Installment+26

South of Denver - Chapter 26

October 26, 2005

It probably says it all about our school that we have 14 families still stuck in Mexico following Hurricane Wilma's visit to Cancun and surrounding areas. While brainstorming yesterday for the Nov. 9 issue, we eventually figured out that 12 students, a teacher and a hall monitor might have an interesting variety of stories to tell about their ordeal.

Some stories, like eating nothing but potato chips for days, like not showering for a week, etc., are already making their way to us, but we decided that everyone on the staff would take one of the "victims" and interview him or her, whenever people can return to school. These people were on vacation, so we assume they will have photos to go with their stories. Who knows? But that looks like page one.

Of course, Rock Canyon families are not your typical hurricane survivors. They had flown to Mexico for fall break, which was last week.

As one parent was overhead saying in the main office yesterday, "I don't feel sorry for those people. That's what they get." You could feel the love.

The staff was unanimous in wanting the Wilma thing to start off the next issue, but we also will be including three pages of student profiles, written by members of the introductory journalism class, in the next issue. Yesterday in class, the staff had the chance to read their second drafts.

"Are you sure I can't edit this?" asked Susie. "I can't stand it!"

"No," I said. "Your job is to simply write down any questions you still want answered, and perhaps you can steer them toward a better angle or encourage them to dig a little deeper for some sort of anecdote. There is no reason to proofread until you get the final drafts on Friday."

David said, "Can I mention that this writer should stay in one tense? And that she shouldn't put her own opinion in the story?"

Brielle said, "This girl quoted herself!"

I was about to mention something about people living in glass houses not throwing stones, when Megan said, "Come on, guys! They're just beginning. We did all that stuff too."

That calmed things down. The encouraging thing was that at least half of the 26 stories seemed to get at least a tentative thumbs up from the readers, and that most of the staff spent over 10 minutes writing questions and making comments on the drafts. In a perfect world, each writer would get a conference with a more experienced editor, but this would have to do.

I give back these drafts to the journalism students today in class. For many of them, it may be the first time someone other than a teacher has commented seriously on their writing.

It should be interesting.

Jack Kennedy

Rock Canyon High School

Highlands Ranch CO 80124

 jkkennedy@comcast.net

 jack.kennedy@dcsdk12.org

Note: This is the latest chapter in a series of columns on working with a young staff in a young school (8 of the 11 staff are sophomores and no senior class yet). It is cryptotherapy for me. It may occasionally provide something positive for you. Please go to the JEAHELP archives to read the previous chapters if you missed them and have absolutely nothing else to do.