<p>I am starting a school newspaper and I need ideas. There are a bunch of uneducated non-intellectual junior high kids running the one at my school, and it is a disgrace :). So a few of us educated folk are going to start another one. Since the official newspaper already exists, we can kind of take this one any way we like. Granted, the principal has to approve, but he is a fairly reasonable guy and as long as there is nothing overtly rude, slanderous, blasphemous, etc. in it, he should be fine with it. What kind of topics would go in a really interesting newspaper? Not just news...so far we are thinking about a big political page and a satires page. The satires are my thing--I am hoping to present government and world news in a sort of deadpan sarcastic, joking-but-not-far-from-the-truth way. I want the juniors and seniors to get the most out of this, but I don't know what they would really want to read. My co-editor wants to do a student writing page where people submit poetry or opinions...are people going to want/have time to do that? We have a small high school...60 juniors, 40 seniors....a high percentage are going to need to enjoy this for us to be able to keep it going. Rumors are absolutely not allowed by order of the administration. Political debates are a no-go because the entire school is very conservative. So if you could have a school newspapar covering any (decent) topic, what sort of stuff would you want to read about? Please give me some input, guys.</p>
<p>In depth reporting about current issues at your school is essential. A page of creative writing doesn't hurt and is an easy way to fill space. And people really do like to read strong opinions on issues that effect them at school. Be a little controversial. That way you can print the rebuttals the next week! </p>
<p>One easy & fun idea is to have a "darts & laurels" (or use your own phrase) section. These are just little things you love or hate about what's going on at school (eg, "A dart to the cafeteria for serving mystery meat three times this week" , "A laurel to the art club for the new mural")</p>
<p>Here's another idea. Create a poll for your readers to fill out and drop off in a box somewhere. Publish the results. Your first poll could be on what students want to read in a new publication. :)</p>
<p>well i'll say something (that is kind of mean)... i dont usually like reading student poetry
first of all some of the poetry is pretty bad. i hate it when it seems like people just put random words together that end up making no sense, yet they claim that its a deep and meaningful poem. so yeah you should make sure that the poems are REALLY good.
sorry if that was a little harsh</p>
<p>as for my high school newspaper (which supposedly has won many awards) we have</p>
<p>-new teacher profiles
-reviews of school events
-school sports team results and news
-feature articles
-restaurant/movie/book reviews</p>
<p>some memorable feature articles have been
-Cracking your knuckles: good or bad (lol there is a CC post about this)
-Sleeping issues (like how much time you should be sleeping per night)
-how to avoid procrastination
etc</p>
<p>"And people really do like to read strong opinions on issues that effect them at school."</p>
<p>yes this is very important.</p>
<p>and sue22's idea for polls is good</p>
<p>1- call it a magazine.</p>
<p>2- do polls ofthe classes. like "what's the best restraunt in town". our school chose hooters... but like, people like reading those random things.</p>
<p>3- get quotes from people at school.</p>
<p>4- do a dear abby type thing. make up letters if you need to. make it funny.</p>
<p>I really enjoy the newspaper at my school. I know there are a lot of complicated parts of it, but it presents some good layout and content ideas. I would recommend having some sort of humor/satire section in your newspaper, because kids love being able to read an article and getting a laugh out of it.</p>
<p><a href="http://phillipian.net/%5B/url%5D">http://phillipian.net/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://phillipian.net/PDF/Phillipian1.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://phillipian.net/PDF/Phillipian1.pdf</a></p>
<p>redbricks i did something simliar to what you're trying to do
PM me if you have any questions</p>
<p>Are you in a public school?</p>
<p>If so, make it an underground publication. You can print anything that's not obscene and vulgar without administrative approval. You can distribute before or after school without fear of punishment.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.splc.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.splc.org</a></p>
<p>A good starting point is to look at Montgomery Blair High School's (Silver Spring, MD) newspaper:</p>
<p><a href="http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/</a></p>
<p>Obviously a bit more than what you're aiming for but...:)</p>
<p>thanks all...no to the public school, it is small, private, and christian. Anything I publish will be read by administrators, no way around it. I definitely like the satire/humor idea. Please post any more ideas, anyone!</p>
<p>do teacher of the month (or week) according to lunchtime votes. sweet :)</p>
<p>Our newspaper has an April Fools edition - something to consider.
In my newspaper I like to read strong, well-written editorials, coverage of real events going on inside school - include future plans of the people involved, pictures, quotes, etc., and when students are featured - an interview type of thing. Also interesting are polls - from the amount of sleep the students gets to prom ideas. Submissions for the poetry section will probably be semi-deep-depressed-for-life-my-dad-doesn't-hug-me-anymore kind of teenage poetry. No offense, that got boring around 8th grade.</p>
<p>My school, some black girl wrote about interacial dating in our school, and all the other black kids got ****ed at her, she like quit school for a week. So great.</p>
<p>we have an april fools edition too- its so funny</p>
<p>Use COLOR if possible. Most people in my school just read the ops.</p>
<p>So, I'm not on my school's newspaper staff (& someone already posted the link to our paper (see the link from post #9), but there are some things in the print edition every month that are pretty cool & aren't on the site at all.
The opinion section has a page where other students have sumbitted answers to questions related to topics that the features for that issue deal with. There's also a numbers section that has random statistics the staff finds. Things like, amount of snow that could fit into the building & number of doors that open outwards & how long to walk from room 309 to portable 7. There used to be a Hot & Not feature, but I'm not sure where that went.
The crossword is always a big hit, too. I'm sure that wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate in & they're fun to do. Loads of people at our school turn to the crossword first.</p>
<p>Good luck with your paper! I know everyone I know on the staff really enjoys it, even if they admit it gets stressful at times.</p>