Fellow bloggers: I wrote this with two days to go at this amazing experience. I took some liberty with the tense and hope you will indulge me.
Journalism professionals left their offices, classrooms and studios to spend time with us at the Reynolds Institute. They preached the First Amendment. They showed us the ins and outs of InDesign. They bolstered our confidence in dealing with our principals. They taught us newsroom math!
We hung on their every word. We laughed. We tweeted. We engaged.
Ginny Miller
Tupelo High School
Tupelo, Mississippi
I have no doubt that much thought and planning went into the instruction we received. But when 35 journalism educators gathered, we also learned from one another. A happy accident? Or was that by design too?
I have enjoyed this school within a school. Kathryn showed me how to embed a video in a blog post. Bobby recommended Tweet Deck. Steffi and Kristen gave me great advice about InDesign. Dana helped with some painful edits.
There are so many other examples, but what I'm really fired up about is something Katie did. She showed me how to set the white balance on my camera. I probably knew but didn't realize the difference between tungsten and fluorescent lighting and their effects on photos. I had no idea that manual settings could be so much fun!
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| Before: This photo of a piece of cherry pie from Rock Springs Cafe was shot under tungsten light, which casts an orange glow. Not very appetizing! |
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| After: This photo of the same piece of cherry pie from Rock Springs Cafe was shot under the same tungsten light but with the correct white balance. Less orange equals more yum! |
Ginny Miller
Tupelo High School
Tupelo, Mississippi
I think the really great thing about this institute is that, whatever you don't know, or would like to know more about, someone here is likely either dealing with the same issue or has an idea how to do it. I think that was the really powerful thing about this - the massive pool of ideas and networking that occurs when you get 35 journalism teachers from across the country into one room.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely been exactly what I've been looking for.
Also, I definitely see the difference in your photo! Yay for new camera knowledge!
Stephanie Floch
Taylorsville High School
SLC, Utah
What a great tip! The balanced photo does look a lot better. I might steal these photos to use in my classroom, if you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteI really love the idea of having the students spot the bad stuff, like Tracy Collins did.