Installment+6

South of Denver

Chapter 6 - October 4, 2004

I must admit to just a bit of frustration when the brainstorming sheets for the premiere issue of The Rock (which goes to the press on Nov. 1 and hits the halls on Nov. 3) included, under the profiles section: "profiles of students." Not once or twice, but on 20 sheets.

Thanks goodness for Louisa, who managed to list Tim Anguiano, who she thinks is the smallest football player, and Nate Cook, who is a volunteer firefighter, and Logan somebody, who lived in Spain the last three years. Do the rest of us just not know students with interesting stories to share, I wondered, or do we just not quite understand the concept of brainstorming for coverage ideas?

"So, Dani," I began on Friday, "how would you feel if your editor gave you an assignment to cover, say, cheerleaders? Would you be all fired up and know where to start and what sort of coverage you should produce?"

"Well, no," she answered, looking a bit unsure of herself. "I guess I would like some more information."

Good answer, and we continued to discuss just how we might get more specific in our coverage ideas, and thus make life easier for reporters, editors and photographers.

Megan, our one cheer on staff, was sick, so we could only speculate, but we came up with things like a cheer has sprained her ankle but continues to perform. About what it's like to be a "flyer" - the girl who gets tossed and must trust in her "bases" to catch her. About the differences in cheering at a football game and a volleyball match. No earth-shattering ideas, but much better than an assignment to cover "cheerleading."

I noticed that Susie and Brielle and Chelsea, at least, were now hurriedly amending their brainstorming sheets, adding detail and filling in noticeable blanks. Most of the other Journalism students were not quite comprehending that what they write down on these sheets will soon translate into assignments, and then into coverage in an actual printed newspaper. They continued to simply stare at me.

This segment of the publication cycle - actually focusing on what we will cover - is so important that I couldn't let this moment go. "We need to educate our readers. Does that help you get stories in focus?" I asked.

"What will help make our readers smarter?" I was off on a rant. "What will make them feel better about school? About their lives? What don't we know about? What do you want to know more about? What bugs you? What makes you happy?"

I took a breath, and turned to Louisa, who is a star member of the cross country team. "Louisa, what do we need to teach our readers about cross country?"

Her eyes got wide. She was clearly not too sure anyone wanted to know much of anything about cross country. She's okay with the solitude. Lack of fan support doesn't bother her.

So I asked, "Does anyone here know how a cross country meet is scored? Other than Louisa?"

Blank faces.

"If you come in first, you get one point. Come in second and you get two points. Five runners count," I said. "So what is a perfect score? What happens if your team's runners finish one through five in a meet?"

Meagan looked up from her anime drawing to say, "You get fifteen points."

"Exactly!" I shouted. "Now, do you think our student body has a clue as to what a cross country score means? Do you think they know it's like golf - low score wins? We need to educate our readers! And not just with facts, but with what it's like to be out there running, farther than most of our readers have ever run at one time."

The second try at a brainstorming sheet was due at the end of the period. These really needed to be fleshed out. Page teams will be meeting Monday to produce our first set of assignments. The eight page managers will be announced then, as well.

Is that excitement I feel, or paralyzing fear?

Jack Kennedy

Rock Canyon HS

Highlands Ranch CO 80124

jkkennedy@comcast.net

jack.kennedy@dcsdk12.org

Note: This is part of a series of columns on working with a completely untrained staff. It is cryptotherapy for me. It may occasionally provide something positive for you. It's all uncharted territory, that's for sure.