My first year with a club of about 5 student journalists randomly walked into a circus. One kid fell into a rabbit hole of some of the most evil vitriol that people can have in their hearts. No, we didn't watch an American Horror Story episode, but we covered a news story about a former student from our school who was arrested just before a plot to commit mass murder and we watched a media circus unfurl.
The news hit our meager crew of students at an unfortunate, but paradoxically, opportune time because on one hand the students were too unmotivated and unorganized to effectively cover the reports and analysis of the story, but on the other they were afforded an incredibly newsworthy issue on which to practice their journalism before the year let out. The intrigue of the story helped me recruit more students to attend club meetings, also. Our club was rejuvenated and we had so much to discuss, but, how excited can anyone get to talk about white supremacist "Columbiners" and how to inform our readers about them? A series of stories on our website, www.ghsvoyager.com, were written, but I can't say that I am very proud.
Reading about the hate that led to the Charleston Emanuel AME Church shooting made me think about how to advise students about this if they ever want to walk into a circus or fall into a rabbit hole again.
My student who fell down the rabbit hole of hate wrote an editorial that was part news story, part feature, etc., and I struggled to advise her because she was so affected by the content of what she was researching. Her anxiety got out of control and I had to conference with her parents and counselor about it.
The textbook articulates nice theory on the importance of journalism and the role of the teacher. However, textbooks cannot be enough and maybe only through experience and reflection can teachers support students through covering tragedy and destruction.
I too struggle with helping my students cover school tragedies. I wonder the degree to which any high school student can properly treat a fellow student's death, for example. Though, really, I am just saying that I wonder the degree to which I could advise a student to cover such a tragedy. I have such little formal training in journalism that I worry I would miss advising on important angle to the story or my students would leave something important out, something I didn't think to consider. Emotions are always so high during tragedies that I often worry that "poor coverage" would somehow only make things worse.
Although I'm sad we have to face these struggles with our students and staff, I'm glad you wrote about it. I'm thankful in particular this year for our leadership teacher who came from a tough area and she seems to handle the difficult situations with grace. She has helped to ground our ideas when at times I don't know where to begin. We were near the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington State. She helped our students organize campaigns of solitude and love for their student body. The publications staff took an all school photo in their school colors and made and our school, along with many other schools, sent banners to surround their gym where they ate lunch the rest of the year. One of my publications student's mom is a teacher there and it never ceases to amaze me the connections we all have and the sensitivity with which we need to handle death. One of the students shot was our secretary's niece. This tragedy, like so many hits us at our place of work or school even if it was at a neighboring school. We covered the reaction to the tragedy in the yearbook. A double page spread along the lines of how students reacted to the events rather than a rehash that the larger national news was covering. I think what comes out of this is hopefully a discussion with our staffs about guidelines for how we cover tragedies of different kinds. Similar to a death policy, these kinds of things should be thought about before the emotional ties make the decisions for us.
Honestly, I can't even imagine my students covering something like this. Not to say that they couldn't, it's just that the content is so controversial and sensitive that it would be a real shock to the system of administration in my district. I imagine my students covering the story and the conversations that we would have and there would be some students who know the subject personally and the tension that could potentially cause. I don't want to give the impression that I want my staff to write about rainbows and sunshine all the time, but I guess I'm struggling to understand how I would go forward with a story like this knowing how it would impact the community. I know that we are training them to be real journalists, but at what point do we recognize that they are kids and they may not be ready for the backlash that something like this could cause. It just makes me think, that's all.
I too struggle with helping my students cover school tragedies. I wonder the degree to which any high school student can properly treat a fellow student's death, for example. Though, really, I am just saying that I wonder the degree to which I could advise a student to cover such a tragedy. I have such little formal training in journalism that I worry I would miss advising on important angle to the story or my students would leave something important out, something I didn't think to consider. Emotions are always so high during tragedies that I often worry that "poor coverage" would somehow only make things worse.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm sad we have to face these struggles with our students and staff, I'm glad you wrote about it. I'm thankful in particular this year for our leadership teacher who came from a tough area and she seems to handle the difficult situations with grace. She has helped to ground our ideas when at times I don't know where to begin. We were near the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington State. She helped our students organize campaigns of solitude and love for their student body. The publications staff took an all school photo in their school colors and made and our school, along with many other schools, sent banners to surround their gym where they ate lunch the rest of the year. One of my publications student's mom is a teacher there and it never ceases to amaze me the connections we all have and the sensitivity with which we need to handle death. One of the students shot was our secretary's niece. This tragedy, like so many hits us at our place of work or school even if it was at a neighboring school. We covered the reaction to the tragedy in the yearbook. A double page spread along the lines of how students reacted to the events rather than a rehash that the larger national news was covering. I think what comes out of this is hopefully a discussion with our staffs about guidelines for how we cover tragedies of different kinds. Similar to a death policy, these kinds of things should be thought about before the emotional ties make the decisions for us.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I can't even imagine my students covering something like this. Not to say that they couldn't, it's just that the content is so controversial and sensitive that it would be a real shock to the system of administration in my district. I imagine my students covering the story and the conversations that we would have and there would be some students who know the subject personally and the tension that could potentially cause. I don't want to give the impression that I want my staff to write about rainbows and sunshine all the time, but I guess I'm struggling to understand how I would go forward with a story like this knowing how it would impact the community. I know that we are training them to be real journalists, but at what point do we recognize that they are kids and they may not be ready for the backlash that something like this could cause. It just makes me think, that's all.
ReplyDelete