Some students asked if I could help them start a team newspaper this year. They meet twice a week at lunch to pitch articles and write. A couple of them like to format, another one knows a lot about Googledocs, and for the most part, I walk my way around each meeting eating salad, checking in with kids, and directing questions to one of the take-charge kids.They're sticking to a template, established in the first issue, that includes a What's New? article and a teacher interview on the front page, but they've added plenty of features over time. There's an advice column, a history column, and a horoscope. They reported on the school play and our team's Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament. They also put several workshop pieces in, and I'm glad they want to showcase their writing. For the majority of meetings, it truly is led by students, something I'd been skeptical about way back in the beginning.
At the last meeting, when they announced they were ready to publish, I looked at their latest draft and had some sudden doubts. The format was a little awkward, fonts were too big in places, and they missed some editing. As a teacher sponsor to this club, I want to take care in what goes out to the community. No big deal, however, in the interest of getting the next issue out, I canceled the meeting and assured them that I'd put the final teacher touches on their work before it went to print.
In my quiet classroom, I sat down with my laptop and began to tidy it up. My few years putting a literary magazine together means I can make adjustments and slide text boxes around easily. It also means I'm more than a little fussy, so my 30 minute lunch seeped into a planning period, and then another. I added commas here and there, made fonts uniform, and found a little more art.
A couple of the kids stopped by on their way out to check in, and when I showed them the finished product, they were so proud of themselves. "Wow, we did it again. It really looks great," said one of the founding members. I can only wonder if she counted me in her collective "we".
Life lesson: Let go of the reins; just be ready to pick them back up if the carriage rolls off the road.
Life lesson well stated.
ReplyDeleteI have always struggled with how perfect the piece has to be...but, the concept that this piece is being published to a larger community is important. Love the "we" and the pride expressed by students in their work.
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