I want my MTV!

The journalism kids at Cypress Bay High School in Broward County, Florida, had more than one set of watchful eyes on them this year. Of course, there was Rhonda Weiss, NEA member and adviser of the award-winning school newspaper, "The Circuit," since 2002. And then, there were the tens of thousands of MTV viewers who tuned into "The Paper," the documentary series of life inside the teenage newsroom.

For Weiss, the show featured an opportunity to show a wider audience "what goes on in a typical classroom" -- a view that parents, policy-makers and members of the public often don't see. And that includes the power struggles between students, the last-minute decision by administrators to tinker with the newspaper's stories, and all the other chaos of life inside America's largest high school, all of which is capably managed by Weiss.

“At first, having the camera crews in the classroom was very different and raised the energy level of the students, but after a while they relaxed," Weiss said. (Relaxed about the cameras, that is. There still were deadlines, college applications and columns to write!)

To read more about the show, and to catch up on missed episodes, go to the MTV site. While much of the show's publicity centers around characters like Editor-in-Chief Amanda or Sports Guy Alex -- you'll see who the real star is.

The teacher, of course!