Blog 16: Answer 2

1. My essential question is, “What is the most effective method of managing a yearbook staff, while promoting morale and the success of the book?”
2. My first answer is, “A successful editor-in-chief develops a shared vision with his or her staff, using the philosophy of employee engagement.”
3. My second answer is, “A successful editor-in-chief organizes his or her staff using various media and a hierarchical staff structure.”
4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
1. Organization establishes clear deadlines and goals.
1. A successful magazine company knows when certain stories are happening, and when their publishing deadlines are.
2. Proper hierarchical organization and delegation outlines what role each member plays in the staff.
1. In government, every level of senator and official and leader has a certain, specific job they must accomplish. One person can’t maintain government spending, deal with foreign affairs, handle internal scandals, and city infrastructure issues all at once, so the work is delegated.
3. Communication, especially when utilizing various media, allows for the staff to be up-to-date and constantly aware of dates, deadlines, and stories.
1. When you have a group project, you always need people to communicate. Then, the group will know when meetings are, whether or not someone can make it to the meeting, what work needs to be done, and similar group project happenings.
5. "MAESTRO METHOD: Building Successful Staff Teams." Editor Handbook, pg 44. 2014. Herff Jones. Print.
6. "Tips for managing flexible working employees." flexible-working.org. Cornwall Development Company, 2012. Web.
7. Bring on the final tradeshow, because I am ready. Not entirely ready, but I’m confident in my answers and my senior project as a whole.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

1. For my 30 hours, I plan on creating and running I-Poly’s first newsletter magazine. The goal of this magazine is to provide the I-Poly student body with student-created content and pop culture content/reviews, through the perspective of students. This magazine will be web-based and published on a monthly basis for the next 5 months. In essence, the actual hours will be similar to what I do as Editor-In-Chief of yearbook, only in a different environment. I will lead worktime meetings with a small staff of 5-7 people, in which we will edit content and create spreads. I will set deadlines and manage the time spent during these worktimes, in order for the end product to be distributed/uploaded on time.

Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

2. Since those working with me will be gaining community service hours for their time, I will log each worktime meeting with details of what was accomplished and for how long the meeting lasted. Evidence will also manifest in the form of each completed, published edition of the magazine.

Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

3. I will continue to work on my staff management and journalistic publication skills. These contributors, however, are working for a more intrinsic sort of fulfillment instead of a grade. This will change the dynamic of the staff, and require me to handle issues and other obstacles in different ways (compared to how I would in yearbook). In relation to my EQ, this component also creates a different definition of “success”. Unlike the yearbook, the magazine is published on a more regular basis and I’ll be able to receive immediate feedback from the student body regarding the magazine. “Success” in this sense will be how well received each issue is, and the ratio of readers-to-students we have. In a way, this will give me a better idea of what journalism is like in the real world.

Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

4. The section has been completed, and you can confirm this by visiting the “Senior Project Hours” link in the sidebar.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

LITERAL

1. I, Elijah Garcia, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 31 hours and 45 minutes of work.
2. My current mentor, Shawn Strand, helped me complete my independent component. I also used management methods from the Yearbook Editor Handbook, published by Herff Jones.
1. "YEARBOOK EDITORS: Effective Strategies." Editor Handbook, pg 15. 2014. Herff Jones. Print.
2. "STAFF MOTIVATION: Keep Them Happy Campers." Editor Handbook, pg 64. 2014. Herff Jones. Print.
3. Kruse, Kevin. "What Is Employee Engagement." Forbes.com. 22 Sep 2012. Web.
4. "Tips for managing flexible working employees." flexible-working.org. Cornwall Development Company, 2012. Web.
3. Updated, yes. You can find the log of my independent component hours by visiting the Senior Project Hours link in the sidebar.
4. I have completed the first deadline of the yearbook. I have done so with the help of the yearbook staff. We submitted two signatures (a signature is a group of 16 pages), a total of 32 pages. I organized elective time, created beat groups, set up training days, assigned stories to staffers, designed spreads, and helped quality check submitted content. As Editor-in-Chief, I overall led the staff to the completion of the deadline.

INTERPRETIVE

It’s fine to research staff management techniques and how to run an editorial publication, but this research would be useless without application. I applied the lessons from my research in  . My work with the yearbook staff has taught me things that research simply cannot. For instance, the human factor can’t be completely captured by essays or reports. Part of my duties was to work closely with the staff. I did my best to make everyone feel valued and appreciated, as well as collaborated with the staffers and editors on what direction the coverage should go. The hours I completed for this component consist of the time I spent actively working with the staff or editors towards finishing the deadline, during the yearbook elective and outside of class.

APPLIED

Essentially, my topic deals with organizational and people skills. This component helped me work on these skills. For example, I gave every staffer my contact information, and let them know that they could approach me with questions or comments at any time. I made myself available to them, and communication has become one of our strengths as a staff this year. I have also learned how to properly delegate, so every member of a team can be involved and no one is left twiddling their thumbs. I gave every beat group 2-3 assignments, and every editor had a specific duty to accomplish.

Below is a link to a photo album, with evidence of the completion of this component:

https://plus.google.com/photos/100359302248856938606/albums/6112214181951909249?authkey=CL_3-dOQ6dTWKQ

How to Train an Army and Fight a War At the Same Time

The Yearbook elective gained 10 new staffers this semester. For once, our staff actually fills up all of the seats in the classroom, and then some. This is probably the largest the elective has been in years, and with all these new staffers, some changes will have to be made.

*Dramatization of the swelling numbers of Yearbook staffers

For one, I’ve already set a plan into motion for training the newbies while still getting work done. Ever since the slip with Deadline 1, we’ve been playing catch up on all the deadlines. I know that it’s important to train the new staffers, but I don’t want to dedicate TOO much time to training, because I don’t want to risk falling behind again. Therefore, I initiated Operation H.T.G.R. (or Hit The Ground Running). There will be a few lessons here and there to give the rookies a foundational knowledge of yearbook, but they’ll be learning the specifics in their beats (or groups).

Hannah the Fearless Photo Editor shows the newbies how to upload a photo.

Malorie and I took some time to rework the beats so they would include the new staffers. (In case you don’t know, a “beat” is a group of 2-3 staffers who are assigned to keep updated on the happenings of a certain aspect of the school. For instance, those on the Drama beat are required to know when the rehearsals are, who got what lead role, when the show is, etc.) These new beats are a mix of experienced and rookie staffers, and the goal of this experiment is for the experienced staffers to show the newbies the ropes, show them how to keep up with a beat and how to stay organized.

However, I don’t want the new staffers to think yearbook is ALL work. I have to balance a relatively rigorous training regimen with enough staff bonding so they ENJOY their time here. Get to know everyone, bring little surprises in the form of baked goods. Morale is extremely important for a staff, and it especially helps out when the staff is under pressure.

Look at these happy editors! Their morale is DEFINITELY high!

This seems to be some sort of test of my leadership. I had gotten used to working with the same people under the same conditions. Now there are new (inexperienced) staffers, two deadlines left and not much time to complete them in.  My goal is to help these new staffers assimilate into the elective, and perhaps enjoy their time so much that they join again next year. Should this work, it would fulfill the “Legacy Initiative” I wrote about for last month’s extra blog post.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am extremely proud of the visual aesthetic of my presentation. I put a lot of work into the slides, and I feel like it helped maintain the attention of the class. I know that others were certainly engaged by the design of my slides. I tried to compensate for the fact that a lecture on staff management tactics would get boring.

2. a. What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

   AE    P       AP    CR    NC

    b. Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

I didn’t do anything exceptional, or worthy of an AE. All of the research I cited in the presentation was tailored toward supporting my answer. I made the time requirement, spoke clearly, and did my best to engage the audience as I spoke. My activity did what it was supposed to, teach my answer in a tangible way. I accomplished all of the P requirements, but I did not go the extra mile (this time around).

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

As cheesy as they were, I feel like my pun hook worked to grab the class’s attention. I was able to calm down my nerves and speak slow enough to make time. My presentation time also worked in my favor, because if I had presented later in the day, the class would have gotten more anxious and paid less attention to my content.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I would have changed parts of my activity. As demented as it sounds, I intended for feelings to be hurt when people were excluded from the party planning process. It was the best way, I thought, to really teach people the benefits of having a shared vision. I would have figured out a different objective for the activity, but kept the premise of “Shared Vision Leader” and “Bad Leader” in different groups.

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

My second EQ answer will be “A successful editor-in-chief organizes his or her staff using various media and a hierarchical staff structure.”

Blog 12: Mentorship 10 hours check

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

I am doing my mentorship here at IPoly, in the Yearbook elective.

2.   Who is your contact?

My contact is Mr. Shawn Strand.

3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?

Since I’ve only recently gotten this mentorship avenue approved, I’ve gotten 7 hours 10 minutes done. It was difficult to work during the holiday break. I will be completing the full 10 hours afterschool this coming Friday (January 9th).

4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

So far, I have worked on organizing a staff of 20 staffers and 9 editors towards the goal of completing the second deadline of the yearbook. I held a progress meeting to judge where the problems were. Many staffers hadn’t turn in their photos or copy (the writing) on time, so the deadline completion has been going slowly. 2 editors and I are designers, so we have been working in a frenzy to input content into the spreads of the book. I also met with our representative from the yearbook publishing company, who provided me with helpful insight and advice.

Blog 11: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Since school’s been out and I haven’t been able to gather the entire staff together (due to vacations and other scheduling issues), I’ve mostly worked with the designers in cranking out spreads from the content that has been submitted. I’ve tried to stay in contact with everyone, and reminded the staff to turn in any and all copy or photos they have so Cesar, Jason, and I actually have something to design with. Since copy has to be edited by the copy editors, I’ve made sure that they check everything to make sure it’s proper and ready to be placed into spreads. Aside from that, there isn’t much that I can do without the staff.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

I’d say the most important thing I learned is that you should always, always plan ahead. Since we took too much extra time completing Deadline 1, we fell behind on Deadline 2. Before break I started assigning stories for Deadline 3, so this doesn’t happen again. However, I failed to emphasize how crucial it was for everyone to submit their work before break. The designers and I didn’t have much to work off of, and that was mostly on me. Of course, I also learned that you can’t always rely on the staff to do yearbook work during a holiday break.

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers for your EQ, who would you talk to and why?

I would interview one of the past editors-in-chief of the IPoly Yearbook, either Elissa Fultz or Emma Seyffert. They would offer a perspective that I can relate to, and have the clarity of hindsight to add to their advice.