How can mini-deadlines help us meet our deadlines?
It’s a claim not every staff can make, but something important to aspire to...
We Don't Miss Deadlines
(period)
I realize that is a bold statement, and I will follow up with a totally honest admission: in my 14 years of advising, we have missed two deadlines. Once because I wrote the wrong date on my calendar (duh) and the other time when my editor counted incorrectly and didn’t send enough pages (again, duh).
Out of all the valuable skills we teach in high school journalism, to me, the ability to meet deadlines is probably the most important. It is one that all students will use in their lives, no matter what field they go into. It is important to be able to do quality work, and to finish it on time.
How do we do it? Here is my annoying answer: we send the pages when they are due or, preferably, before they are due. Deadlines are not optional in my classroom, and my students have adopted that attitude as well.
"Missing deadlines can cause a delay in the ship date of the yearbook or result in late fees on the final bill. Even without those penalties, we don’t miss deadlines because I think it is rude.”
To make it a little easier, I always set my deadlines at least a week before the plant deadlines, and I don’t tell any of the students (Let’s hope they don’t read this!). This means that we always make the plant deadlines comfortably.
We try to send more pages than required on the early deadlines, which gives us a little cushion if we get behind during the year.
Missing deadlines can cause a delay in the ship date of the yearbook or result in late fees on the final bill. Even without those penalties, we don’t miss deadlines because I think it is rude. I don’t expect people at the plant (or the newspaper print shop) to change their schedules and plans to accommodate us.
Students will take whatever time you give them. I used to stay late all the time and work on Saturdays, and sometime even Sundays. Now, we have one or two worknights per deadline cycle, and they are always over by 7 p.m. During the busy final deadline and proof season, we may work on a Saturday. It took some time to train the kids, but they know when I say we are leaving at 7, I am kicking them out, turning off the lights and locking the door at 7. I usually start making announcements every 15 minutes at 6 p.m., just to give them fair warning. It does help that we have laptops available for student check out.
Now, not every staff member makes every deadline along the way, and not everything we send is perfect. Sometimes we rely way too much on proofs. But we don’t miss plant deadlines. Period. I wish I could say I had some secret to share or a grading system that makes all the difference, but, really, my editors learn very quickly that we are sending pages when they are due, and they figure out how to get them in shape.
Breakdown of mini-deadlines
(sample 10-day deadline cycle)
Day 1: Editors publish the assignment sheet (each staffer gets a copy, copy hangs in classroom and is posted on teacher web page), we review the calendar in class (again, each staffer gets a copy, copy hangs in classroom and Google calendar is embedded in my teacher web page).
Day 2: Groups brainstorm for story angles and photo ideas.
Day 3: Work day, spread plan sheet due (writer, editor and designer work together to complete).
Day 4: Work day
Day 5: Progress check (spread meetings with editors).
Day 6: Interview check, first photos due.
Day 7: Rough drafts due.
Day 8: Revise rough layouts, second photos due.
Day 9: Work day (spread meetings with editors).
Day 10: Final spreads due (critique…display spreads on projector).
Day 11: Send the pages!
Contributed by Amy Morgan, yearbook adviser
Shawnee Mission West HS, Overland Park, KS
Yearbook Discoveries Volume 16 Issue 1