Suzanne Williams MJE Project Reflection

Suzanne Williams, MJE

Introduction

My name is Suzanne Williams, and I am the publications director at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. For most of my career, I have been the sole journalism adviser at my school and in my district. For years, I have taught classes over seat count or instructed two classes during the same period to accommodate the program’s growth. With a background in scholastic journalism and a degree in journalism education from Ball State, I felt comfortable designing journalism curriculum, teaching a variety of courses, and advising multiple forms of student media. Overall, my program has been successful and students have been eager to enroll.

Purpose and Goals

As the demand for more sections increased and the need arose to produce a separate yearbook for the online high school, administrators realized a need to hire additional advisers. Unfortunately, some administrators felt that journalism was a subject that did not necessarily require a special degree, additional training, or any particular type of support. Despite my advocacy for properly prepared educators, administrators’ opinions remained relatively unchanged. 

Our district’s journalism programming began to expand in 2021 when our online high school began creating a yearbook. Within the first few weeks of school, the adviser, a secretary, reached out in need of guidance. I offered my expertise and helped them become more comfortable with the ins and outs of creating a yearbook. The program grew again the following year, when a new teacher, originally serving as a substitute, was hired to teach Introduction to Journalism while earning her teaching licence. She was new to teaching and advising, so I worked alongside her to provide resources, training opportunities and mentorship. When she transitioned into advising the news magazine the following year, I continued to support her by advocating for professional development opportunities, bringing her and her students to workshops and serving as her mentor through the Journalism Education Association (JEA). Looking ahead, the middle schools are talking about starting programs next year as well. As the veteran adviser in the district, I plan to assist in any way I can to ensure that new advisers feel supported as they adjust to their new roles and develop their programs. 

In response to a growing need in my district, my MJE project aimed to create a set of standardized policies and organizational tools to support new advisers. My goal was to formalize consistent practices, provide mentorship, and equip educators with the resources to help them build and sustain strong journalism programs.  

I realized that new advisers often face challenges in navigating the complexities of advising student media. Questions such as, “What do you do when a student breaks a camera?” and “Can administrators tell kids not to write about vaping?” can be overwhelming. My project sought to create guidelines that would help new advisers confidently address these concerns. 

Process

To support new advisers in my district, I developed official policies for our journalism programs. I reflected on situations that had arisen over the years and how they were handled. In some cases, I formalized these practices as policy and, in other cases, I sought out a new approach. In doing so, I consulted numerous veteran advisers and gathered their policies and advice. From there, I compiled a draft specific to our district’s needs. I gathered feedback from advisers, as well as several of my former and current student editors. After factoring in their feedback, I made edits and formalized the policies. These policies have since guided more uniform decision-making within our programs and are expected to aid our incoming middle school programs.

In addition to creating uniform policies, I structured clear roles and responsibilities for our student media staff members. In addition, I created editor and staff professionalism rubrics to differentiate what we expect for individual roles. This has helped improve student accountability on our publications staff. 

Behavior expectations were another area that needed clarification. To address this, I revised our responsibility contract. This clarified expectations and provided accountability, helping younger staffers understand the level of responsibility required. This contract will also be a valuable resource for the incoming middle school adviser(s) as they establish their programs.

With more people having access to the camera equipment, the inventory and checkout system became increasingly disorganized. Equipment started going missing, and tracking down gear became frustrating. To solve this issue, I collected and inventoried all the equipment, creating camera kits with clearly labeled bags, batteries, lenses, and accessories. I implemented a new camera contract and checkout form, making the system consistent across our media department. I also got a locking cabinet, limiting access to just the advisers and photo editor. The new check-in procedure now requires all gear to be inspected by an adviser upon return, which increases accountability. This streamlined process has significantly reduced missing and damaged equipment. I believe that this system will provide a strong foundation for the middle school adviser(s) next year as they begin to manage their camera inventories.

Challenges and Solutions

One challenge I encountered was advocating for administrative recognition of the importance of training for journalism educators – myself included. As I prepared to pursue my MJE, I discussed the process with my administrators. I explained its significance to me and the value it would bring to our program. I requested support in the form of a letter of recommendation. After several months, the administrator mentioned that it was on her to-do list, but ultimately asked her secretary to write the letter, which never happened. It felt to me that they did not see much value in my pursuit of the MJE. While this initially discouraged me, it also reinforced for me the importance of my MJE project – not just for me, but for the new advisers in my district. I sought a letter of recommendation elsewhere, applied, and pitched my idea. I chose to focus on what I can control and let go of what I cannot. One way that I can do this is by offering new advisers in my district access to resources and mentorship that help them navigate their new roles more effectively.  

Another challenge was the initial inconsistency between programs due to a lack of established policies. By creating clear policies and procedures, I was able to establish more consistency between programs. Gathering feedback from both advisers and student editors helped me refine these policies into something that works for everyone.

Impact and Takeaways

So far, the implementation of standardized policies and organizational tools has positively impacted our journalism programs. Advisers have expressed greater confidence in handling challenges, and students now have clearer expectations of their respective roles. The new equipment management system has also significantly reduced losses and damages.

Looking ahead, I expect that these resources will provide a solid foundation for incoming middle school programs. I plan to continue meeting with new advisers to assess their needs. I will refine these resources and develop others accordingly. 

Conclusion

While I am proud of the work that I have done so far, I recognize that there is a lot left to do, especially as the middle schools start their yearbook programs. I am committed to continuing to support new advisers by providing support, resources and training to help them succeed. 

Reflecting on this project, I am proud of the progress that I have made in strengthening our district’s journalism program through standardized policies and tools for Warren advisers. Moving forward, I will continue advocating for the needs of our journalism program and its educators, while also finding ways to fill in the gaps. 

Standards

Standard #1A – Knowledge of Curriculum and Content/Classroom

Knowledge – Journalism teachers understand:

• Professional and student journalistic codes of ethics and how they apply to the special circumstances a student journalist faces. (Demonstrated in our policies.)

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Utilize appropriate professional and scholastic media legal and ethical policies and practices as well as foster student-led discussion covering these topics. (Demonstrated in staff policies.)

Standard #1B – Knowledge of Curriculum and Content/Student Media

Knowledge – Journalism teachers and student media advisers understand:

• Course organization emphasizes process over product, thus allowing for continuous student learning. (Demonstrated in student roles, rubrics.)
• Law and ethics as they relate to scholastic media and their importance in practice. (Demonstrated in staff policies.)

Performance – Journalism teachers and scholastic media advisers:

• Use technology (including computers, mobile devices, cameras, internet, etc.) as teaching and production tools. (Demonstrated in camera procedures.)
• Construct and utilize staff organizational models that emphasize responsibility, risk-taking, and problem-solving under student leadership. (Demonstrated on student roles, responsibilities contract, and on rubrics.)
• Construct and utilize production schedules that encourage scholastic journalists to mirror practices of professional journalists, including the accountability and structure of a rigorous deadline system. (Demonstrated on student roles, responsibilities contract, and on rubrics.)
• Ensure students understand their roles as curators of content in school-based media and their rights and responsibilities as journalists. (Demonstrated on student roles, responsibilities contract, on rubrics, and in staff policies.)

Standard #2 – Knowledge of Learning Theory

Knowledge – Journalism teachers understand:

• Principles of effective classroom management and assessment. (Demonstrated on student roles, responsibilities contract, and on rubrics.)
• Rights and responsibilities within a journalism education environment. (Demonstrated on student roles, responsibilities contract, on rubrics, and in staff policies.)
• Conditions that enhance the development of life-long learning. (Demonstrated on rubrics.)

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Create a media-rich atmosphere for students to learn both collaboratively and individually. (Demonstrated in student roles and on rubrics.)
• Model and nurture life-long learning. (Demonstrated on rubrics.)

Standard #3 – Knowledge of and Adaptation to Diverse Students

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Base instruction on students’ strengths and build upon student differences to further journalism learning. (Demonstrated on student roles.)
• Plan journalism instruction that accommodates a wide range of learners with different learning needs and experiences. (Demonstrated in student roles.)
• Respect the worth, contributions, abilities and language of all learners. (Demonstrated in student roles.)
• Use a variety of assessment strategies including rubrics, portfolios and projects, differentiating presentation, schedule and setting as needed so all students can successfully participate and be assessed. (Demonstrated in student roles and in rubrics.)

Standard #4 – Knowledge of Instructional Environment

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Use various avenues to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and production of media. (Demonstrated in student roles and in rubrics.)

Standard #5 – Assessment

Knowledge – Journalism teachers understand:

• Multiple assessment strategies for reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, designing and producing. (Demonstrated in rubrics.)
• Appropriate times to use each type of assessment. (Demonstrated on rubrics.)

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Design a variety of assessment tools such as selected and constructed response items, portfolios, objective quizzes and tests, rubrics, projects, publications and guided reflection. (Demonstrated on rubrics.)
• Guide students in learning to assess their own growth through creation of career portfolios of their work, publications, photography and digital media. (Demonstrated on rubrics.)

Standard #6 – Professional Development

Knowledge – Journalism teachers understand:

• The value of professional organizations/associations, conferences, certification and licensure, advanced coursework, internships and other professional opportunities in the journalism field to enhance professional growth. (Demonstrated by attending workshops and taking new advisers and their students to them.)

Performance – Journalism teachers:

• Attend conferences, workshops, graduate education classes and other professional development opportunities in journalism and related fields. (Demonstrated by attending workshops and taking new advisers and their students to them.)
• Seek professional licensure, certification and/or an advanced degree in a relevant media-focused field (Demonstrated by attending workshops and working toward MJE.)