Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
August 2008
Rhonda Moore
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Executive Director
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2 Texas Association of Journalism Educators August 2008
Teaching editors to become leaders
Camp gives students, adviser opportunity to strengthen roles
Have you ever worked for a boss I spent quite a bit of time determin- achieve that? Meet with each staffer on
who just didn’t seem to have a clue? ing the content of this camp. What did a regular basis, provide specific feed-
Threats and yelling comprise his reper- I want editors to gain? What did I want back, both positive and negative, con-
toire of motivational techniques, while concerning their behavior and their at- nect with each as an individual. Once
he is the very one who misses dead- titudes towards staffers? What, to me, we had all shared and refined our lists,
lines and calls in sick on vital days. He constitutes the essence of good leader- I encouraged them to leave those in
passes the buck, takes all the credit and ship? This thought process also gave their boxes in the room and read them
passes along any blame, all the while me a good opportu- once a week or so to
kissing up to his own boss—frequently nity to evaluate my From the President make sure they were
at your expense. own philosophy of Lori Herbst staying on track.
If so, you have probably found your- leadership and how Flower Mound Marcus HS The rest of the
self thinking, “I wish all bosses were re- well (or poorly) my morning was devot-
TAJE President
quired to take leadership classes.” own behavior reflects ed to tips for editors,
Yet most of us probably put our that philosophy. discussions about expectations—of our-
editors in the very same position: we After all that deep thought and pon- selves as well as the staffers—ideas for
appoint them to leadership positions dering, here’s what I ultimately came team building, and specific people skills.
without giving them the training to up with. We spent the morning talk- After we broke for lunch, we spent
help them reach success. I know that’s ing philosophy. I created a PowerPoint the afternoon talking about editors in
how I’ve done it in the past. A strong titled “So You’re an Editor—What the role of teachers. They broke into
writer, an organized and dependable Now?” We started the camp with some three groups--writers, designers, pho-
staffer, an intelligent kid who catches of the same directed deep thought in tographers—and generated lists of
on quickly—these are obviously our which I had engaged. I provided edi- the skills staffers would need in each
prime candidates for the role of edi- tors with a series of questions designed of those areas. Then they figured out
tor. But while some people are natural to guide them towards being the kind lessons they could use to teach those
born leaders, not everyone is that fortu- of leader they really wanted to be. skills. Finally, we created a calendar of
nate, and, to be honest, even the natu- For example, I reminded them of our days on which they would teach those
rals could benefit from some ideas and end-of-the-year Senior Day in class, lessons. Of course, I maintained my
techniques about how to improve their during which each individual senior “right” to chip in my opinion and ad-
leadership skills. takes a turn sitting in front of the class, vice whenever I felt like it, just as they
With this in mind, this year I decided and the staffers talk about what is spe- maintained their “right” to disagree
to offer a Leadership Camp for incom- cial about that person and what they with me when they had solid, persua-
ing yearbook and newspaper editors. gained from having that senior in their sive reasons.
I planned it for mid-August, both so lives. With that in their minds, then, my Though the year has not yet started
the techniques would be fresh in their first question to editors was this: When and I can’t testify to the tangible results
minds and as a way to generate some Senior Day comes for you, what do you of the camp, the preliminary results
enthusiasm as they begin the year with want the staffers to be saying about bode well. The editors were open and
their new staffers. you? Once editors generated a short enthusiastic in their participation, and
I sent out formal invitations to six list of answers to that question, I then they seemed to embrace the idea of be-
yearbook editors and 10 newspaper asked them to look at each answer and ing solid, engaged leaders. They left
editors, everyone from news editor to decide what specific behaviors they feeling as though they were the mas-
photo editor to editor-in-chief, to meet would need to engage in to earn those ters of their publications and had the
in the classroom from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. comments from staffers, and we shared tools to guide their staffers.
The first positive aspect of this camp is those answers with one another. For me, it helped the beginning of
that it made them feel important; they Just so you know, I did this right the year feel more organized, and I
began to truly embrace the responsibil- along with them, and I think that didn’t feel so frantic. I also gained a
ity that comes along with the job. As helped them open up. One of the things level of trust in the editors that usually
advisers, we need that commitment I told them I would want at the end of doesn’t come until a little later in the
from our editors, and a camp like this the year would be to hear staffers say year. And as for the incoming staffers,
can reinforce that they are in charge of that I always cared about their success they were not stuck with “bosses” who
the publication. in my class. What do I need to do to had no clue of how to lead.
August 2008 Texas Association of Journalism Educators 3
In Brief
Add it to your cart and pay for it.
It will probably ship the next day. It
is full of relevant terminology that will
help you succeed.
Dates
Members to elect
If you taught desktop publishing
prior to the 2003-2004 school year you to note
are grandfathered in and you remain
new officers eligible to teach the courses you previ- JEA./NSPA Convention
ously taught, subject to school district St. Louis
Officer elections will be held in Feb-
requirements. Nov. 13-16
ruary.
To sign up for an exam to be certi-
Members will vote for president-elect,
fied, go to the SBEC website, www.
secretary, treasurer and state director.
sbec.state.tx.us ATPI Convention
Anyone interested in running for of-
fice should contact TAJE president-elect Arlington
Sheryl Floyd at sherylflo@aol.com.
UIL to host student
Feb. 13-15