Journalism class fosters writers/readers

Newspapers are faced with a dilemma, that’s for sure. As traditional newspaper readers grow older, fewer youngsters are getting their news in the form of columns and photos on newsprint. Instead, they are opting to get their information from the World Wide Web. Who can blame them? Everything you wanted to know about anything is right at your fingertips.

The answer to the decreasing number of newspaper readers maybe journalism classes. At least that’s the perspective I was given, yesterday, when I spoke to Tamara Guest’s eighth grade journalism students at Clinton Middle School. First, let me say that these kids were a great and inquisitive bunch. Already they have the early makings of good journalists. They asked lots of questions.

They wanted to know how I did my job and how where I work differs from smaller and bigger publications. I did my best not to get nervous as I explained that community journalism is about the people in the communities, the people in Clinton. I told them that even though they get the impression that their town is small and may seem to have little going on, the truth is a lot more goes on than they would think or I wouldn’t be able to fill the pages with news. I talked to them about the process of putting the newspaper together and how I do more than write, I put pages together and take photographs.

The entire discussion lasted almost as long as the class period and could very well have gone longer. I left a copy of the Tecumseh Herald for the kids to look at, and they gave me a copy of the school newspaper they regularly put out, the Redskin Report. I went through it cover-to-cover. Just like at the Herald, lots of love goes into the pages of their publication. There were well-written feature stories about new students and about the Singers of United Lands group that spent a week at the school teaching students music. There was an entertaining and informative movie review, a fun photo feature section and great sports coverage. There was even a comic section with some of the comic strips created by the talent artists right there at Clinton Middle School.

What was refreshing about seeing these kids and reading this publication was that I could tell that the care and interest in creating such a publication translated into an early interest in newspapers and journalism and might very well translate into a continuing interest in reading the news. I only wish there were more classes like this, that more schools put stock in student-run school newspapers that teach students the value of good communication and of gathering information and putting it in legible form for a purpose other than for just a grade. More than that, however, teaching students the value of gathering news, and in turn reading news, teaches them to be engaged in their communities by being informed, which in turn fosters community stewardship. Keep up the good work Clinton eighth graders and Mrs. Guest!