upfront august 2012
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newsletter for TAJE, Aug. 2012TRANSCRIPT
UpfrontTAJE
P.O. Box 5554Austin, TX
78763-5554taje.org
Texas Association of Journalism Educators August 2012
Susan DuncanPresident
903.295.5031, ext. [email protected]
Cindy BerryPresident-Elect940.393.7231cindy.berry@
decatur.esc11.net
Christine DavisSecretary
817.571.0271, ext. [email protected]
Mikyela TedderTreasurer
Alyssa BoehringerState Director972.569.6151
Pat GathrightConvention Director
Brenda SlattonAssistant
Convention Director210.442.0300, ext. 350
Sue JettAssistant
Convention Director210.442.0800, ext. 262
Sheryl FloydPast President
Dianne Smith-HarperWebmaster
Rhonda MooreExecutive Director
Time for some southern hospitalityNational convention to arrive in San Antonio in November
When the JEA/ NSPA fall 2012 convention comes to San Antonio Nov. 15-18, students and teachers from across the country will expect to see cowboy hats and boots and hear a lot of “y’alls” when they ar-rive. And, of course, they will.
However, we want them all to leave with not only a great impression of our state but also of our scholastic jour-nalism programs.
The fall convention will give us all the chance to prove just how strong our programs are, and we hope you plan to be a part of the convention. Because the national convention will be here, TAJE won’t have a state convention this year.
The first thing you should do to prepare for the national convention is make hotel reser-vations. The convention hotels are the Marriott Rivercenter and Marriott Riverwalk hotels. The initial F1 race in Austin
will be held that weekend, and hotels across Central Texas, including San Antonio, are al-ready filling up.
Once those reservations are set, start getting your s t u d e n t s ready. Let them know about the opportuni-ties they will have: com-p e t i t i o n s in the form of write-off
contests, Best of Show compe-titions and, for the first time, a quiz bowl; on-site critiques that will give them insight into how to make their publications bet-ter; swap shops that will give them the chance to exchange their publications with those from other schools; the TAJE photo scavenger hunt; and so much more.
If you have any ideas for the convention or want to help in any way, please contact Pat Gathright or Rhonda Moore, local co-chairs. Their email ad-dresses can be found on the TAJE website, taje.org.
highlightsPre-Convention WorkshopsNine new workshops have been added to the list of pre-conven-tion workshops offered.
Friday LuncheonScholastic journalism godfather Bobby Hawthorne will be the lun-cheon speaker. In addition, TAJE will present Trailblazer and Friend of Journalism awards.
Team Scavenger HuntTAJE will have a photo scaven-ger hunt as we do at our state convention on Friday afternoon for students who are not entered in any write-off contests.
Keynote SpeakersPhotographer Rodolfo Gonzalez will speak Thursday evening and NFL reporter Charean Williams will speaker Friday afternoon.
Quiz BowlJEA/NSPA will have a quiz bowl for students for the first time at a national convention.
And much more...12 Featured SpeakersSwap Shops for middleand high school studentsBreak with a Pro2 Issues SeminarsWrite-Off ContestsOn-Site CritiquesBest of Show Competitions
remindersPlease don’t forget to renew your TAJE membership. Membership forms can be downloaded from the TAJE website, taje.org. If you need an invoice, contact executive director Rhon-da Moore at [email protected]
The deadline for clip contest entries is Dec. 17. The entry form can be downloaded from the TAJE website, taje.org.
2 Texas Association of Journalism Educators August 2012
Be active. Live longer.I hope that is true because I am go-
ing to ask you to be active with me this school year through journalism con-ventions and organizations.
We have the unique opportunity to have the national journalism conven-tion in Texas in November. The last convention in Texas was in Dallas 10 years ago, so depending how far you are from retirement, this may be your last chance to attend a national con-vention in the great Lone Star state. Now is the time to reserve hotel rooms and turn in travel requisitions before publications deadlines approach at breakneck speeds.
Unless you have volunteered for the local committee, which hosts the event in San Antonio, you may not see how many hours are spent to make something of this magnitude hap-pen. Many thanks to those who have worked on all the projects and have labored to make the convention a suc-cess, especially Rhonda Moore and Pat Gathright, who are the local co-chairs
But being active is not just attend-ing or helping out with the national convention. There are other worthy events for advisers and staff mem-bers. The more you do, the more you learn, and the better equipped you are to educate your students. Since we have two great organizations in Texas, plus the two national organizations, I thought I would sum up the organiza-tions for those who may not be famil-iar with the opportunities available in Texas:
National Conventions, co-spon-sored by the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Educa-tion Association, are held each fall and spring. Traditionally, the fall conven-tion is held in the east or central part of the country in November, while the spring convention is held somewhere in the west in April. These conventions attract thousands of journalism stu-dents and advisers by providing live contests, inspiring sessions and fun student entertainment. Locations for present and future conventions along
with registration information for the Texas convention can be accessed at jea.org and studentpress.org. In addi-tion, both organizations have wonder-ful websites with tools to help make teachers’ jobs easier and students’ pro-ductivity increase.
JEA members can also become members of a listserv where teachers’ questions are posed and answered daily. What an unbelievable resource delivered to your inbox! NSPA mem-bers can send in their publications to be critiqued by a panel of judges recruited from all over the coun-try. Students love competitions, so I urge you to have your book critiqued so that your staff will have some defi-nite suggestions about how it can im-prove publications. And signing up for write-off contests at the national con-vention is a must for those attending.
Texas Association of Journalism Educators (TAJE) - Typically our state convention is held each October in San Antonio, but we are not hosting our convention this October so that our officers and members can function as the local committee for the state con-vention in November. This change is for this year; our state convention will resume October 2013 in San Antonio at the Crowne Plaza hotel.
In addition to an annual conven-tion, TAJE also sponsors a website full of curriculum resources for teachers. We have up-to-date curriculum guides along with Powerpoints ready for student consumption. We also spon-sor scholarship contests, clip contests and write-off competitions. These are excellent ways for individual student work to be recognized. Join us today at TAJE.org. The membership fee is minimal (free the first year), but the benefits are priceless.
Running for a position on the board is another way journalism teachers can become more involved and do their part to improve scholastic journalism. An executive board and regional rep-
resentatives from around the state are elected to two-year terms.
ILPC - Interscholastic League Press Conference, a part of academic UIL, hosts its convention in April in Aus-tin on the University of Texas campus. Keynote speakers, workshop sessions and an awards ceremony highlight this event. Austin in the spring is so much fun, and my staffers love the variety of speakers who grace the UT campus
that weekend. UIL journalism director Jeanne Acton can be reached at [email protected]. She has information about
how to become more active in UIL or the ILPC convention.
ATPI – Association of Texas Photog-raphy Instructors helps budding pho-tographers hone their skills by pro-moting student contests, sponsoring a week-long adviser workshop in the summer and hosting a winter conven-tion. Scholarships are also available through this organization. Find out more information at atpi.org.
If someone wants to make teach-ing journalism a career, he should get involved. Sitting in sessions, teaching sessions, becoming an officer in an or-ganization—these are the things that bring you closer to other journalism teachers, who become your BFF’s as you see the bigger picture of journal-ism education and the value it has for students. Being involved in TAJE has kept me on the cutting edge of journal-ism, making me a better adviser and educator. I might have gotten out of education years ago had it not been for the support and challenges I have found by being active in scholastic journalism, both on the state and na-tional levels.
I believe it is my duty to provide quality learning for my students, and my participation in journalism organi-zations helps me do that. So, be active so that you can have a long and pros-perous journalism career, helping stu-dents reap the rewards of an excellent journalism education.
Being involved helps teachers, students
From the PresidentSusan DuncanPine Tree HS
TAJE President
August 2012 Texas Association of Journalism Educators 3
State Director’s ReportAlyssa Armentrout
McKinney HSTAJE State Director
As journalism teachers across the state gear up for another round of getting-to-know-you games, staff development bingo or my personal favorite, “the Pretty Bulletin Board Olympics,” your state director has an additional to-do list for you to add to your plate.
No whining. I know you’re secretly ready to get back to school.
Item number one: join TAJE, JEA, NSPA, ATPI and ILPC. Any journalism organization you plan to join this year, you might as well join now. You don’t want to miss out on all the opportuni-ties these organizations will offer this year. I know that seems like an obvious one, but I always forget to take care of this until contest materials are due in February or something. The check is in this mail this year, guys. I promise.
Number two: plan for the conven-tion. That’s the JEA/NSPA fall con-vention to be held Nov. 15-18 in San Antonio. Make a budget now. Tell your students about the convention on day one. Set a price. Reserve a bus. Book your hotel rooms in the convention hotel. Prepare kids for their write-off
contests. Do those things now. And in case you’re having a hard time decid-ing whether or not you should bring kids to the convention, let me help you.
Yes. You will come to the convention and bring lots of students.
That wasn’t so hard, was it?A n d w h i l e
w e ’ r e t a l k i n g about the national convention, here’s item number three: volunteer to judge write-offs. Write-off judging is one of the most reward-ing parts of the convention. You get to see the judging process. You find out what judges look for. You learn the ins and outs of every contest. You get a free dinner. And if you sign up to judge write-offs and perform one other task at the convention (like teach a session), NSPA will waive your adviser registra-tion. You can’t beat that with a stick.
And I know it’s only August, but it’s never too early to get ready for spring. Item number four: plan for the Journalist of the Year contest. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it takes even
State director provides to-do list for teacherslonger to put together a winning JOY portfolio. Just ask last year ’s state winner, Christian Rumscheidt from Cypress Falls High School, who built an iPad app and submitted his portfolio that way. This is a great opportunity for students to build their portfolio
and win a tremendous scholarship for four years of hard work in scholastic journalism. If you want your student to win, help him or her start putting that
puppy together now. For more informa-tion, visit the JEA website and like TAJE on Facebook for updates.
Which brings me to my last checklist item: like TAJE on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. I’ll update the member-ship regularly with anything from convention information to JOY contest tips. You won’t want to miss that stuff. Plus, it’s free.
That wasn’t so bad, right? The lecture part of my column is
over. All I have left to say now is, have a great start to the best year you’ll ever have. And I’ll see y’all in November.
TAJE, ILPC to host invitational meet
TAJE and ILPC will host the Central Texas invitational UIL meet Dec. 8.
Schools will email or fax entries to the address/fax number given. De-pending on the number of entries, re-gional sites may be used for some judg-ing.
The first contest will start at 10 a.m., and the last will start at 1:30 p.m. Reg-istration forms can be found on the TAJE website.
Deadline for meet entries is Nov. 16.
ILPC is offering a documentary con-test, “UIL: Our Story.”
Contest entries can focus on a school’s academic/athletic success from start to finish within one year or an individual participant in a contest and show his/her story. The documen-taries can also be about UIL fine arts programs. Students are encouraged to highlight individual experiences with UIL activities.
ILPC offers contest for documentary film
In Brief
UIL will again host four Student Ac-tivities Conferences this fall. The confer-ences introduce students and advisers to UIL contests. They will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m. without a break for lunch. Tentative programs will be posted on the UIL website.
The dates and locations of the confer-ences are as follows:
Sept. 15: Tyler Junior CollegeTyler
UIL to hostStudent ActivitiesConferences
Sept. 22: TAMUCorpus Christi
Sept. 29: University of Texas at Austin
Oct. 20: West Texas A&M Canyon
The documentary can be up to 10 minutes in length. Each school may enter three entries, and cost is $25 per entry. Schools must be current ILPC members.
For more information, go to the UIL website. Contest deadline is May 11.
4 Texas Association of Journalism Educators August
Back in the day, several of us more seasoned teachers were grandfathered in with TEA to teach desktop publishing to students in our production classes. Once an individual school approved the grand-father, the journalism teacher could teach the course while having the student in the publications classroom. It allowed journal-ism students to satisfy their state required computer credit while serving on a publica-tions staff.
Although some districts may choose to still require it, TEA recently did away with the state computer requirement. State law, however, still requires schools to offer three tech apps courses.
So, the bottom line is, once a district is on board, if journalism teachers want to continue to teach their students in a jour-nalism classroom while satisfying a tech-nology credit, they will either have to be-come TechApps or TechEd (CTE) certified.
The state also recently rewrote all the Technology Applications (TechApps) TEKS. And, the desktop publishing course was replaced with a new TechApps course called Digital Design and Media Pro-duction, which looks to be more closely aligned with online production within the journalism program. However, the grand-father doesn’t allow for the new course, thus those of us grandfathered in are not allowed to provide a computer credit through TechApps or through Career and Tech Education (CTE) without the proper certifications or qualifications.
The Fix: Career and Tech Education
(CTE) certification. According to TEA’s website, CTE certifi-
cates are special classroom certificates de-signed for teaching in the CTE assignments, preparing students for specific occupations. There is no single certificate called Career and Technical Education certificate.
Rather, there are two general types of CTE certificates: Certificates that require skill, experience and licensing in specific occupations, and certificates that do not require skill, experience or licensing in spe-cific occupations.
New CTE courses were implemented in the fall of 2010. Several new CTE clusters may align with production courses, includ-ing Arts, Audio/Visual Technology, Com-munications; Information Technology; and Marketing.
Although TechApps certification does not specifically allow for increased fund-
ing per student in Tech Apps courses, some Tech Apps courses, taught by TechApps certified teachers, may also be taught as CTE courses with no additional certifica-tions, thus they can receive weighted fund-ing. Those courses and the requirements for teaching them as CTE courses are listed in 19 TAC 231.1.
The Benefit: Increased federal Perkins funding. For students in those CTE cours-es, the school receives 1.35 weighted fund-ing, which results in more funding for the classroom. As a start, journalism teachers may also obtain TechApps certification, and, using the crosswalk on TEA’s website, may parallel the current journalism pro-duction courses with the new TechApps courses in several areas including Digi-tal Design and Media Production, Digital Communications, Digital Video and Audio Design, Web Design, and Web Commu-nications. However, the option most ben-eficial financially to the program would be CTE certification.
Through CTE, however, some teachers are being asked to articulate through a col-lege and to also attempt to certify students in a specific area, for example, Adobe.
This will vary from district to district.Ultimately, teachers should talk with the
CTE directors at the district or campus level and the principal to determine whether or not they are willing to go this route. It is up to the campus and district as to how to handle this and whether or not it applies to the journalism publications, photography, etc. courses.
The Region Service Centers are also helpful in guiding the teachers and district toward CTE certifications and programs.
Cindy BerryDecatur HS, TAJE President-Elect
Grandfathered no moreJournalism teachers need to be tech certified to offer technology credit
JEA/NSPA ..Nov. 15-18 San AntonioATPI ............Feb. 8-10 UT ArlingtonCSPA. .........March 20-22 Columbia UniversityILPC. ..........April 27-28 UT AustinJEA/NSPA ..April 25-28 San Francisco
2012-13 conventions TAJE to present Trailblazer, Friend of Journalism awards
TAJE will present three Trailblazer Awards and three Friend of Journalism Awards at the Friday luncheon at the JEA/NSPA convention in San Antonio in November.
JEA President Mark Newton, Kan-sas (and former Texas) adviser Dow Tate and Ohio adviser Dean Hume will receive Trailblazer Awards.
Paul Ender of Herff-Jones, Marilyn
Scoggins of Balfour Publishing and photographer Mike McLean will re-ceive Friend of Journalism Awards.
In addition to the awards, Bobby Hawthorne, author of The Radical Write, will speak at the luncheon, and Mark Murray, executive director of ATPI, will give away copies of the 2012 edition of The Best of High School Pho-tography.
Journalism teachers may obtain TechApps certification, and, using the crosswalk on TEA’s website, may parallel the current journalism pro-duction courses with the new TechApps courses in several areas. However, the option most beneficial financially to the program would be CTE certification.
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