Staff Organization and Management: Favorite Session

 Materials that Alan gave teachers to provide examples. 

Alan Weintraut from Annandale High School talks about staff organization and management. 

Alan's session on staff organization and management has been my favorite session so far. Yesterday I had a moment and realized that I was applying all of the information that we have learned to my journalism class and not thinking as much about my newspaper staff class. I realized that I need to figure out how to incorporate everything I have learned not only to my journalism class but to my staff. The Statesman staff is well established but I know that there is room for improvement. 

After listening to Alan's lecture I created a checklist of things that I want to talk to my editors about and suggestions for the year. I know that it is a lot but I figured we could make baby steps and start with the suggestions they like the most. I have great editors that want to improve our publication, which is a bonus. 

Here is the list that I came up with:

• Editors meeting with administrators:
• Get story ideas and talk about the year and expectations
• Using Google Docs or some other organization website to organize stories and documents
• Create a mission statement? I don’t know if we have one?
• Creating board beats
• Team Building
• Use prompts and have students think of story ideas.
• Go out for 45 minutes in the school and think of ideas
• Make a competition
• Apps for Journalists (Give them my list from the story I wrote)
• Code of Ethics and Editorial Policy
• Watch "Shattered Glass" as a staff
• Go over ethics again
• AP Stylebook quizzes
• Extra credit for bringing in stories, pictures, anything with grammar errors
• Having a newsstand-google search or catalog
• Show classroom management video from Steve
• GroupMe App (text messaging)
• Invite printer to our lab once a year
• T-shirts?
• Wear t-shirts while delivering paper
• Display case in hallway
• Bring in journalists once a quarter (have food provided)
• Talk about saving time
• “Don’t let production get in the way of progress.”
• Alan Weintraut, Annandale High School
• Create a promotional video (like Alan showed up)

I also have notes of ways to decorate my classroom based on Alan's presentation. I am very excited to get started on this when I get home!

I hope this is a good start. Although I am exhausted, I am so pumped to go back and use all of these ideas in my school. This institute has made me even more passionate about journalism and teaching. It is also great to see how there are so many teachers that feel the same. They are putting so much effort into improving their programs. I am in awe.

Katie Kroeze

Lincoln High School

Sioux Falls S.D.