When she signed up for yearbook staff in eighth grade, Katie Moreno never imagined she was plotting her career path. As one of the Journalism Education Association’s Rising Stars for 2018, Moreno turned to teaching after running her own marketing and design business and then working in corporate email marketing.
“I found that I needed more of a challenge in human interaction than cubicle life offered,” she said. “I had kept in touch with my high school adviser and she let me know about an adviser opening. Even though I had zero experience teaching and was taking over in January, I jumped at it.
I knew how much journalism meant to me in high school, and I wanted to share that experience with teenagers. Many extracurricular activities stop after high school, but the skills learned in journalism are useful for a lifetime. Advising was the most stressful five months of my life, but I definitely got the challenge I was looking for, and I loved it. I went on to get certified and never looked back!”
Now, in addition to advising the yearbook and newspaper and teaching intro journalism at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas, Moreno maintains TheOrganizedAdviser.com, a blog to help yearbook advisers across the country.
“The goal is for the site to be an online community for scholastic journalism teachers. In many schools, the journalism program is often led by a single adviser, so it can feel isolating with no possibilities for collaboration,” Moreno said. “On this site, advisers from across the country are able to find and share resources, vent in forums, get/give advice, upload their own lesson plans or post links to existing ones, as well as provide commentary or adaptations they’ve used, all in a ‘one-stop-shop’ format, regardless of publisher or printer.”
Moreno works to build a similar sense of camaraderie in her classroom. The relationships she has built with and fostered among her students provide the human interaction aspect she missed in her previous jobs.
“Building a staff that acts and functions as a family will lead to students taking ownership of the publications and create better content,” she said. “I make it my mission to know what they’re interested in outside of yearbook, how their relationship is with their parents, what they like to do for fun, etc. I believe that life is not meant to be lived alone, and that ultimately everyone is looking for a community to belong to. I have built the journalism program at Seven Lakes to be a ’home away from home.’ That includes love (sometimes tough love), accountability, comfort, hard work and fun.”
Her advice for new advisers:
“Ask for help, and get organized.” As she nears her fifth year in the classroom, she offers the following lessons she has learned as an adviser:
■ My planner is my best friend.
■ There is always an adviser who has been through what you’re going through.
■ A few pizzas can go a long way in making kids happy.
■ There is no such thing as too much coffee.
■ A messy and loud classroom is a happy classroom.
■ Tears WILL be shed (some of them mine).
■ Being vulnerable and honest with kids is the easiest way to get them to trust you.
■ Advisers work WAY more than their stipend compensates them for.
■ Sometimes being the kids’ advocate means you end up crying in the principal’s office. Even though it’s incredibly uncomfortable, it means you’re doing your job.
■ Scholastic journalism is an important part of a curriculum.