IHSPA Insider
March 2024
IHSPA Breakout Sessions on YouTube
Four years later there are few parts of the pandemic we want to revisit, but this collection of 22 recorded sessions from the IHSPA 2020 virtual convention feature some of scholastic journalism's best sharing evergreen content on a variety of topics.
Sam Hanley, President
School: Southport High School
Years Advising: 21
Teaches: AP Language & Composition, Yearbook, Interactive Media
Hometown: Indianapolis
What is one part of your classroom space you are proud of?
I'm proud of the collaboration and work spaces in my classroom. All classrooms, but especially publications labs, can and should be student-centered. In my room, this includes comfortable seating options, workspaces for technology, organizational tools, and plenty of student recognition.
Lily Ferazzi, Student Division President
School: Noblesville High School
Years on Staff: 1
Student Media: Mill Stream
Hometown: Noblesville
What is one part of your classroom space you are proud of?
An aspect of my student media classroom that I adore is the respect and support the class has for each other. I'm so proud of the community we've built among the staff, and I hope the skills we learn will last a lifetime.
April Moss, President-Elect
School: Pike High School
Years Advising: 28
Teaches: Yearbook, Newspaper, Journalism, Photojournalism, English 11
Hometown: New Whiteland
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
I really love my nonfiction reading list. I use it for students to analyze journalism on a larger scope. In fact, several journalism teachers have requested this list from me over the years. The list is mostly comprised of books heavily relying on research but often including immersion. Here is a link to the list. Anyone who would like access to my entire literary journalism project can email me directly.
Chris Gloff, Vice President
School: Crown Point High School
Years Advising: 14
Teaches: Music Management, Principles of Broadcasting, Audio & Video Production Essentials, Mass Media Production, and Electronic Music
Hometown: Crown Point
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
CPHS is fortunate to live somewhat close to the Chicago market. We have assembled a faculty advisory committee of some of the best broadcasters and journalists in Chicago and they readily and thoroughly provide us with great tech tips, the latest trends in news/sports broadcasting and sessions where they come to our classroom and work with the students.
Samantha Deane, Secretary
School: Noblesville High School
Years Advising: 10
Teaches: English and Journalism
Hometown: Noblesville
What is one part of your classroom space you are proud of?
The part of my classroom space that I am most proud of is my large, bulletin board-size yearbook ladder. We fill the ladder in at the beginning of the year, and then as we complete pages, we take them off the wall and create a paper chain. The student who completes the page gets to take it off the wall, and then we take a moment to celebrate them!
Michelle Burress, Past President
School: Plainfield High School
Years Advising: 26
Teaches: Newsmagazine, Yearbook, Public Relations, Film Literature
Hometown: Plainfield
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
At the start of the year, I like to talk about how everyone has a story to tell and our job is to tell it -- through words, pictures, design, etc. We watch a video about Steve Hartman that shows how he was inspired to go out and find people to tell their stories. We also read an article about him and talk about how to tell the stories of the varied students in our high school.
Joe Akers, At-Large Member
School: Noblesville High School
Years Advising: 26
Teaches: Newspaper, Broadcasting, Newswriting, Intro to Broadcast, Journalism
Hometown: Westfield
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
When teaching our beginning student journalists to write for broadcast, we study the experts, and KARE’s Boyd Huppert is one of the best at writing for the ear. Students choose from his archive of “Land of 10,000 Stories,” then we talk about what they notice in his writing versus the writing they're typically asked to do in English class.
Jen London, At-Large Member
School: Floyd Central High School
Years Advising: 11
Teaches: English 10-Honors, Journalism, and Yearbook
Hometown: Floyds Knobs
What is one part of your classroom space you are proud of?
My favorite part of our classroom right now is our weekly coverage board. While it serves a practical purpose and isn't necessarily "exciting," it's also where we've featured some photos from the trip to Boston for the JEA conference. My students started calling me "Mama London" on the trip, so we hung up my "Harvard Mom" pennant that we got on our last night of the trip.
Chris Pearcy, At-Large Member
School: Logansport High School
Years Advising: 3
Teaches: English, Journalism, News Website
Hometown: Logansport
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
As a relatively new adviser, the Journalism Teachers group on Facebook and the JEA Mentor Program have been invaluable. The Facebook group is a great place to get advice and gather resources from advisers across the country. The Mentor Program teams teachers with less than three years of advising experience with an experienced adviser who can help guide you as you learn the ropes.
Lauren Wagner, At-Large Member
School: Zionsville Community High School
Years Advising: 17
Teaches: News, Yearbook, Journalism, English 10
Hometown: Lebanon
What is a resource you recommend to other advisers?
I love Checkology, an online platform from the News Literacy Project offering free e-learning lessons. The customizable content is up-to-date, substantial and low prep. This is how I squeeze law and ethics, press freedom, functions of the press, media literacy and more into my intro classes, leaving me more time to focus on the skills.
