Build It and They Will Read
A mid-size paper offers 10 ideas for a successful NIE Program
When I became the NIE coordinator for the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press (39,500 daily, 43,500 Sunday) in July 1999, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. As a classroom teacher, I had used the newspaper as a teaching resource with my fifth- and sixth-grade students, but this was a completely new career for me.
With the assistance and encouragement of the circulation heads, I set out to strengthen our existing NIE program. Here is some of what I learned.
1. Get to know the location of the schools and introduce yourself to teachers and administrators. With newspapers and cookies, I visited my schools. Our circulation area covers approximately 14,000 square miles and 21 counties, extending into nearly 200 schools in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. In my first year, I personally visited 180 of those schools. I shook hands and introduced myself to principals and teachers in each building.
2. Conduct classroom and teacher in-service presentations. This helped lead to one of my first successes. Spring Garden Middle School called and requested 450 papers—one for each student and teacher. They had decided to use the newspaper as their reading resource. Every Tuesday at 8:20 a.m., students and teachers read the newspaper for 20 minutes. Teachers and school administrators said they were amazed and pleased with the enthusiasm the students showed toward the newspaper. The school is repeating the activity this year. When I started in August 1999 our school circulation averaged 36 papers per day. Our NIE circulation as of August 2001 was 283 papers per day, with about 85 percent of the schools involved.
3. Enter contests. The St. Joseph News-Press has participated in Parade Magazine’s Young Columbus Contest for more than 25 years. (Due to the recent tragic events, Young Columbus has been cancelled this year.) In 2000, the contest I developed won a national award from Parade. It focused on the presidential election. Students were required to compile a portfolio of news articles about the candidates and make an informed decision on whom to vote for. A letter to the editor explaining their decision was the final part of the assignment. This year’s contest was to focus on the United Nations annual theme, The Year of the Volunteer.
4. Last year I decided to offer a course that would not only give the teachers information about using newspapers in their classroom, but would give them a graduate credit hour as well. I sent a proposal to the graduate department at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, which was accepted. Only eight teachers attended my first workshop, but I had to turn teachers away from the next workshop when the enrollment reached 50. Both workshops generated increases in our classroom newspaper circulation.
5. As the number of schools participating in the NIE program increases, it has become necessary to find sources for classroom newspaper funding. We developed a sponsorship promotion in which several businesses participate. We also have a vacation donation program we call NEST (Newspapers Educating Students Today).
6. Five times a year I conduct an NIE Block Sale. This sale involves 25 businesses, each donating a $50 gift certificate. During the sale, individuals call and purchase the gift certificates for $30. Each sale generates $750 for our NEST fund. The ABC 25-percent rule that went into effect in April 2001 has allowed our sponsorship money to go further.
7. Another project was to develop an NIE Web site. This is a wonderful source of communication with my schools. We offer lesson ideas through Parade Classroom and NewCurrents, and a variety of other items. I also started an activity to encourage teachers to visit the site. If they register on the site, they are eligible to win a Teacher’s Lunch Out. Once a month, I draw a name from those registered. I substitute teach for the teacher during his/her lunch hour and give her $10 towards the meal. The teachers enjoy an entire hour away from the classroom, the students get an ex-teacher/newspaper lady for a sub, and I have teachers regularly visiting my Web site.
8. I have the history of NIE on my Web site.
9. The events of Sept. 11 proved to be quite a challenge for our department. Upon learning that we were printing a Special Edition newspaper that day, I e-mailed messages to my schools informing them they could purchase these papers. The response was tremendous, and we delivered more than 1,500 papers to our schools. On Friday, Sept. 14, I was informed that we would be printing a copy of the U.S. flag in our Sept. 15 paper. Once again, by e-mail, I offered these as sponsored papers. We had orders for 4,600 papers with many schools ordering papers for every student.
10. Our NIE mission statement reads, "The St. Joseph News-Press is dedicated to promoting literacy in our communities. We will provide educators with training and instructional lessons to assist them in the use of the newspaper in all areas of the curriculum." It takes time to build an effective NIE program. However, I remain convinced that "if you build it, they will read." I’m proud and excited to be a part of such a worthwhile program.
Diane Goold is NIE coordinator at the St. Joseph News-Press.