Editing, Leadership, and Team-building
Organization:
I created a Trello workspace for my staff to keep everything organized, clear, and accessible. On Trello, I create multiple board for our wide range of content and needs as a staff: Social Media Submission, Online Content Submission, Print Edition Plans, and Training/Resources. On each content board, there are Trello cards where staffers attach their drafts, photos, and content. Deadlines and assignments are clearly labeled to avoid any confusion. After deadlines pass, I edit the content submitted on these Trello cards, leaving comments and feedback. To provide a general sense of where a staffer's content is, I devised an easily understandable color-coding system.
Green=Polished and Published!
Purple=Almost Ready to Publish!
Blue= Needs a little more work/not quite ready to publish
Red=Missing/Incorrect Sharing Settings (Come see me for help!)
Each color/stage of content is phrased positively and constructively, encouraging staffers to come ask for help when needed.
These Trello cards also communicate my page plans for print issues of The Rock and how we will categorize by section.
Training:
There is a Training/Resources Trello board I created to help staffers get the hang of AP Style, formatting, and general procedure. On this board, there are step-by-step instructions on how to write a caption, AP basics to look for, how to join GroupMe, the class messaging app to stay updated, and more. One of these tools I created is an interview guide to help with personality profiles/in-depth interviews (shown below this text box). Before work time I usually start each class period with a mini-lesson about AP Style reminders, quick tips on photography, SNO site features, and more.
Team-building:
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As Editor in Chief, I help to create/foster a community of positivity and encouragement, creating a 'Rockmedia family'. This tight-knit community is constructed through various team building activities. I lead and encourage staffers to embrace their personality type color, from a survey we provide to staffers at the beginning of the year. By helping these students find their personality type, we can assess strengths and possible weaknesses--pairing them up with someone who has opposite strengths and weaknesses. Another team-building activity I lead is the 'beach ball interview'. Staffers gather in a circle and a beach ball is tossed from one person to another. The beach ball is covered with 'getting to know you' questions, helping to break the ice and let staffers learn about each other, bridging gaps/tension with commonalities and humor.
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Recently, for International Women's Day, I gathered with my fellow female staffers to celebrate our strength and tenacity. On social media, we even posted a photo of all of the women on staff, celebrating the women that make our publication possible.
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I also implemented the "Slay Button". This is a motivational and constructive tool used to reward staffers with a reward from our shared inside joke. The term "Slay" means to do something exceptionally well. I created our "Slay Button" by drawing on a large sticky note with colorful pens. Our button hangs up on the wall and whenever a staffer publishes a story, has a breakthrough, snapped an incredible picture, etc... I tell them to go hit the "Slay Button"--slap the large sticky note with a slay button drawn on it-- as a way to celebrate them and commemorate their great work.
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I stay after school, come to the lab during access periods, and even come in on weekends to work on our publication, providing staffers an opportunity for even more one-on-one help and guidance.
Claire and I covering the DCSD School Board protest
International Women's Day Photo
Editing:
After draft deadlines passed, I would read through the content submitted and sit down with each staffer to talk about grammar changes and next steps. When students weren't at school, I left comments on their article drafts to prompt them with guidance, new angles, and direction (as shown by the comments to the right). I also edited individual stories on Google Docs. The passage shown below to the right is a piece about mental health in Colorado. I made multiple edits for clarity, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and overall content. There is a screenshot of some of the general edits I've made as well as some more specific edits shown below. The green text on the top represents sections from the article before edits and the text on bottom shows these sections after I edited them.
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After:
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