This year at Leavelle McCampbell Middle School we have taken our journalism class and developed it to its full potential. As a school, we have been challenging ourselves to use technology more often and strategically in our classroom. Our goal for this school year is to stream a daily morning video announcement throughout the entire school building and to post our newsletter through a blogging website. Our main purpose is to show positivity within the school while reaching these goals.
Our morning announcements have taken off in a positive and effective direction. We have implemented mandatory announcements using fun trends, community activities, and every student. For example, we have applied mainly student social apps to staff applications such as “Teacher Tik-Tok Tuesday.” This is a fun way to show students that the teachers are still interested in fun activities that they use daily. We are also spotlighting students and their strengths so that all students are included.
Through the announcements we also are involving the community by:
- mentioning different activities where guests are visiting our school
- highlighting events such as open houses, dances, or speakers, to show students the different people who are actually support systems that come into the building
- working on inviting our school alumni to share what the school means to them and what they learned here. This should be inspirational to our students.
Our newsletter is taking off in the same direction. By distributing information through a blogging website, the community can access the newsletter on any device, anywhere. Students become active by participating in features like “Man on The Street” and “Dear Sally” where students interview different people after school and at special events. This allows them to share different perspectives through the eyes of the students in writing. By allowing our students to lead the direction in a creative way, it has allowed our school to reach higher levels than we expected.
With the support of different organizations that came to visit us in the beginning of the year – Fox 54, Aiken Standard, Bella Magazine, Upliff, and Affect the Culture – we see different examples of goals we would like to reach in our class, and it has allowed us to move forward in an awesome way.
School Notes
This is the Leavelle McCampbell Middle School acrostic poem:
W- hen you
E- nter this
L- oving school
C- onsider yourself
O- ne of the special
M- embers of an
E- xtraordinary family
Our art class teacher Mrs. Sandra Weeks posts inspirational quotes outside her door. A sample:
+ Do big things
+ You can change the world
+ We are the dreamers of dreams
+ Believe in yourself
+ You are a leader
+ You are brave
+ You are important
+ You are a creator
+ Good logic will get you from A to B
+ Imagination will take you everywhere
Two Journalism Students Share a School Story
By Lyndi Watkins and Katlyn Herring
[Mrs.] Weeks also shows school spirit for the football players and the volleyball players on her doors. The doors show the score from the latest football game and on the other door for the volleyball game. She is always coming up with new and cool ideas for this school and is always showing her school spirit. One awesome thing she does is when she gives her students a blank piece of paper, shares a really cool idea, and then gives step-by-step instructions that make the task much easier to accomplish. For example, in the past she asked us to draw the moon howling at a wolf or draw a butterfly eating a steak. Do you see now how Mrs. Weeks is always the artistic kind of person that is always finding new stuff for her kids to enjoy?
People all over share their different ideas on what art means to them. That is what makes art so unique. Weeks always states that this is what art means, that we all are different in our way, no specific way being “right,” but that is what makes us all who we are. She always tells us, “Everyone is different in their own way, no one is like you, and they never will be. So don’t dull your sparkle.”
Everyone is always saying that they aren’t good at art, but honestly everyone is because everyone is art, and everyone does art. Whatever you do, even if you say you mess up, it still is art no matter what because you are expressing yourself by creating or changing your ideas. Weeks would say the same. Everyone has rough days, don’t let it ruin your vibe. Use these bad days to express what you are going through. Even if you think you’re not good just keep going and see you will get better over the years. Everyone has a low point in their lives, but that just makes you human and art can help you get through it. Everyone has rough days. Everyone has ups and downs. It’s always normal to have up and down days so don’t let anyone say that it’s weird you are human and it’s OK. Art is the coolest way to share your weirdness with the world.
By Allison Verhotz
