A Higher Level of Trust

Steve Elliott introduces Aaron Manfull Monday
June 20.

Aaron Manfull, chair of the JEA Digital Media Committee and media adviser at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Mo., gave the Reynolds Fellows a plethora of practical tips from his years of advising an online student publication. Most amazing?  He does not read the students' work before it goes live.  To me, that was a shock and a story of a level of trust I didn't know could happen in our world of public education.

It may be that he does not actually inhabit the same world of public education as the rest of us, as he explained that he has "the best principal in the world."  I myself have a wonderfully supportive principal, who frequently reminds me that our students are very young and will make mistakes. I cannot see him becoming something else, but I've been cautioned by another principal, earlier in my career, that mine must be the last set of eyes that scan my students' paper before it is published.

Even if this aspect of Manfull's process will not work for me or others in the Institute, I'm confident that other aspects of his experience will translate. He talked about using Smugmug to sell photographs to raise money; he outlined a "beat system" that seemed quite clear and feasible; he integrated the use of social media into the beat coverage, to show how assignments can be evenly distributed among staff members. Plus, finally, thanks to Aaron Manfull, I know what a QR code is!

In spite of the advice to begin small, do it now, don't just think about it, I did find it a little overwhelming in the end because there is a long way to go to make an online presence as timely as I would want it to be. Still, I will take a deep breath and pose the question again to my Journalism Club - do we want to do it this year?  Stay tuned for the answer.

JoAnn Augustine
American Canyon High School
American Canyon, California