A Snapchat recap of a Friday night football game. Streaming school board meetings on Facebook. Posting a breaking news story about a school bomb threat online in real time.
None of it would have been possible when high school journalism teacher Sarah Nichols was in her students鈥� shoes more than two decades ago. But the new technologies are a regular part of life for high school journalism programs like hers at Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to reach an audience now. With that comes so much responsibility in terms of getting it right and sharing it carefully and wisely and using the tools for good rather than being wooed by their capability,鈥� said Nichols, who is the president of the , a nonprofit that provides professional development to student journalists and their advisers.
New digital technologies鈥攅specially social media鈥攃ome with plenty of headaches for teachers and administrators. But they can help student journalists connect with their digitally savvy peers. They can provide a motivational hook for students who might be disinterested in sitting down and writing an essay鈥攐r even a news story.
And perhaps more importantly, mastering the new tools and working with fellow students to tell stories on a wide variety of platforms can help students learn practical skills that are essential for college or whatever career they decide to pursue.
鈥淚 never feel like I鈥檓 training journalists,鈥� said Mitch Eden, who teaches journalism at Kirkwood High School, near St. Louis. 鈥淲hat I鈥檓 teaching them is incredible collaboration and critical thinking. There鈥檚 a huge project-management task they have to get done and there鈥檚 a deadline. 鈥� I truly think what they are doing is going to benefit them in any field.鈥�
Teacher Learning Curve
The ever-changing array of new gadgets and techniques can be a lot to swallow for some journalism advisers. Many are English or social studies teachers drafted into the position with little knowledge of the basics of reporting, much less mastery of digital publishing platforms like WordPress.
鈥淓verything changes so frequently and there鈥檚 so much to learn and it鈥檚 overwhelming for so many [teachers],鈥� said Aaron Manfull, a teacher at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Mo., who also serves as the digital media chair for JEA. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not really sure where to get help and what tools they should be using.鈥�
Manfull鈥檚 advice to his fellow newspaper and yearbook advisers: Get comfortable with a few tools and resources. But empower your students to master the latest social media platform, video technique, or web design feature on their own. Then, they may be able to help the adviser鈥攁nd others on the staff鈥攍earn to use the new tool.
鈥淚 have kids who are way smarter than me in a lot of different areas,鈥� Manfull said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really cool when I can sit a kid in front of the class and have them teach others.鈥�
For instance, two of Manfull鈥檚 tech-savvy, sports-obsessed students once livestreamed high school games on the paper鈥檚 website. But when they graduated, the technical know-how left with them.
The next school year 鈥渟tarted out rough. The streams were not working and I had no idea how to help them with it,鈥� Manfull said.
One new editor taught herself to , and also developed a new 鈥渓ivestream test鈥� other students in the program must take to show that they can work the technology, too. Manfull鈥檚 students are requiring him to pass the test this year.
There may be nothing scarier for some journalism advisers than handing teenagers the keys to the school newspaper or yearbook social media accounts so that they can post to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more.
There has to be a lot of coaching on the front end, especially for less-experienced students. Some teachers say they make sure only experienced students are able to access their paper or yearbook鈥檚 social media feeds, or that student-editors approve tweets. But advisers are reluctant to say that they must sign off on every post鈥攐therwise it will slow down the pace of real-time platforms.
One important lesson: Get the tone right. Students at central Virginia鈥檚 Prince George High School are told to live-tweet high school football games like objective reporters, not like exclamation-point-crazed fans.
鈥淲e have a saying, 鈥楰ill the cheerleader,鈥� even though we don鈥檛 literally mean that,鈥� said Chris Waugaman, the school鈥檚 journalism teacher.
In Eden鈥檚 experience, once students are given the responsibility, they will rise to the occasion.
鈥淭here are not too many other places in this school where they are given this power and this authority, and with it comes great responsibility, and they take that very seriously,鈥� Eden said. He doesn鈥檛 even have the passwords for his program鈥檚 social media handles.
And there are times when teenagers鈥� social media use can be a learning experience鈥攆or both teachers and their students.
In January 2017, political tensions were running high in the wake of President Donald Trump鈥檚 surprise electoral victory. Students on the yearbook staff at Corning-Painted Post High School in Corning, N.Y., covered a few of their teachers , capturing the moment in Instagram and Facebook posts.
Then their teacher, Michael Simons, got a late-night call from the superintendent asking him to please take down the posts because of angry calls from local residents. Despite misgivings, Simons complied.
鈥淚t was one of the most uncomfortable things I had to do as an adviser,鈥� he recalled. His students responded by changing the password on the accounts, locking their teacher out, and putting the post back up.
The district鈥檚 lawyer weighed in, saying the students were protected, in part because they had adhered to media ethics. They had covered the protest objectively, without favoring one side or the other. If they had added a 鈥渘ever Trump鈥� hashtag, it would have been a different story, Simons said.
鈥淚t was a real nice win for the kids,鈥� Simons said. 鈥淲e really saw it as a win for everybody, because it was a teachable moment,鈥� he said. Generally, 鈥渙ur administration does a wonderful job of backing our kids as long as it鈥檚 great journalism,鈥� he added.
Discerning News Consumers
Even as digital technology blossoms, some high schools are paring back their focus on journalism to concentrate on areas like science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, said Kelly Furnas, a lecturer in communications at Elon University in North Carolina, who previously served as executive director of JEA.
But other schools are increasingly turning to journalism and newspaper courses as a way to teach students how to be discerning news consumers, he said. Some educators see this as more important than ever in an era when fabricated news stories are shared widely on social media.
鈥淭he good news is that society and educational institutions have seen media literacy as a growing need in secondary education,鈥� said Furnas, who also serves as JEA鈥檚 global engagement director. 鈥淎 lot of high schools have jumped on the idea that we can do a twofer. We can be teaching these news literacy skills as we鈥檙e teaching journalism production.鈥�
To be sure, there are plenty of high school newspapers that still haven鈥檛 migrated online. , or SNO, a Burnsville, Minn.-based organization started by a former high school newspaper adviser that helps school papers go digital, works with more than 2,200 high school sites, the majority of those that have a web presence, said Jason Wallestad, SNO鈥檚 cofounder and co-owner. He estimates about another 6,000 to 8,000 high schools have newspapers that aren鈥檛 yet online. (Furnas鈥� best guess is that it is about 50 to 60 percent of high school newspapers.)
There are only about 200 high school papers in the country that are 鈥渇iring on all cylinders,鈥� with daily updates to their web sites and consistent use of techniques like video, social media, interactive graphics, and podcasting, Furnas estimated. Hundreds more might experiment with those technologies less frequently, he added.
Many of the high schools that are on the leading edge are in better-resourced, more affluent communities with supportive administrations, Furnas said.
But any high school can create a strong program, said Michelle Balmeo, who recently moved from Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, Calif.鈥攖he heart of Silicon Valley鈥攖o West Albany High School in small-town Oregon.
Balmeo鈥檚 new administration supported restarting the school鈥檚 journalism program, which had been dormant for years. Balmeo has had to do some of her own fundraising for technology, turning to crowdfunding sites such as DonorsChoose.org for help.
She鈥檚 hoping her journalism class can eventually qualify as a career-and-technical-education program, and be eligible for federal funding. After all, she said, the new technology will give her students great preparation for the workforce.
鈥淚 always thought that high school journalism was on the cutting edge within the education world, getting kids the next skill before everyone else.鈥�
