Birth of a Journalism Adviser

The Job Fairy just dropped a school publication in your lap, and your reaction is…Yikes? Hooray? Gulp? Huh?

Did you know that AP Style for advisor is adviser? Have you ever even heard of AP Style? If you are a publications teacher in a middle school or high school, it is very likely you answered no to both questions. It is also very likely that you are banging your head against the wall right now.

You probably did not embark on the job application process intending to be in charge of a school newspaper or yearbook. You innocently sent in your resume to a particular school or school district. You wanted to be an English teacher, or maybe a social studies teacher. Or, heck, maybe even a PE teacher.

On the top of my resume in the summer of 2002, I clearly wrote my job objective: English teacher. I got a call from a very desirable, newly built, suburban high school located 20 minutes from my house. I dressed as English-teachery as possible and arrived for my interview ready to quote Shakespeare at a moment’s notice.

“You know we’re interviewing you for the newspaper job, right?” the lady at the desk said to me when I greeted her.

“Noooo,” I said in a sing-songy, casual, I’m-not-the-least-bit-bummed tone. “But, okay.”

You see, I had been home raising my three children for the previous 11 years. My self-esteem and my skills were a bit rusty, and this was a plum school after all. I had been a school newspaper adviser for three years prior to my child-related sabbatical, so the eagle-eyed person in charge of hiring had seen the word newspaper on my resume.

They hired me to teach Journalism 1, Newspaper 2-4, and ninth grade English. Now what? The last time I taught journalism, we used a waxer and a t-square. I was now, like most newly hired teachers in this position, the reluctant adviser, and I am telling you this to let you know that you are not alone.

Sure, you may feel alone. That’s because no one else in your school does what you do or even understands what you do. Your administrators eye you with worried suspicion. Your fellow teachers shake their heads at you and acknowledge the fear they harbor about ever having to do your job. You probably don’t have any set curriculum, and any journalism textbook you may or may not have may or may not be ancient and completely useless. Then there’s that constant nagging feeling that there is knowledge you are supposed to have that you don’t – like what the heck AP Style is.

How in the world will you ever survive through the school year? The best way to know is to answer the following very important question: How stubborn are you? Being stubborn is a great trait in any teacher, especially one doing a particularly undesirable job – as in, “Gosh darn it! I will put out a fabulous school newspaper no matter what! I will recruit good students and/or mold the tough ones! I will make being on the newspaper staff the coolest, most admired of all positions! And I will do it while the other teachers around me run in fear! Ha!”

See, that’s the kind of stubborn I’m talking about. Think about it. And if you decide you’re the right one for this, then know that you have my admiration – and my support as well. I’ll try to do right by you in my future posts, so consider yourself on your way. Oh, and one little secret – being a publications adviser is actually the best job in the world.