Administrator-Journalist: Embracing the Citizen Journalist in You

by Miguel Guhlin



"Either write something worth reading," shared Ben Franklin, "or do
something worth writing about." This entry outlines a few strategies
for enhancing your communication strategies as a
"administrator-journalist." As educational leaders, powerful tools are
available to us. Assume the role of a citizen-journalist, or
"administrator-journalist!"





The idea behind this is administrators that can--although we lack
professional journalism training--use modern tools to create, enhance
and/or share information. At a time when we're all struggling to share
what we're about, why we need more funding, it's essential that each of
us recognize that maybe, it's no longer just about teaching, learning,
and leading...it's also about sharing about that in ways that are easy
for others to understand. The techniques shared in this blog entry will
help you.

TECHNIQUE

As a writer who began long ago sharing ideas, I found
the advice that Charles Main offered up in an article entitled The List
Article in The Handbook for Magazine Writing to be easy to follow.He
shared that the list article is designed to solve problems, present
information and otherwise help the reader. This makes it perfect
for"administrator-journalists" to use to share their stories of success.

To get started, make a list of how you
have solved a problem, or better yet, how someone at your
campus/district has solved it. See if you can get them to guide you
through their problem-solving process. Capture that process with audio
or video, and then share it online. The results are powerful because
you 1) Celebrate problem-solving by your staff; 2) Invite feedback and stimulate idea sharing with a broader community; 3) Build a deeper relationship with the individual and the broader community; and 4) You establish a record of how work gets done
at your site. This last piece is one that has inestimable value since
it serves as a "living" record, an oral/video history of your efforts.
It reflects well, not only on you as the educational leader, but also
your team and organization. Who, after all, can argue with the success
that has been shared with such a wide audience?

SOME IDEAS FOR GETTING STARTED

Although you certainly don't have to
implement all of these ideas immediately, I encourage you to review the
list and practice this in your daily work as a campus or district
administrator. I'm amazed at the opportunities that arise for sharing
engaging, positive stories with others provided I am prepared to
capture them.

1. 
   You pick the stories that show your campus in the best light and then
   follow-up on those.
   
2. 
   Follow the story, especially when it reflects the truth of the
   situation. If you don't like the story, share the obstacles and what
   is being done to overcome those.
   
3. 
   Include video, audio, photos that tell the story compellingly from
   multiple perspectives (e.g. parents, students, district admin,
   teachers)
   
4. 
   Include links to available online content. If the content doesn't
   exist (e.g. documents), then make those documents available when not
   confidential.
   
5. 
   Publish the story via a blog.
   
6. 
   Encourage online conversations--whether in the comments or an online
   discussion board.
   

Though it is not my intent to go into each of these in detail at this
time--I will in future blog entries--I do want to encourage you to
embrace writing in the first person. We have all been taught that
formal writing is critical and appropriate. The truth is, though, all
writing has voice, and if your voice is stilted and boring, no one will
want to read you again. Worse, they will be less inclined to think well
of you. A friendly, personable demeanor as conveyed through your
writing is important. You can achieve that by eliminating jargon, and
writing simply. As Samuel Johnson liked to say, When you find a phrase or sentence that you think is particularly good, strike it out. Our goal is simple, straightforward writing from the heart.



Also, pick stories that you wish you could tell in more detail but are
unable to. I often find myself wishing I had a staff member present at
a meeting so they could share what happened with all the original
enthusiasm bubbling up inside them and out to the audience. There's no
capturing that enthusiasm for others unless you use audio and/or video
recorder to capture the event. Often, a photograph snapped with your
camera-phone or digital camera is enough to capture the moment. The
audio is easy to share, as is the photo.



Some quick technology suggestions:

• Have the right equipment - Use an inexpensive Olympus
  WS-110 digital audio recorder ($50-$60) to take your podcasting on the
  road. I keep my recorder in my pocket and have impromptu conversations
  with staff. This is powerful, just-in-time kind of story gathering you
  want to engage in. If you want to do video, get a FLIP video camera
  ($150) and use that. The software to work with audio includes
  SwitchFree (to convert it from WMA to MP3) and Audacity (to edit the
  audio itself). If working with video, use Moviemaker on a Windows
  computer or iMovie on a Mac.
• To put your audio or video on the web, use EduBlogs.tv. It's easy video/audio hosting, free, and education-focused. You can copy the link of the file once it's hosted and then put it on your blog.
• If your district isn't able to set you up with your own blog in a timely manner, get a free blog via Dr. Scott McLeod (Dangerously Irrelevant) or Edublogs.org.

In the next blog entry, I'll share a simple approach to being an administrator-journalist using technology. Join me?

About Miguel Guhlin
Transforming teaching, learning and leadership through the strategic
application of technology has been Miguel Guhlin’s motto. As a veteran
educator comfortable with modelling the use of technology at the
classroom, campus, and district level, he has a simple goal. That goal
is to use powerful technologies to transform practice and enable
learners to communicate and collaborate with each other.
As Director of Instructional Technology for a large urban district in
Texas, Past President of the state-wide Technology Education
Coordinators group in one of the largest United States technology
educator organizations, he continues to model the use of emerging
technologies in schools. You can read his published writing, engage him
in conversation via his blogs at Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net and LeaderTalk.

Comments

[Carol VanHook]

I like what you say about writing from the heart and about being prepared. Have the equipment on hand! Get the blog up and running. Students observe and will quickly model what you are doing! That's what it's all about!

[Patrick]

Miguel,

I cobbled together something of this model in my first year as a tech coordinator and it worked well. One of the best things we can do to combat the closed door classroom is to open it up via publicity.

In my first year as an administrator, your method looks like something I will follow. What's fantastic about the tools is that they make such complicated literacies and publication method basic enough so that each of us can explore the creativity that we have. Granted, and not to incite the likes of Andrew Keen here, some of us are more creative than others and their work will be done at a higher level, but you and I writing our blogs about amazing teachers and lessons can go a long way towards making a small part of the world feel more connected.

[Miguel Guhlin]

I couldn't agree more with both of you, Carol and Patrick. The power of the human voice, authentic writing that is real, grounded in the stories of our daily lives is powerful.

The Media and movies make a lot of those stories seem...small, as if they didn't mean a lot. But the message of each is still the same. Every story is a BIG story to the hero in it, and since our children are OUR heroes--who else do you know can come up with imaginative questions the rest of us find trouble answering?--it's life-affirming that we celebrate them.