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take journalism classes. Too often,
Twitter and Facebook diminish good
writing skills.
3. Expect better reporting. Too many
stories I judge do not show reporting
skills. Too much information is taken
from the Internet, not from firstperson interviews. Good sources and
good direct quotes are MUSTS for
good stories.
Ron Clemons
1997 DJNF TOY
I thought, would I suggest to advisers
to work less, to set strict limits on
their time spent with students? No.
learning your number-one priority,
and everything else will take care of
itself.
Explanation: I think in a publicationbased classroom (a.k.a. project-based
learning environment) people often
lose sight of the goal of learning. They
often mistake the primary goal as the
end product. Do not get me wrong,
that is extremely important, but it
should not be the only measuring
stick for the success of a newspaper,
yearbook or broadcast class. Trial and
error is key to learning, and it is the
fundamental building block of the
next generation of successful citizens.
Chris Waugaman
2014 DJNF TOY
Would I tell them not to worry about
meeting deadlines or pushing hard
for quality work or how to grade their
staff members? No.
Would I tell them they should not
have to deal with angry coaches,
complaining classroom teachers and
controlling administrators? Nope.
As crazy as it all sounds, it is when you
teach with passion and abandon the
students and the principles of ethical,
real journalism that undeniably,
conflict will arise. It toughens you. It
gives you purpose and resolve. You
develop creative thinking, problem
solving skills and better conflictmanagement abilities.
This job of being a publication adviser
is one wild, crazy ride. Give everything
to it. The students are worth it, and
you’ll have memories to last a lifetime
(or to fill a book). A life well lived.
Terry Nelson
2001 DJNF TOY
My advice is this: always make
Do not sweat the small stuff. It is
pretty easy to get bogged down
in the minutiae of journalism,
but the reality is that no one is
perfect and staffs need to make
mistakes sometimes to aid in their
learning. I have one rule, and it is
“Do not get me fired.” Style errors
and design problems and the like,
while sometimes embarrassing, are
all fixable. However, students will
not learn from their mistakes if you
spend all of your time fixing them.
Let students learn and grow from
those experiences, both positive and
negative.
Jim Stresisel
2013 DJNF TOY
Take it slow. Realize that it is a
marathon and not a sprint. I think too
often, advisers see how many things
need work and get overwhelmed.
Everything does not have to be
perfect tomorrow. Things do not have
to all be fixed by week’s end. Take
things slow. Do them right. Do not
lose sight of the larger picture or that
this job can and should be a lot of fun.
Aaron Manfull
2011 DJNF TOY
A couple of years ago, I was excited
to learn that one of my former
government/economics students
had been hired as an English teacher
and the yearbook adviser at a school
where I used to be the newspaper
guy.
“Awesome!” I said to myself. “She’ll
be terrific, and with some mentoring
and experience, she’ll become an
absolutely amazing adviser.”
She lasted one year.
So, my one piece of advice to advisers,
especially to newbies, is ... breathe.
Just ... breathe.
It is so easy to be overwhelmed with
all the things that you have to do as
an adviser (to say nothing of what
has to happen to stay on top of other
non-advising classes you’re teaching).
It’s easy to end up feeling like you
are not doing enough, like you are
failing the students, like you are not
measuring up.
Trust me, you are not a failure, and
you are almost certainly doing all
you can do. I mean, how many other
folks were jumping up and down,
screaming “Me! Me, me, me! Pick
me!” when it was time to choose a
journalism adviser on your campus?
Exactly.