Streetsboro -- There's fortunately a huge difference between what fifth- and sixth-grade journalists do and what I and Reporter Miles Jung-Kilbreath do each week.

Yet, I was reminded April 3 how similar the challenges of journalism can be at any level, during a visit to Defer Intermediate School's Gifted Programs Teacher John Oleksa's fifth- and sixth-grade honors classes.

When I asked what the more seasoned sixth-grade class finds challenging about publishing a newspaper, the responses had a familiar ring.

Meeting deadlines, coming up with story ideas, and formatting and fitting items so they reproduce well -- all universal journalistic challenges -- were among the first things members of Oleksa's sixth-grade class mentioned.

While their articles were much shorter than most byline stories The Gateway News publishes; their opinion pages more limited; and the layout less complex, it was amazing to me how similar their challenges are.

One of the items in the "Defer Dealer" students want to improve is the reproduction of the comics. Hand-drawn by students, the comics are traced in heavy pen then scanned for reproduction. The result of the scanning and resizing was squished text illustrations that are difficult to make out.

I likened this to The Gateway News' "no pinheads" rule, which basically states we need to be careful to print pictures of large groups of people large enough to easily recognize the people.

Both situations demand a decision about the importance of either the picture or comic strip.

Despite the challenges they faced, students in both classes were enthusiastic about journalism and curious about how I spend my time at work.

Visiting two fifth-grade classes, one might expect to deliver lectures on the average day and week at The Gateway News, but it was much more of a discussion, which really impressed me --particularly since I was a total stranger to most of the students.

I also was impressed by their ability to get around in a newspaper. Even the fifth-graders, who are just starting journalism this year, zipped through a "scavenger hunt," finding news items in the Record-Courier, in very short order.

Seeing students working together and hearing about them struggling to meet deadlines, develop story ideas, and deal with other "real world" challenges was very encouraging.

Teamwork, critical thinking, and experience producing a product are skills that are important not just for journalists but for a wide range of professions. Finding time for these types of "real world" learning opportunities seems like it would be a challenge in Ohio's test-centered education system, in which so much emphasis is placed on preparing for and passing Ohio's achievement tests.

I'm glad to see it's a challenge being met head-on in Streetsboro schools.

E-mail: bgaetjens@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3941