We Do The Yearbook Your Way

Howard Owens writes an interesting blog entry about newspapers today, but I think it refers to yearbooks too.  He says we get too stuck in our ways to give the customer what they really want.
In our yearbook I resisted it too.  I was stuck in 1995.  I wanted the yearbook to stay the same way [...]

Remember Who’s Side You’re On

I live in Texas where football is king. We don’t spell it football, it is Football.
And today I was reminded that I am a member of the media, not a football fan.
It is the rule in Texas, as it is probably most other places, that photographers are not allowed inside the “coaches box” on [...]

Don’t Give Up On ‘Em

Teaching any subject can be a rewarding as well as a frustrating experience. Just the other day, one of my students – V – was talking during class and acting up. She basically refused to do her work. The next day she spent talking to another student, when they were supposed [...]

Newspaper: Should It Stay, Or Shoult It Go?

Our newspaper is on hold this year.  We don’t have one.  We haven’t had a “real” newspaper staff in more than seven years.  We folded the newspaper staff into the yearbook staff and they did both publications for several years.  But it was stressful and the newspaper began to hemorrhage money.  The yearbook was able [...]

PC Problems? Ten Techie Tricks To Try

If you are one of the ten regular readers of this blog, then you know I’m a Mac user.  But I also have two PCs in my classroom, so I do try to keep up with fixes and help in that area too.  Here’s a great article in PC World online with 10 fast fixes [...]

Hey You! Why Aren’t You Blogging?

Blogging is actually harder than it looks.  This is the second blog that I have tried to write.  The first one focused on politics.  But as we all know, there are a ton of political blogs out there.  Plus, while I am knowledgeable of politics, I’m not an expert.  But I am a certified teacher [...]

Listen To Your Students

Sometimes something really good happens when you give your students something and you watch them work with it.  It can be something small, that is the magic for the day.
My Video Tech kids are learning about advertising right now and I gave them a script writing form to use in creating their :30 second commercial.  [...]

Photo How To

As a former print journalism major, I have always felt less than well prepared to teach photography.  Digital photography has helped, because I have been able to learn it as it has grown up.
But I never really feel like I have enough photography resources.  Popular Photography magazine (popphoto.com) has a really great How To section [...]

Making the Grade in Broadcast

Here are two rubrics that I have created for broadcast journalism, 1 for reporters and 1 for technical crew.  Please send your feedback, comments, ideas for improvement.  I’d really appreciate it.
Mr. C

Topic of Discussion: Who is A Journalist?

If you have time for a class discussion day, or if you are teaching a general journalism survey course, then this post will be a great discussion starter.
I don’t agree with everything that the blog post says, but it is an interesting starting point on what is journalism, media and who is a journalist.
Mr. C