The heart of it

I had so many goals for my time here, but mainly, I just wanted to figure out what I would absolutely need to launch my journalism program this fall. During the first couple of days, I felt like I was getting all the tools I needed. Then, I started to get distracted by the idea of journalism itself. I started pondering where my would-be career in journalism had gone wrong, and I even looked into some journalism graduate programs. The more I learned, the more I wanted to just jump into a new career.

Today, though, I finally came back to the heart of it. This morning's design session left me both intrigued and stressed. I've never designed a page before. Even when I was editor-in-chief of my newspaper in high school, I still used the templates in Quark that my staff advisers left for me: click here, drag here, resize this image, done. I consider myself a creative person, but I definitely don't have an eye for making a pretty page. I was so appreciative of all the resources both Tracy and all of you contributed during that session. I would love it if you have any more advice to share with me regarding design as this will be a task I will tackle single-handedly this fall. I'd like to get a good template in place before I go on maternity leave!

I had to take a picture of this because my friends make fun of me for reading the bottles of every health/beauty product I own. See, now I can use toothpaste as an example in class!

Thanks for the validation. 

Then, the "Write Tight" lesson was the closing session I needed. Finally, after a week of treading water, I was back in familiar territory. I can't wait to show the video of Steve talking about the importance of reading your work aloud to my writing classes this fall--they never seem to believe how many simple errors could be caught if they just took that extra step! What was great about the session was it gave me a new angle on teaching clarity. I feel pretty good about my skills as a writing teacher, but this session armed me with some tools I can use teaching journalistic writing.

A really interesting aspect about today was how much more comfortable we seemed to be putting our work in front of others for criticism. I was unable to submit pages for the design session since I've never actually put out a paper, but I admired those of you brave enough to roll with the punches. I was nervous to share my writing last week, but after I saw that I wasn't going to get attacked, I eagerly pushed my article in front of anyone who would look at it today (thanks, Tracy :] ). I need feedback. I need the eyes of others to help me get better. And herein lies today's most valuable lesson: if I want my students to get better, they need to get used to putting themselves out there and welcoming criticism. But, I have to be the starting point. I have to put my writing or my layout ideas in front of them and show them how I can use their critiques constructively. I have to model how to use feedback properly.

It starts with me. And that's why I'm here.

Lisa Biber
Brodhead High School
Brodhead, Wis.