Shari Chumley MJE Project Reflection

Shari Chumley, MJE

Reflection on My Project: “The Adviser’s Flock”

Introduction

My first yearbook experience was a disaster and culminated in the worst yearbook ever-seriously it was bad. However, the community loved it because it was the first full-color book the school had ever had. I saw at this time, how journalism-even bad journalism-had the potential to change the world.

The day after we submitted that terrible book-every page had a different scrapbook background, one page had a navy background, black circles and the words “The track team was not made at the time of publication. Please feel free to add your own photos”… BAD! Anyway, the day after we hit submit on that book, I found my state press association and began a journey that has changed my life for the better. I found my passion and love. However, in the 18 years since that happened, I learned that it would have been much easier if I had had a mentor or an organized central system for finding resources early in my career.

I didn’t discover JEA until 7 years into my career so I didn’t have that resource either. During those early years, I scoured the web for resources. One of my favorites was from the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and is no longer in use and I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called. But most of the resources I used in the first years came from that site. Then I heard about the Reynold’s Institute also from ASNE. I was selected to be a Reynolds Fellow in 2015. That experience not only introduced me to the amazing JEA community but also allowed me to find my journalism people.

I was an alternate route educator who had no experience teaching anything, much less English or Journalism. I had exactly 3 weeks of training before being given my first classroom and two months later was asked to “do” the yearbook too. My co-teachers weren’t helpful, and I had to figure out most of what I did on my own. The thing that honestly saved my career was Jim Burke’s now-defunct English Companion Ning. This website was a social website developed to “support novice and experienced teachers in developing their professional skills”. It was billed as “a cafe without walls or coffee: just friends.” It was through this online community that I learned most of what I know about teaching English. I still use resources that I got from teachers I learned to respect on that site. There were forums to ask questions, forums to give resources, blog sites for publishing writing, review options among many other resources. The site grew to over 42,000 at its zenith in 2014. I didn’t have a great relationship with my in-person co-teachers so this became my safe place to ask questions and get resources. I could search for a text and get hundreds of resources in just a few minutes.
Fast forward 18 years and I currently advise the print journalism program at the largest high school in Mississippi. My students and I have worked to rebrand the classes and the publications to be more in line with current journalism standards and programs. You can find my student’s work at www.thscurrent.org and @thswavemedia on social media.

In addition to my work at school, I have been a board member of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association for the last 8 years. As previously mentioned, I found the MSPA one day after submitting my first book. When I knew nothing about journalism. I attended the Adviser’s Institute and every contest and convention. My students began to win awards and gain recognition. Since joining the board, I have been a member of the awards and contest committee, I have spoken and led sessions for our annual Advisers’ Institute and have gotten to know many new or struggling advisers. I found the JEA Mentoring Program in 2020 and immediately signed up. My first year of mentoring was also a bit of a struggle, but let’s face it, 2020 was a struggle in general. Since that first year, I have mentored 8 other journalism advisers.

Once I began to think about getting my MJE, I started thinking of ways to combine my passion to help advisers with a feasible project. I had so many ideas. Creating a toolbox of suggestions. Creating a Principal’s guide with specific resources for advisers in my state. Creating a staff handbook template. Some of these ideas were already available; some were a little too big for me to do alone or to do them justice. For a few years, I brainstormed and brought numerous ideas to my state SPA director. It even got comical when he would greet my conversations with “Another MJE idea??”

Purpose and Process

In April, Alicia Merrifield, CJE, and I were at a mentoring program meeting at the NHSJC in Kansas City and started talking about our ideas and the needs we saw in the mentoring program. It was almost like the magical moment when the peanut butter and chocolate bar mixed. We looked at each other and said, “Let’s work together!” She had developed the website for a grad school project, and I had been collecting ideas and resources.

Our shared vision was to create an online community where advisers could safely share ideas and ask questions without being afraid of conversations getting political or being interrupted by sales pitches. We wanted it to be an online teachers’ lounge. I have visions of it being the English Companion Ning for Journalism teachers. We set out to streamline the resource pipeline for advisers. The website was already set up to host forums, blogs and member relations. Unlike the listserv, this site is easily searchable. Unlike Facebook groups, it is easily controllable to weed out political arguing and salesmanship.

Since we are both on the mentoring program steering committee, we decided that we would start by inviting mentoring program participants to the online community. One of the many issues that we identified in the mentoring program was the change from in-person mentoring to more online or virtual mentoring. Pairings don’t always match according to publication or need. The committee tries to pair by state, but even that is not always possible. This often leaves mentor advisers unable to help with specific needs that their mentees might have. It also makes it difficult to get resources for different types of programs. I mentioned my messy first year as a mentor in my introduction. We were just figuring out what the virtual world held for us. I needed help as a mentor that year knowing what to do and how to help. This resource would have been invaluable to first-year mentor me!

Once we had a plan and a target audience, we took Merrifield’s website down to its bare bones. Then we unpacked the JEA Standards for teachers and selected forum categories that we felt covered most topics for journalism advisers. We then began creating posts and adding resources to those forums. We are slowly rolling these posts out and as the membership increases we believe that this website could grow to be as influential as the English Companion Ning was.  We have had several other members ask for resources and questions. We may have squealed when the first post appeared! This website is set to help both the mentor and mentee with any questions they may encounter. It’s a streamlined pipeline of resources that has gotten information flowing. Brand-new teacher me would have loved this website and all of the opportunities it opens up.

We beta-tested the site for a month with just mentors and then invited all of the current mentee participants. We currently have over 80 members and are continuing to invite mentoring program mentors and mentees as they join the program. As advisers explore this site, many are finding that missing teachers’ lounge and a place where they can ask a quick question or share a big success or even vent in a safe environment with people who get it!

Challenges and Solutions

One of the early challenges for me was narrowing down my project. I knew that I would not be able to create as impactful a project as I wanted on my own. The solution to that issue was found when Merrifield and I connected and clicked in Kansas City.  I wanted my project to be something that would be able to reach out to the teachers and advisers that I once was and help her figure out what she was doing quicker and easier. I also wanted to help the mentor I was that first year as well. What I didn’t know was how to narrow that down. Once Merrifield and I started collaborating, I realized that I didn’t have to scale down at all.  With her website, my desires and the resources that we both curated over the years, we have created a site that can encourage and support all of those past versions of me and hopefully alleviate some of the angst and stress for other new teacher advisers and even new or experienced mentors.

Once we figured out that we wanted to utilize the website and create this online community, we looked at competing resources like the listserv and the Facebook groups. We figured out how we could fill the gaps left in both of those.  For instance, having a searchable database and the ability to link and share materials and documents that the listserv lacks. Safeguarding the community from political or sales posts is often difficult in social media groups.

Another issue we identified early on was issues with JEA resources being shared beyond the paywall.  This is something that I know has become an issue on social media. To mitigate this, we decided to limit membership first only to those who are currently working within the JEA mentoring program.

Impact and Takeaways

A current challenge is getting the word out and training the community to utilize this source as a first resort. Having been a part of an online community like this in the past, I know that once it catches on, it will grow like wildfire. Our membership is strong, and we have several lurkers. I think that once we get some more prominent members to participate, it can become a vibrant and growing community. But for now, it is a living breathing entity in its infancy.  But less than two months after releasing it in its beta test, I am encouraged by its growth and the feedback we are getting.  Some of the comments are that it is easy to use and navigate. James Hutton appreciated how easy it was to join.  Merrifield received several comments about this as well.  “As a mentor, I can say that it is a very useful place for new advisers-lots of ideas, wisdom, and a safe place to ask questions without getting the negativity you find on social media,” Randi Stones said. Stones has been through both sides of the mentoring program.

Conclusion

Overall, this project is a culmination of my 18 years as a journalism adviser. From that first moment when I took on the role with absolutely no idea how my life was about to change; to the struggle during 2020 to try to mentor other new advisers when the world was on fire; to now where I know enough to know what I don’t know and to know how to ask questions. All of those stages, and the myriad in between, can have their needs met within the confines of this project.  When I began the trek toward this certification, I could not have imagined a more complete or encapsulating outcome for all I wanted to do.  I think I see now why I flitted from idea to idea. I was preparing to be able to do all of them.  I have plans to add a post or three addressing issues with administration. We have already shared several ideas and toolboxes for different issues-if you have struggling or non-motivated students; if you need ideas for room decor; or ideas for team building.

This website has the potential to help so many “novice and experienced” advisers as Jim Burke’s site once did. We desire to open membership to the entire JEA community and possibly even have management transfer to the organization. We recognize that there will be some growing pains and necessary changes and tweaks in the site’s future. However, we are confident that this website community has merit and fills a huge need in the scholastic journalism industry. In the meantime, Alicia Merrifield and I will be here sharing resources and encouraging our flock!

Standards

Engaging with the forums on The Flock allows members to share resources in all areas of scholastic journalism. Mentors can share their knowledge and experience in a publications classroom while mentees can request and/or take the resources needed for their programs. Spending time within the JEA Standards, I truly feel like participating in The Flock community meets every JEA Standard. Chumley breaks these down in a pinned post in the Class Management forum.

Here are some example posts that have been posted (or are in the queue) within the forums or blogs that represent one or more of the JEA standards!

Standard #1A – Knowledge of Curriculum and Content/Classroom “A variety of curriculum models to help frame journalism as a unique discipline and profession.”

A How Do You Use the JEA Curriculum invites members to talk about the JEA curriculum, how valuable it is, and how to adjust it to multiple needs all behind the safety of the JEA Paywall. The Class Management forum allows for a full range of topics related to Curriculum and Content in the Classroom.

Standard #1B – Knowledge of Curriculum and Content/Student Media “Law and ethics as they relate to scholastic media and their importance in practice.” A blog post was published on how Merrifield and her program decided there was a need and then created a policy handbook in Creating a Private School Policy Manual on the Blog section of the site. This post was originally posted for the Kent State project, but we feel it is still beneficial to the mentoring program.

Standard #2 – Knowledge of Learning Theory “Rights and responsibilities within a journalism education environment.” An example of this would be Creating a Mission Statement in the Law & Ethics Forum

Standard #3 – Knowledge of and Adaptation to Diverse Students “Learning theories and how they relate to individual students’ diverse backgrounds and learning styles.” The Blog post Ms. Chumley’s No Good Very Bad Year addresses how Chumley dealt with the vast differences in her students as they pertained to personalities and abilities.

Standard #4 – Knowledge of Instructional Environment “Atmospheres that address students’ needs for a sense of belonging to the school and to the larger community.” New Year Bonding is just one example of how Merrifield’s staff came back together in the new semester to prepare for the intense nine weeks before their final deadline in yearbook. The Team Building Forum will house multiple posts as we build the forums and most likely the most fun you will have advising.

Standard #5 – Assessment “Multiple assessment strategies for reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, designing and producing.” Quick and Easy Sub Plans is one example that Chumley shares about how she keeps easy assignments when she needs a formative assessment to satisfy grading requirements or fill sub plans. Varying Coursework In-class is a great post showing a new teacher reaching out for help in finding ways to help his students stay motivated. The response from Mark Webber suggests that the teacher utilize assessments as a way to promote growth and improvement.

Standard #6 – Professional Development We both feel that the entire forum can be used as a form of professional development and covers all aspects of this standard.