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 Editorial Instructions 

The bulk of your editorial work will involve commenting on your reporters' first drafts. The Editorial Groups pages has the basic guidelines for that, and as a veteran of JSR you know what kinds of comments we're looking for. If you are a new editor, this will be the first time that you will receive regular feedback from Geoff on your own articles -- use his example as a model for how to treat your students' work.

 

No matter how good a student's work is - or how much it is lacking - your job is to help that student write the best possible article they can. In that way, being an editor is similar to being a teacher or a mentor. Each of your reporters will have specific and unique strengths and weaknesses, and each reporter will work with you in a different way. Get to know your students, and set goals for their improvement.

 

Don't, however, get too frustrated if your progress seems to stall. What is important is that you do your best, meet your responsibilities, and adapt your own communication strategies to meet the challenges of the semester. You will experience joy when you read one of your student's work in the paper and know that you had a part in her progress. Yet sometimes you'll be surprised at how you can positively impact another student in ways that don't even directly relate to journalism.

 

When being critical, offer positive suggestions.

 

When being positive, do more than say “good job!” or “good work ;)” -- highlight specific things and always look for ways that even the best articles can be improved.

 

Whenever possible, augment the comments you make in the margins with some kind of summary comments at the end. If a student is producing advanced work, use this section to ask questions and give them suggestions aimed at challenging themselves further and taking their work to another level.

 

Finally, remember to ask for help if you need it. Being an editor is hard work and it requires you to apply a lot of different skills. Don't feel bad if you aren't perfect at it. If you want advice, sign up for office hours or write Geoff an email!

 Organizing Student Work 

You've been given a group folder with your name on it. Inside the folder, there are subfolders named for the due dates of each First Draft. 

 

You can drag your reporters' work into the folder or you can use the method depicted in the images surround this text. The important thing is that you DO IT EVERY TIME. 

 

Editors tend to get a little lazy about this mid-semester, and I often have to send reminders. This time, if I don't see your student work in the folder, I'm just going to assume that you're not doing your job. Make it a habit. 

 

 

Reporter Progress Tracker 

In your folder, you have a Google Sheet entitled Reporter Progress Tracker.

 

 

For every assignment, fill out the info in the chart for each student. Use the color coding to indicate whether or not the student met each step of the requirement.

 

Leave comments for each section when applicable. For example, if a student submitted an assignment late, include the given reason as well as date she submitted her article.

 

You don't need to leave a comment in every box, every time. But every once in a while, leave encouraging/honest comments about each student’s progress in the program. We want to know when students are falling behind, and we also want to know when students are excelling!

 

 

Each student in reporter group will have a separate sheet that can be found on the bottom of the screen, like so:

 

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