Sept. 6, 2024
Our past three editions
May 6, 2024 Encampments • El Niño • Phones in school
April 29, 2024 AI-generated news • Air pollution • Cicadas
April 22, 2024 Book bans • Jane Goodall • Taylor Swift
THE LEAD
Students feel disconnect from what they are taught at school
Dive into survey results, talk to school community members
Just under half of 12- to 18-year-olds said they feel challenged “in a good way” in school, a new survey from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation shows. The 46% of students who feel challenged at school is down from 54% just a year ago in the same survey, NPR reported.
The survey aims to tell data-driven stories about Generation Z, or people born between 1997 and 2012, and was conducted last spring. It reveals a number of interesting themes. Almost 80% of students reported feeling they have a great future ahead of them, but only 51% feel prepared for the future.
When it comes to engagement in school, nearly every measure of engagement declined since last year. Students who do not want to attend college are less likely to feel engaged in school and less than 25% of students have had a lot of conversations about non-college options.
When students do feel engaged in school, it often comes back to the work their teachers are doing — 60% of students pointed to teachers making topics exciting and interesting as a marker for feeling engaged in school.
What you can do—
The start of a new school year brings with it new classroom set ups, updated lesson plans and different class dynamics, making it the perfect time to dive into what students and teachers are doing to make school interesting.
Using the survey results as a jumping off point, talk to teachers about what they do to keep students engaged. The survey points to teachers as making students excited about the future — how do teachers approach this challenge? Simultaneously, teachers may be able to weigh in on if they’ve seen the trends the survey shows in action.
The survey covered students from all over the country, you can narrow it down to your school. Take the time to ask students what makes them most excited to come to school every day. What learning methods engage them the most? How does your school educate students on non-college options — and how can you include these options in your coverage? This could be done via a survey or by a series of mini profiles.
Noteworthy
Generative AI available to students, teachers alike
Technology companies market to teachers too, are they using it?
In many cases, schools are wary of the use of generative AI products like ChatGPT in the classroom. Afterall, AI can attempt to write essays or brainstorm project ideas for students, who then skip over the individual work of the past. But, as the MIT Technology Review reported, AI isn’t just for students.
Companies are promoting the use of AI to speed up various tasks associated with teaching like grading, lesson planning and assisting students, MIT Technology Review reported. Just 6% of teachers think AI can help education more than it hurts it, according to a May Pew research poll.
What you can do—
AI is no longer entirely new and mysterious to schools, it’s now been around for a few years, though it continues evolving all the time. The start of the school year could be a good time to check in on your school’s AI policies and gather reactions from teachers, students and administrators. Are any uses of AI allowed, or is there a blanket policy? What are the consequences if a student uses AI to complete school work?
On the flip side, it is possible some teachers are embracing AI, instead of trying to banish it. Ask teachers in a variety of subjects if they see any helpful uses of AI — and if they have ever considered using it themselves.
What’s viral
‘Very demure. Very mindful’: Summer trends transition to fall
Explore what trends students are participating in
This summer was marked by strong social media trends — starting with the Charli XCX-inspired “brat summer” and now transitioning to the demure and mindful fall trend.
The current dominant trend on social media is inspired by a Chicago-based TikTok creator who goes by Jools Lebron. In early August she posted a viral video of her getting ready for work saying she is being “Very demure. Very mindful.” Now, it is hard to open social media without a stream of videos about being demure.
While no one can say how long this trend will last, there are always new trends to discover.
What you can do—
Social media trend stories can be a lighthearted, quick story to kick off the school year. You could gather student reactions and opinions, while also examining where these trends come from. If you want to narrow in on one trend, it could be interesting to have students answer questions about the start of school using one trending audio.
If there are teachers who are game, having teachers decipher the social media trends taking the internet by storm could be entertaining.
IT’S AN HONOR
Student Advisory Board applications due Sept. 20
Do you want to serve your fellow student journalists and Quill and Scroll members? Join the Student Advisory Board for 2024-25. Applications close Sept. 20.
SAB members will work on projects including establishing a regular communications channel for editors and other student journalists to discuss problems, successes, and coverage; and working on projects and activities that can aid Quill and Scroll chapters.
It’s always membership season
Don’t forget you can nominate members year round
Do you have a senior who just met the GPA requirement or a student who now wants to join Quill and Scroll? Want to avoid the spring rush? Nominate students for membership order pins, cords and other Quill and Scroll materials and memorabilia.
We haven’t changed the ordering process from last year. For those wanting to ditch the paper version, you just need to select the form based on how you would like to pay. We have one version for credit card and another version for check or purchase order. (We’ve added buttons for ease of finding these.) As usual, credit card payments are charged $4.49 per order for processing.
Suggested chapter activity
Time to plan for Constitution Day
This Constitution Day is Sept. 17. Start your planning now.
This interactive First Amendment activity reviews the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment and asks students to select their favorite First Amendment freedom. This activity can be run in just media classes or expanded out to a larger school/community project.
Submit your YEC entries today
Only three weeks until contest closes, submit today
The 2024 Yearbook Excellence Contest is open for entries. The cost for each entry in all 39 categories is $8, and schools will be divided by size — Class A for 1,000 or more students, and Class B for 999 or fewer students.
Entry deadline is Oct. 2, and here is a link to complete descriptions of those 39 categories and how to pay for the entries. Please note, we’ve added six new categories — including three for beginning students and three for middle schoolers.
Judges will award first, second and third places in each category for each class, and they’ll award honorable mentions so that between 10 and 15 percent of all entries are recognized in every category. All students named as award recipients will be eligible to apply for Quill and Scroll student scholarships in May of their senior year.
Quill and Scroll administrators will then tally points (5 for first place, 4 for second, 3 for third and 1 for HM) to determine a Blue and Gold Award winner for each class. Last year’s overall winners were Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (Class A) and Christ Presbyterian Academy of Nashville, Tennessee (Class B). Quill and Scroll hopes to announce winners by Dec. 1, 2024.
Here’s a complete list of last year’s winners.
News Media Evaluation results to be released Tuesday
The Quill and Scroll News Media Evaluation results to be announced through Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.
The News Media Evaluations provides news media staffs a one-of-a-kind assessment of your publication(s) with constructive comments and suggestions for improvement from qualified evaluators. Judges will provide a thorough analysis and rating to schools, and the evaluation exercise and feedback are instructive and developmental.
We will open this service again in March.
National High School Journalism Convention travels to Philadelphia
This fall the nation’s largest gathering of high school journalists, advisers and journalism teachers will be held Nov. 7-10 at the Philadelphia Marriott.
The JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention offers hundreds of instructional sessions, keynote speakers from national newsmakers, dozens of media critiques, JEA’s popular on-site media contests and the announcement of NSPA national winners for Pacemaker Awards and Individual Awards. NSPA also offers a convention Best of Show competition that celebrates current student media work.
Registration is open now. The early bird discount ends Sept. 26 and online registration will close Oct. 17.
Just a thought
Welcome back!
I hope you have all returned rested and ready for the year. We are excited to be back!
A few housekeeping tidbits:
We keep our calendar up-to-date with important Quill and Scroll deadlines, so please make sure to note upcoming dates, such as contests and important experiences such as the Student Advisory Board membership and offerings.
The Student Advisory Board application deadline is Sept. 20. Please encourage at least one student to apply. These students will meet once a month from September to March. They will help develop some Quill and Scroll offerings and provide insight to improve the organization. We also have time in the meeting for the students to talk among themselves as well.
We’ve been busy this summer and can’t wait to show you what we’ve done. We revamped our chapter activity ideas to be more like a lesson plan. Student leaders should be able to use this with their fellow chapter members.
We’re launching a new member benefit, which is a new members-only area, in late October. Only those who have initiated members within the past calendar year will receive access. We hope this helps you and your students in the student media classrooms. You will receive an email with your access information in mid October. Thank you for your patience as we implement this new members-only area. We know we will have a few items to work through.
While we will have everything we finalized during the past year (yes, this has been planned for some time), we hope to add to this as we are able. We will be highlighting either a chapter activity idea, bell ringer or lesson plan in each Monthly Scroll.
We also will be publishing a new Quill and Scroll Initiation helper area within the next few months. We will be adding content as it is available. This should be your go-to area if you need help in finding members, planning an induction or other initiation-related items. When you think of something we are missing, please let us know via email. We’d love to help you better!
Have a great start to your year!
— Lori Keekley
