories were not turned in. At first, I thought maybe this was just new people not understanding the system (which is understandable since it does move so fast). However, it turns out just as many returning staffers missed the deadline as did new. So on to the next theory.
I talked to the Jake about it, and then I had a little discussion with the staff. I had high hopes for the second deadline which came on Thursday. Based on a brief glance though, nothing sunk in. So now I will sit back and let them reap the consequences. Layout is on Tuesday, and it will be interesting to see what kind of paper we can plan without stories.
Which brings me to the photography section. Since our two photography editors are both new, and do not have class the same period, we have run into all kinds of communications issues. First it was how to assign photo assignments. Then it was how to keep track of who was doing what. Then it was no one taking photos. I'm afraid our two editors may be in over their heads, and I want to help, but they don't seem to want my help yet. We'll see where this ends up on Tuesday as well.
I think this is where most of my fear lies; it is in the helplessness that I feel since I am not in the room with every period of staff. I feel that the glue I often offer to the staff is a little less sticky this year. The first issue is always an adjustment period, so I expect no less from this year. However, I am very anxious to get it over with and move on to the bigger and better things we will accomplish once we start issue 2.
