When Messmer High School contacted Rachel Dobrauc to offer her a position as an English teacher, she was excited. That excitement wore off, though, when she discovered – the Friday before school began – that she would be teaching Journalism in addition to English. With six class periods, three different courses, and one weekend to prepare to teach a course in which she had no training, she began the year with the opposite of excitement – dread.

“I felt incompetent, and I hate that ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ feeling. It was overwhelming,” Dobrauc said.

Dobrauc, who attended this year’s ASNE Institute, recently completed her first year as adviser of the school newspaper at Messmer, a private Catholic school in Milwaukee. She, along with 13 others that had just finished their first year as adviser, came to the Institute in search of guidance and support.

Of the 14 rookies, seven had no prior experience in journalism, and five only had high school or college journalism experience. Several became journalism advisers because accepting the position was a condition of their employment. Not a single one of the advisers said that the year was an easy one.

Now, able to reflect on the swiftly passing year, the 14 soon-to-be-sophomore advisers share with future advisers their moments of frustration and words of advice – words they wish they had heard nine months ago.

It’s okay if you feel under-qualified.

“I had never even read my own high school newspaper. I put off planning because I didn’t know what I was doing.” – Charlie Appleby, Bigfork High School

“I’ve never written a story in my entire life – until now. I was teaching from a place where I don’t have experience.” – Amy Kushner, Gaithersburg High School

“Sometimes you just want to throw all the papers in the air, close the door, and run.” – Leslie Krebs, North Little Rock High School

“Being honest and saying I had no clue built a sense of camaraderie. The kids were far more knowledgeable than I was.” – Kamala Kavati, Century High School

The students might know more than you, and that’s a good thing.

“It was totally embarrassing. We taught each other and I taught myself.” – Melanie Allen, Moon Valley High School

“You have to put a lot of trust in them at the very beginning.” – Yoni Fine, Moreau Catholic High School

“I knew going in that I didn’t know a quarter of what [my editor] did, and I couldn’t pretend to know. I had to tell them, ‘You can tell me because I don’t know. It’s okay. You have more experience.’” – Tracy Payne, Notre Dame High School

“Utilize your staff’s strengths. Let them do what they’re best at, then fill in the blanks.” – Claudia Walker, Red Springs High School

Be strong. Journalism advising requires thick skin.

“The kids had a ‘Try not to get in our way’ attitude toward me.” – Appleby

“They didn’t really want a new adviser. They liked Ms. Clark [who accepted a different position in the District].” – Fine

“I was surprised about how rallied up people can get because of a little newspaper.” – Cristina Guerra, Doral Academy Charter School

“Don’t take it personally. Don’t let it get to you so much that you go home and cry.“ - Becky Ollar, Will Rogers High School

You will probably have to dig for resources, and not everything or everyone will be helpful.

“It was overwhelming - all of these people and books and resources – I didn’t know where to start.” – Dobrauc

“I went to the principal and said, ‘We need money.’” – Samatha Sage, Navajo Preparatory School

“I had to stomp my feet and wave around my arms until I got computers.” – Guerra

Journalism is just a different kind of class.

“I have to throw away a lot of my ideas about what . . . good writing is.” – Appleby

“At one point I realized that English writing and journalism writing are two different styles, and I would have to be happy with both.” – Walker

“It was monumental realizing that my function is different as an adviser than it is as an English teacher.” – Kushner

“It’s not about me. I’m not at the front. I’m there to help. I’m there to guide. But it has to be about the staff, and I just help them with what they want to do.” – Payne

Organization and structure will preserve your sanity.

“You’re just not really prepared for the amount of organizational challenges. It’s like 15 classes in one. It was like starting from scratch. It was just hard.” – Day

“Organization, organization, organization.” – Walker

“Figure out an organization system and religiously follow it.” – Kavati

“I created a chart to track stories and laminated it. I have them initial at each step of the writing process. ” – Ollar

Grading and down time are endless battles.

“I didn’t expect all the down time. I didn’t know what to do with those kids.” – Dobrauc

“How do you give everybody credit when everybody’s not doing the same thing?” – Krebs

“I have no clue how to grade that class. I would kind of implement new policies, and then they’d just die out.” – Fine

“You have to grade them on the process, not the product.” – Kushner

“I am going to develop a better system to keep track of who turns what in at what time.” – Payne

Make the class or program legitimate.

“I was getting so frustrated because of people not turning their stories in.” – Appleby

“At one point you have to tell them, ‘This is your job. If you don’t want to do it, tell me now.’” – Walker

“Tap into kids that took the class before. Weed out the random kids. Those kids are really a drain.” – Guerra

“I realized that when I was in high school, I worked hard because I took pride in it. There’s no way to teach them to take pride in what they publish. Although, fostering competition might help.” – Fine

It is a student publication; make the kids do the work.

“There are just so many different things to do. But me being flexible and filling in the gaps wasn’t helping them.” - Dobrauc

“You give kids the structure and organization, but have them do everything.” – Kavati

“I told them, ‘This your paper. It’s going to be whatever you want based on what you put into it.‘” – Sage

“Let the kids do it as much as possible, but realize they don’t know what they’re doing. You have to advise them.” – Ollar

Don’t forget to stop and reassess – then make changes.

“I expected them to be able to design the paper in two days. A lot of things made sense to me after the first issue.” – Payne

“It gets so overwhelming so fast that you don’t feel like you have time to arrange anything.” – Kushner

“I asked them, ‘What do we want to do that’s the same, and how do we want to be different?‘” – Kavati

“You have to jump in as quickly as possible. As the year goes on, you’ll learn more and get better.” – Guerra

Everyone is not watching and waiting for you to mess up.

“It’s so far outside the realm of a regular class. Your product is so public. It makes you worry, ‘Is everyone going to think I’m an idiot?’” – Appleby

“I really was afraid of controversy because I didn’t know what the laws were.” – Day

“Other teachers generally understand that it’s not the easiest thing to do in the world.” – Ollar

You are not alone.

“I didn’t know how to ask for help, and I didn’t think it was okay. I thought I should know how to do it myself.” – Kavati

“It felt like I was totally in it alone. I didn’t know who to go to.” – Kushner

“I had the feeling of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m way in over my head.’ I was trying so hard to figure it out on my own. I finally had to say, ‘I need help.’” – Allen

“Realizing that people across the country are having the same problems I am is reassuring.” – Ollar

Now, after completing one full school year as newspaper adviser, Dobrauc knows that she’ll be making a lot of changes next year. Attending the Institute has spurred many of these changes.

“It’s great to have someone to finally talk to who’s been in my shoes,” Dobrauc said. “It’s interesting to be here in the shoes of your students. I’m always an evolving student, and that’s a perfectly fine place to be.”

Better equipped to lead and advise her newspaper staff, Dobrauc is entering her second year as adviser full of excitement, not dread.