As guest writing was something I strongly advocated for, I was the editor who typically served as the liaison between the journalism team and the guest writing students. It was difficult not being in class with them, so it involved many emails and editing via google docs.
I worked with a journalism student Nathan Penoyar who wanted to write something from a conservative perspective. His piece, "Outside the Bubble" included many student perspectives. I also worked with Clara Bowman about block scheduling, and encouraged her to meet with the principal and contact the school board. Guest writing was something I encouraged and promoted as a recruiting tool. Nathan and Clara plan to join newspaper.
Student Conferences:
As I was only in class for 20 minutes every day, I could not always sit down individually with students, so I briefly summarized my comments, and encouraged writers to see me if they had questions.
My approach:
Typically, I make grammar edits directly in the document. If something does not flow or is not clear, I will ask questions and offer recommendations. Here are a couple principles that I edit by to promote the writer's development:1. If the same grammar or AP style mistakes occur more than once, I indicate the writer should reference an earlier edit. 2. I always encourage writers to be more concise. For writers that struggle to do this, I recommend that they take a highlighter and indicate words that have no purpose. If the piece is long, I set a new word count goal.3. Because I edit opinion, appropriate language is something I often need to address. I never want to censor writers so we always consult Mrs. Badalamente.4. Finally, I try to suggest how arguments can be strengthened through a different word or phrasing or adding facts.
Editing Pages Page editing is often neglected and too many mistakes are found after going to print. I have suggested class editing, but this rarely occurs. I am still promoting the process. I always encourage printing out pages and editing with a pen. I have even found volunteers outside of the class to find our mistakes to highlight the importance of editing.