Maestro on Steroids: A newspaper and yearbook planner for the digital age

Screen Shot 2013-06-03 at 10.25.23 PMLooking for ways to get your staff to collaborate a bit more on stories? Wanting packages to be more fully developed? Thinking about ways to mesh the digital and print worlds? The Maestro on Steroids may just be what you’re looking for.

It’s not something new, per se. It’s something that was developed by Buck Ryan in the early 90s and something Jack KennedyMark Newton and I wanted to give a 2013 reboot to.

If you’re not familiar, the Maestro Concept is basically an organizational approach to working as a team to give readers the best story package possible. If you would like to learn more about the Maestro Concept, we have added some links for further exploration below.

Professional papers, college papers and high schools throughout the country use the Maestro Concept. Our aim with this reboot was to take the concept and planning sheets and add something that’s very much a part of newsrooms today — a digital component (ie. web, video, multimedia, social, etc.).

We have created a new 2-page Maestro planner sheet below. You will actually find quite a few resources to help you effectively implement the Maestro Concept on your staff. Below, you will find handouts, videos Jack made walking users through the handouts, and, as promised, some other Maestro Concept Links on the web.

Maestro on Steroids: Handouts

Maestro on Steroids: Video Tutorial Walthroughs

Maestro on Steroids: Page 1 walkthrough

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Maestro on Steroids: Page 2 Walkthrough
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Maestro on Steroids: Additional Maestro Concept Resources

MAESTRO CONCEPT – Part One (with Buck Ryan)

 

MAESTRO CONCEPT – Part two (with Buck Ryan)

Aaron Manfull

Aaron is in his 26th year of advising student media. He is currently the Director of Student Media at Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Missouri. He is the Journalism Education Association Digital Media Chair and co-Director of Media Now. He is the 2023 JEA Teacher Inspiration Award Winner and is a former Dow Jones News Fund National Journalism Teacher of the Year. He is one of the authors of the textbook "Student Journalism and Media Literacy." You can find him on X and Instagram @manfull. He's a proud father. A transplanted Iowan. And an avid Hawkeye Fan.

Aaron Manfull has 862 posts and counting. See all posts by Aaron Manfull

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