HIT : MID: SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

["George O'Connor" <perocon@POWERLINK.NET>]

Many thanks to all who responded to my questions about school newspapers in
a Middle school setting. Some of these responses came from high schools as
well.

1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both? STUDENTS
>2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students?
DTP teacher with student suggestions
>3. If students, how involved are they in the process?
the desktop publishing class publishes the newsletter (it's their
assignment, it's what they learn how to do)
>4. How often is it published during the school year? Monthly
>5. How long is each publication?
about 4-6 pages (both sides, regular paper)


1.  students
2.  students
3.  Students are in a journalism class where with their teacher they do the
entire newspaper
4.  I think 4-6 times at least
5.  It is four to 6 pages of the larger size paper (newsprint type but not
as large as a regular paper.



1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both?
Both parents and students as well as the rest of the community.
2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students?
The sponsoring teacher and the news staff comprised of high school students
are responsible for the content of the paper.
3. If students, how involved are they in the process?
The students do all the story ideas, writing and publishing.  The
supervising
teacher is there for questions and to keep things under control.
4. How often is it published during the school year?
The paper is published on a weekly basis, starting the 2nd week of school
with
a break over Christmas and semester tests in January.
5. How long is each publication?
Each publication is one full page in the newspaper.  It covers grades K-12.



1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both?
>2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students?
>3. If students, how involved are they in the process?
>4. How often is it published during the school year?
>5. How long is each publication?
>Thank-you for your time.



1. Both--and the entire community, including alumni
2. Both.
3. Completely. They do everything and two advisers oversee the process.
4. Monthly.
5. About 20 pages.



We produce two different newspapers, one for students by students (with
teacher direction) and one for parents by teachers.
The articles in the student newspaper are written by students, edited by
teachers.
Both are published once a quarter.
Both are two to three pages


1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both? STUDENTS
> 2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students? STUDENTS
> 3. If students, how involved are they in the process? VERY
> 4. How often is it published during the school year?  7 TIMES
> 5. How long is each publication? 16 PAGES


We don't precisely have a Middle School Newspaper--we produced 1 issue last
spring, one issue in Dec. this year, and nothing since.  The following are
responses to your questions, for what they're worth.  I'd be interested in
hearing
what you find out, because OBVIOUSLY we didn't have the right set up.


> 1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both?
Students
> 2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students?
both
> 3. If students, how involved are they in the process?
Meet at lunch and after school to decide on articles and to format into the
newspaper program.  Teachers (myself and the Admissions Director) worked
with editors.
> 4. How often is it published during the school year?
so far just 1 time each of 2 years.
> 5. How long is each publication?
a large size 4 page layout.  (one sheet, folded)


I am the middle school librarian at a private K-12 school in
Annapolis MD and was asked to be one of the leaders of the newspaper
activity.  (We did not have a newspaper in the middle school before this
year.) Two other faculty members were also supposed to be involved, but as
it turned out, one of them was unable to participate, which left the
computer teacher and me.
Activities meet during the final period of the day twice a week for
only 35 minutes.  With this time constraint, we are not able to get very
much done, and have published only one paper per trimester.  Each paper has
been approximately 15-16 pages.
We try to have the students responsible for as much of the
production as possible.  At the beginning of each session, we brainstorm
ideas for articles together, divide tasks (photography, interviewing,
artwork, puzzles) according to student interest, and let the students take
off.  As we begin to gather materials, students with interest in editorial
work and layout begin to assemble the keyboarded articles and downloaded
pictures and graphics into Pagemaker while the rest of the students carry on
with reporting.  The computer teacher and I supervise proofreading,
editorial revision and layout.  We tend to put in a lot of extra time as the
deadline for publication nears, because there is always a lot of tightening
to be done.  A problem that arises as publication nears and only editorial
work remains to be done is that we don't have enough tasks to keep all
students in the activity occupied.
Our target audience (and staff) consists of middle school students.
We try to project a voice that appeals across the four grades as much as
possible, recognizing that 5th and 8th graders live in alternate universes
which do not intersect in very many places (if at all).  Since it is a
student publication, we try to guide them, but not interfere too much with
their sensibilities.  I guess this means we let them be self-regulating;
that is, they have first chance to decide what is appropriate, although we
sponsors have the final word on what stays and goes.

1.Who is your target audience : parents?, students? Both?
Students
>2. Who is responsible for its content? teachers? students?
Students (with teacher/advisor supervision)
>3. If students, how involved are they in the process?
The whole thing, from deciding stories, writing, production (using
PageMaker), pasteup.
>4. How often is it published during the school year?
Every 4-6 weeks (about 9 times/yr)
>5. How long is each publication?
8 pages (sometimes longer)
>Thank-you for your time.
This information applies to a high-school newspaper, not a middle school.


I'm the sole high school journalism teacher, as well as a secondary
media center specialist at our school. Happy to reply.
1. Students almost entirely (teachers somewhat, school community to an
even lesser extent)
2. I'm ultimately responsible, but students determine most of what
eventually gets published. I have 17 students in a journalism class that
meets 3 1/2 hours a week, on average.
3. They write everything, I help a little with editing (primarily
grammar and style notes), they do most of the layout (again I do some
last-minute fixes), they provide all the graphics.
4. Our 17th and final issue for this year will be published next
Thursday, fingers crossed.
5. Typically 10 pages - letter size page front and back - Pagemaker
publication program format - size 10 font. Which allows for a lot of
print and pictures.

1
student body
2
students to faculty advisor to principal
3
students do all the writing
propose some or all articles
make some or all decisions concerning publication
4
bimonthly/occasionally
5
tabloid size
one sheet folded=4 pages
high school, grades 9-12


Jane Perry
Winslow Jr. High Library
10 Danielson St.
Winslow, ME 04901
jperry@mailhost.winslow-jhs.u52.k12.me.us

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