What Does Journalism Mean to You?

Thanks to Alan Weintraut, I will be asking my students day one: what does journalism mean to you? This is an activity that will engage them immediately in publishing, recording, and sharing.  The studio/newsroom that was added to my school opened at the end of the last school year.  It has two Macs, a few cameras, a flat screen, and tables.  It is a room with open space that I would like to make comfortable with a couch, beanbags, and a relaxed setting.  I would like to float between the studio and the computer lab giving students flexibility to do other things as long as it is productive and constructive.

  I left the Staff Organization and Management session with a lot of great ideas.  I know it will involve a lot of planning on my part, but at least I feel better equipped to teach this subject during the upcoming school year.  I now have a plan to publish a back-to-school edition and a goal to publish monthly.  This would require my school offering a Newspaper Club.  I'm not sure how this would work with my individual classes that I don't see every day because I have two grade levels, but I would like to add:

1. a couple of newsstands
2. student mailboxes
3. a bookshelf (style books, textbooks, dictionaries, etc.)
4. a magazine stand
5. a communication board
6. an archives area
7. a suggestion box
8. a journalism display case

Now I need to write a persuasive letter to my principal requesting all of the above.  I look forward to continuing the partnership with Columbia College and fostering more learning for our students.  I also have someone who is willing to visit the school and offer writing workshops to the students.  This should be a productive school year where the students can really thrive if they are willing to put in the time and effort it takes to be successful in a journalism class.


Kenya Vance
Creative Communications Academy
Calumet City, Illinois