Little but Fierce
Menu

Teach a little, learn a loT

Fiercely

Interactive infographics bring data to life

3/28/2018

0 Comments

 
Keywords: multimedia, infographics, timeline, poll, maps, interactive
One of the benefits of online newspapers is the potential for interactive infographics. My students have used infographic generators like Piktochart, Easel.ly andCanva, but we haven't experimented as much with other tools. This week, I tried out three new-to-me tools to see how they might work alongside those we already have: customizedGoogle maps, Polldaddy polls and surveys and Tiki-Toki timelines.

Read More
0 Comments

Journalism adviser faces camera, shoots past fear

2/25/2018

0 Comments

 
Key Words: camera operations, photography​, photojournalism
Dear Journalism Students,

I have a confession. Until the past two weeks, I really didn't know how to use a camera. I mean, sure, I knew how to point and click and use those handy automated settings — I even knew, in theory how to use the more sophisticated automated settings of aperture and shutter priority. But full manual mode? Let's just say that I've been faking it until I make it.

Read More
0 Comments

GenX adviser seeks multimedia evolution

2/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Keywords: advising, multimedia, journalism
When I started advising a scholastic newspaper, I was pretty sure that if I learned how to write like a journalist, I would be well on my way to a successful program.


I wasn’t entirely wrong. Mastering news-writing skills is crucial for new journalists, and learning to write like a journalist means learning how to write well. As Tim Harrower points out in “Inside Reporting,” the lessons Hemingway learned during his time on the Kansas City Star “were the best rules [he] ever learned for the business of writing.”

But the days when narrow rows of text ruled journalism are past. Today’s journalists need more than words to engage and inform their readerships. 

Read More
0 Comments

Teaching grit for citizenship: why we must empower rather than shield our students

4/29/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureMy school's 2017 First Amendment Press Freedom Award hangs on the way in the upper school. Allowing students final editorial say in all content provides them with a real citizenship experience, but it also means adults letting go of the urge to shield and protect and instead empowering their voices.
Teachers and administrators want to help our students. We want to give them the tools to succeed, but we also sometimes want to protect them — to shield them from harsh truths and difficult situations.

When I'm teaching my journalism students about the social role of the mass media and their own societal role as young journalists, I also think a lot about my role as their adviser. I argued earlier this year that if we want students to value citizenship, we must let them be citizens, but citizenship isn't easy, and it isn't "safe." Citizenship means taking an active role, speaking truth to power, and taking risks. If I want them to learn to be citizens, I must resist that urge to shield and protect and instead empower them to make their own decisions and take responsibility for the outcome.


Read More
0 Comments

Beyond the journalism classroom: Getting the rest of the school to care

4/15/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureMy publications students gave me this postcard after we attended the fall National High School Journalism Convention in Indianapolis. Conventions like this bring students who are already engaged in journalism together, but how can we get the rest of the school excited?
I wish journalism was a required core subject. I wish we could help every high school student dive into the process and joy of determining what is newsworthy, learning what constitutes good reporting versus repeating rumors, developing the confidence to interview adults and peers and ask hard questions, considering the foundational pillars of ethical journalism, writing and editing and editing and editing and proofreading until an article is truly clear, and learning all the other skills and ways of thinking that happen naturally when a student is actively engaged in news-production.

Since every student at the school can't be on staff, however, how can we get the rest of the school engaged in news?


Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Tweets by MsTaylor_Archer
    Picture

    About 

    “And though she be but little, she is fierce!” -A Midsummer Night’s Dream

    I’m an English and journalism teacher—yes, a short one—who cares fiercely about teaching and my students. I blog about current events, research and more from my experiences in the classroom and beyond. To learn more about my teaching and advising path, see my About page.

    Archives

    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    March 2016
    August 2015
    April 2015

    Categories

    All
    Adiche
    Back To School
    Camera
    Camera Operations
    Civics
    Collaboration
    Connections
    Duckworth
    Dweck
    Engagement
    English
    Ethics
    Exercise
    Fake News
    First Amendment
    Grading
    Homework
    Humor
    Inspiration
    Interviewing
    Journalism
    Literature
    Maps
    Media
    Meta
    Multimedia
    NPR
    Pedagogy
    Photography
    Photojournalism
    Podcast
    Policies
    Polls
    Procrastination
    Running
    Social Media
    Stress
    Teaching
    Team-building
    TED
    Timelines
    Travel
    Vacation
    Yearbook

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Little but Fierce
  • About
  • Little but Fierce
  • About