The adviser is a coach. Artwork by Kevin Necessary.
Adviser — an educator who advises students in academic and personal matters. An expert in a particular field of knowledge. The adviser walks a fine line between leading the organization and giving the organization the strength to lead itself. The adviser is an integral part of the organization. The adviser is probably the only individual with the history, the big picture and the experience.
As advisers, we emphasize teamwork. Just as a quarterback can’t lead a team with no other players on the field and no championship basketball team will win with only one player, producing publications is a team effort, photographers, designers, reporters, copyeditors and editors working together. As advisers, we avoid the prima donnas (those who are egotistical, unreasonable and irritable, with a rather high opinion of themselves not shared by others) and emphasize the teamwork.
As advisers, we foster communication. We provide information, present alternatives, encourage responsibility, support creativity and challenge students. None of that can happen without regular, frequent, open and honest communication — in both directions.
As advisers, we stress meeting deadlines. Time management is a challenge for students who need to learn to balance their academic lives, their personal lives and their role in the media. For time management and learning to meet deadlines are skills that go beyond the classroom or newsroom.
Advisers, we push for excellence. Most students, especially those without much prior media experience, have no idea what a quality publication is, and there are fewer and fewer great publications out there to serve as role models. Chances are, they aren’t even consumers of the mass media. So we have to teach them high standards in everything from cropping photos to writing leads to using white space appropriately to avoiding use of anonymous sources to maintaining high ethical standards. Just as a coach pushes students to achieve more and to raise their standards, advisers push and push for better and better.
As advisers, we provide information, present alternatives, encourage responsibility, support creativity. We challenge our students to develop as leaders. We push students to learn from their mistakes, to learn from the past, and not to repeat the mistakes of the past, constantly producing better media outlets that serve the communities they cover. It’s all a part of leadership.
As advisers, we are role models, through our words and actions. Like all good leaders, an adviser’s ethical and professional behavior all leave a strong impression on students, as does their attitude toward work habits, including meeting deadlines and achieving excellence.
As advisers, we know there is no good way to summarize what we do on a daily basis, especially when dealing with media as varied as yearbooks, video outlets, radio stations, weekly newspapers, literary magazine and/or daily newspapers.
Certainly, as advisers, we know advising isn’t easy. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
- CLICK HERE for an article by the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy.
-
CLICK HERE to view this article “How Do You Spell Adviser” by Jeff Salisbury
-
CLICK HERE to view this article by Judy Babb on advising publications, “Everything I needed to know I learned advising publications”
