An Organized Mess

We hear the phrase "it has to get worse before it gets better" in many life situations.  I think in my newspaper class, it's more appropriate to say that "things will get messy before they make sense." That's the cost of creativity and letting my students do their thing without me hovering too close. 

This very thing happened almost every layout week this last school year. We wouldn't have the correct photos needed, a story needed a rewrite, the ad wouldn't fit correctly, or one of my editors was having a meltdown. We even had the mouse moment of '14. This all makes putting a paper together stressful, and at times, epic. However, my students always make it happen, even if everything falls together at the very last moment.  I've learned to step back and give them space and trust them. Short of blood and fire, they do a pretty good job left alone with their work.

This picture is the mess of notes that morphed into my group's news story earlier today.  It took a bit, but we have a final product from this mess. If you look closely, you can see our four different styles of handwriting.

Emily Sell

Bingham High School

South Jordan, Utah