The Week Ahead
Week 23: The Week Ahead – Today I just talk about a few things going on in the class this week. I show off some of the Valentine bags the students have made for their party on Valentines Day. I also spoke about a field trip I’m taking students on to check out the Nahed Chapman New American Academy in St. Louis tomorrow as part of their coverage for an in-depth on immigration in the March newspaper. Finally, I show off the cobbled approach I’m taking to t-shirts for my middle school group club photo day. I’m not proud of putting off getting t-shirts for the kids so I tried to come up with a plan that can get us through one photo…and then I’ll order shirts next week. Stay tuned…
Note Taking in the Flipped(ish) Classroom
Week 22: Note taking in the Flipped(ish) Classroom – Today I’m working with my introductory Journalism 2 broadcast storytelling class on note taking. If you’ve followed these videos, you know I did some flipping of my intro classroom last semester. While it was one of the more successful things I’ve tried out, I realized there were some things I needed to do differently this semester. One of those things was to prep the students better to get more out of the videos they watched prior to coming into class. Today I’m working with them on why the videos are good for them and how to get the most out of them. I talk about it in this video. In the video I referenced a program I use to question them during the videos and track whether they watch them or not. It’s called Playposit and you can check it out here.
Planning for Next Year
Week 21: Planning for Next Year – While recruiting is still going on for a couple weeks, now is the time we start having some conversations with students who will be on staff next year. We talk to students who have been selected as editors for next year to get them thinking about the role they will be taking over soon and we talk with all staffers about opportunities in the summer for them to grow.
Recruiting
Week 20: Recruiting – We are knee deep in registration for this school year so I thought I’d talk a little about recruiting and show off a couple exterior items around the school we are using this year. The ideas are just two of many that I use in a given year to keep numbers strong in the program and get great students a part of things. In the video, I talk about a page on this site where I’ve archived much of what I do and others have shared their recruiting tips as well. If you’re looking for some good or new ideas, give this page a look.
Second Semester
Week 19: Second Semester – In my final video of first semester, I just talk a little bit about closing down things from the first half of the school year. While I’m looking forward to a little time to recharge the batteries, my focus currently is on what lies ahead. I’m brainstorming with staffs on goals already for next semester and I’m thinking about what personal goals I want to set and work to achieve. It’s always good to have a vision and something you’re shooting for.
Alumni Groups
Week 18: Alumni Groups – For this week’s installment, I talked about the work I’ve done to keep alumni engaged and part of the program. While I have encouraged staffers to come back and visit for years and even be class speakers, I got a little more organized in the last six years and mobilized the efforts on a bit of a larger scale. The results have been nothing short of amazing as graduates have given more than $11,000 to current students for scholarships to college and summer workshops. Their generosity year in and year out has left me pretty speechless and they have made some incredible impacts on the students they’ve helped. You can checkout the alumni site I setup here: http://fhn026.com/ Feel free to reach out and ask me if you have any questions about setting up your own.
Update on the Middle School J-Club
Week 17: Update on the Middle School J-Club – This week I just gave a quick update on the middle school journalism program that I’ve been advising this year. I showed off the two newspapers that they’ve published and talked a little bit about how the philosophy has changed since we began things at the beginning of this school year. It’s been a fun adventure and I’m looking forward to their third issue due out next week.
Light Wars
Week 16: Light Wars – Just a quick room tour today of one of the team building activities I’ve done with my classes for years. I’m not sure how it actually began or when, maybe someone reading this can help, but it’s gone on as long as I can remember. Students decorate the room the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to make things a little more festive and give them a Happy Place to go to in what can tend to be a stressful month for many of them. Enjoy the light show.
Saying Thank You
Week 15: Saying Thank You – Today’s talk was in preparation of the Thanksgiving feasts I’m currently training for. While this is my longest Monday chat I’ve done, I decided that was ok as I was taking a little time to thank some influential people who helped me survive 19 years of this gig. Special thanks in the chat to my mom, Gary Lindsay, Mark Burnett, Mary Baker and Jack Kennedy. Your call to action: Go thank someone for helping get you where you are today.
Cake Days
Week 14: Cake Days – Pretty simple message, no matter how busy you get, take time to celebrate accomplishments. There are accomplishments every day in things we do, you don’t have to just celebrate when your team earns a big award. Too often we get blinded by success only showing up in the form of a trophy or piece of paper, in fact, there are dozens of successes each day in everything we do. Don’t get me wrong, celebrate the big things when they come, but make sure to celebrate all the little things that are great that happen on a daily basis as well.
