Editing
Making slides, weekly schedule
Every week I make slides detailing what will be done in class in the front room, and what should be done when we are working in the computer room in the back (such as working on pages, etc.), along with upcoming deadlines for the next week or so.
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The typical weekly schedule looks like this:
Monday:
-Make all edits to this issue's stories if that has not been done
-Finish designing pages
-Work on next issue's stories
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Tuesday:
-Go over the next issue's preplan
-Edge (adviser) mini lesson
-First Five (short presentation done by second or third year staff member)
-Last issue's Tower Positives
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Wednesday:
-Work on next issue's stories which are due the next day
-Story pitch (2 ideas expected from everyone, brainstorm)
-Page editors find inspiration from professional papers, Pacemakers, etc. for pages
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Thursday:
-Signup for next issue
-Page editors sketch pages and post on back wall in front room
-Copy editors start editing
-Finish this issue's stories
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Friday:
-Work on designing pages and edit stories
-Work on next issue's stories
Story pitches
Each Wednesday in every hour we have a story pitch, where each person has to bring one to two ideas and is given a few minutes at the beginning of class to brainstorm with their tables about ideas as well. We started these story pitches last year, and this year I decided to make them weekly instead of nearly monthly/inconsistently. Everyone knows ahead of time when we will be having the story pitch, and the weekly schedule also trains everyone on staff to be looking for story ideas throughout the week, observing what is happening at school and in the community and news, and asking questions. After all three hours have done their story pitches, I go through the document and make the next week's preplan, deleting the ideas I use from the story pitch spreadsheet so I do not use them when creating other weeks' preplans. This has proven successful, especially in providing us with news stories which are difficult to come up with weekly. Overall, it helps our publication produce more timely and interesting articles and improves all of our content.
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Making the preplan for each issue, story signup
Each week, after we have a story pitch, I look through each story pitch and decide which content works well together, is timely and newsworthy, which larger features will be assigned and if any packages should come from that, etc. and put together a preplan. Each Thursday, the preplan and explanation behind each story is presented to each hour, and staff members volunteer for stories. The preplan is updated as work on the issue progresses: stories are highlighted in red if they are missing/late, in turquoise if they have an extension from the editor and copy editors update when they have edited their assigned stories.
Assigning page editors
Each issue, leadership votes on which page design earned "Page of the Week". That page editor then gets to choose which page they would like to design for the next issue. If a page editor procrastinated their page or under performed/slacked off that week, they are given a week off. I assign which page editor designs each page every week based on the content and availability for creativity of each. Sometimes I want to challenge a newer page editor to be more creative so they are given a feature page, sometimes I know one page editor has a really busy schedule that week so I give them the opinion page because it is relatively structured and easier to complete. I have gotten to know my page editors' style, personalities and schedules through this system.
Coaching through pages
Page editors go through the process each week of finding inspiration for their pages, sketching their plan and then using InDesign to carry out their design. The Tower prints about 26 issues every year, which means our page editors are designing a lot, spending a lot of their time in The Tower room. They are her after school on Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m., Mondays during lunch (we have lunch deadlines Mondays this year) and Mondays after school until their pages are finished. In my hour and my tutorial/study hall when I come into the Tower hour then, I walk around helping the page editors come up with ideas, put their ideas into words so they can contact our graphic designers and figure out which photos they need or graphics they should make themselves, and help them with any InDesign or stylistic questions they may have. Additionally, I act as a mentor and almost coach for many of them when they get tired, motivating and talking to each of them and forming my own relationship with each page editor on staff. We have become close because we've been able to understand and share our frustrations with each other, about what is going on in and out of The Tower room, because we spend so much time together and work together so often. I aid them with personal/stress problems along with helping them through the creativity and InDesign process.
Coaching through stories
I get a text about once a day from a Tower staff member with a question about Tower (I got less frequent texts as the year went on and newer staffers started to understand the process more). I constantly am helping staffers come up with interview questions, story angles, sources and contacts and ways to organize their information. After a story is submitted if there are big problems with it, I talk to the writer and specify what they need to do, who they may need to talk to or where they should look for more information and make myself available for them to ask me any questions as they go through the rest of their story. I read every story that is published in print and have coached writers through stories beginning my sophomore year as a copy editor.
