Education Coordinator

We have three candidates for this position

May 2, 2017

Tina Barber, CJE currently advises The Guide and The Legend at Cherokee Trail High School in Aurora. As a former high school yerd and college journalist, she enjoys advising both newspaper and yearbook because it makes it possible for her to spend even more time in her happy place: the newsroom (a place she has called home now for 14 years). Both CTHS publications have been recognized annually by CSMA. In addition, The Legend received a CSPA Silver Crown in 2016 and earned an All-American critique rating from NSPA in 2017.

She loves dogs, snowboarding, nacho cheese, the mountains, teaching writing and journalism, music, yoga, and weather movies equally. (Well, maybe queso a little more!) As a National Board Certified Teacher and a Certified Journalism Educator, Tina has presented at various camps and workshops for both students and educators, such as NCTE, National Writing Project, and J-Day as part of her on-going work as an adviser and building-level staff developer.

Candidate Statement
As the CSMA Education Coordinator, I hope to create opportunities for journalism educators across the state to participate in both virtual and face-to-face PLNs (Professional Learning Networks). Far too often, journalism educators exist as islands within their schools. The job of an adviser is too difficult to do alone, but many of us often do. Whether through a post on Facebook or a conversation at a coffee shop, I want all CSMA members to feel as though they have a journalism friend they can reach out to with ease — sometimes to celebrate, sometimes to problem-solve — but most importantly to share student work. In addition, I would also like to promote the way in which journalism programs teach 21st Century Skills to other educators. Our colleagues in other content areas should be looking to our classrooms as exemplary models for teaching students the skills outlined in the Colorado Academic Standards.

 

Jed Palmer, CJE is the journalism adviser at Sierra Middle School in Parker. He has been advising for 15 years and is currently in charge of the yearbook, broadcast, and online news programs. He has been actively involved in the CSMA board for many years, most recently serving as the Middle School Coordinator.

Candidate Statement
As Education Coordinator, I plan to work with the offices at CDE to clarify the process for obtaining CTE credentials for journalism teachers/advisers, then work with CSMA advisers to help them through this process. I will create documentation of the CTE authorization process and serve as a liaison with CDE for our members. I also plan to be a visible resource for our members who are looking for help with curriculum and instruction in any areas of scholastic journalism.

 

 

 

Ben Reed:  I advised the Standley Lake High School newspaper for eight years, leading the publication to All-Colorado Honors five consecutive years and a national Pacemaker in 2014. For the past two years, I have worked with student media programs throughout Jefferson County, teaching both students and advisers how to create programs that actually matter in their schools. I have presented at local, state, and national conferences, culminating with the creation of the Jeffco Schools Media Day. I believe in empowering students by challenging them to tell stories their peers will actually want to read. Student journalists (whether they publish online, in broadcast, or in print) have a unique gift that no other student writers in their school possess — an audience. I want students to embrace this opportunity and take every advantage of the freedoms and responsibilities they’ve been granted.

Candidate Statement
When I first took over the journalism and newspaper program at my school, the outgoing adviser handed me a copy of the textbook Journalism Today and said, “Good luck.” The textbook featured such fascinating features as students conducting an interview with Mike Farrell from TV’s M*A*S*H.

Suffice it to say, I didn’t really know where to begin. CSMA came to my rescue. I leaned heavily on other advisers for ideas on how to organize a staff, how to teach students to write incredible personality profiles, and how to guide students to create pages with captivating design. What I’ve discovered is that I am a bit of an anomaly. Many advisers tend to hang back. Who can blame them, really? No one understands the stress of deadlines and unending work quite like a newspaper or yearbook teacher.

My goal is to help CSMA reach out to those teachers too overwhelmed, too stressed, or too lacking in time to expand their craft and skills as advisers. Thus, as Education Coordinator, I would have three main aims:

  1. Create and tap into existing databases of lessons for Colorado advisers to use. Need a new idea for how to teach caption writing? Here you go.
  2. Create ways to educate Colorado’s advisers that these databases exist. We need to show people the mountains of resources available to them.
  3. Encourage conversations for how advisers can challenge their students to push themselves to create meaningful pieces of journalism.

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