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No Rest for the Weary Teacher

5/25/2011

5 Comments

 
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After a grueling semester of teaching two journalism courses and taking two for graduate school, perhaps I deserved to take it easy the first week of summer break. Not a chance. Last week I had the privilege of attending a weeklong seminar called "Teaching the Craft of Writing (in the Age of Twitter)" at the Poynter Institute in Florida.

As someone who teaching basic newswriting to mostly freshmen and sophomores, and as part of a journalism faculty focused on ensuring our students aren't just learning how to write for print publications, this seminar seemed ideal. It promised to show me and 11 other journalism educators how to teach them to become more versatile writers and reporters, while also exploring strategies for doing so using new forms of writing, including social networks.

We learned all that and much more. The esteemed writing guru Roy Peter Clark offered tips for good writing instruction and helping students build what he called a writing workbench. Poynter's ethics expert, Kelly McBride,  focused on how to coach students to use social media properly and she had us write our own personal essay as a storytelling exercise. Adjunct faculty showed us how Twitter and song lyrics can help students write and edit stories.

Oh yes, we learned from Jim Sheeler, both a new adjunct faculty member and a co-participant in the seminar, about writing about the dead. He and other participants shared great ideas for getting students out of the classroom – and into the community – to do more rewarding assignments that will better prepare them for their careers. I'm looking forward to applying what I learned in this seminar into courses I will be teaching in the fall.

5 Comments
Andrea Anderson
8/31/2011 05:51:56 am

I can relate to this post as I recently tweeted at a fellow journalist to see if she would be of assistance and sure enough, we are now following each other and are helping one another. I look forward to learning what you learned from the faculty as there is constantly something developing in social media.

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Sarah
8/31/2011 07:13:38 am

I really like how you open this post because I think so many individuals assume educators spend their summers doing absolutely nothing, when I think the majority spend time doing training or are involved with programs similar to this one at Poynter. I'm always annoyed with this assumption because my mom is a teacher and spends a lot of her time off going to conferences, etc., so I think it's always great to stress that teachers are constantly learning along with their students, regardless of if classes are in session.

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Erin Caughey
8/31/2011 02:48:43 pm

I am excited to start a career in journalism after seeing what you continue to learn as a professional. Knowing that I can continue learning new within the professional field is exciting and keeps me interested in what I am pursuing.

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Katie Doherty
9/1/2011 04:17:55 am

I appreciate the extra time faculty at Marquette take to better themselves and the programs they teach in. I know that I am learning from the best.

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Erica Breunlin
9/20/2011 03:52:43 pm

I can't say I'm very surprised to learn that the first week of summer you found your way back into the classroom. But it really goes to show just how dedicated you are to your students and our futures as journalists, and I thank you for that. Have you shared any of what you learned at the seminar with other journalism faculty? I think the college could really benefit from your experiences at the Poynter Institute if you pass on your wisdom.

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    My journalism DNA remains strong as I learn and teach new ways to tell and present stories, especially via digital and social media. This blog is where I share what happens in my classroom and my life and, from time to time, offer my views on current events. I appreciate your feedback – either as comments herein or in an email to herbert.lowe [at] marquette [dot] edu.

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