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WINTER 2014
Page 2A
Adviser Update
ROCK STAR
Continued from page 1A
about me. It’s about us here in the
journalism education community, and
I’m here today to talk to you about
being a journalism rock star. And
what’s more, I’m here to tell you how
you can be a journalism rock star,
too.
Step 1: Know your material.
Any good musician spends hours,
days, weeks, years practicing his
craft. A great musician realizes that
that learning never stops, and rather
than being satisfied with what he’s
already created, he agonizes over
where he needs to improve.
Journalism rock stars need to
know their craft as well. It’s important
for journalism educators to be wellversed, not only in the field of journalism, but also in journalism curriculum,
in state and national standards, in
data gathering, in best practices.
And while these areas don’t necessarily make you a better teacher, they
are the catch phrases of our industry,
and we need to be experts in what we
do. We need to know like the back of
our hands what we’re asked to teach
our students. We need to be able to
justify, using our shared language of
curriculum, what it is that we want our
students to achieve.
Step 2. Do it for the music
But despite what legislators would
have us believe, knowledge of that
curriculum isn’t enough. It’s a starting
point to be sure, much like learning
chord progressions on a guitar is a
starting point. But just like knowledge
of chords isn’t necessarily music,
knowledge of journalism standards
isn’t necessarily teaching. That’s
why we need to do it for the music.
In other words, once we know what
to teach, we need to know why we
teach it.
My oldest son is 13 years old and
he plays the saxophone. When he
started playing three years ago, he
wasn’t very good. He knew about
three notes, and half of those were
squeaky, off-key or non-existent. But
he practiced. He learned through his
band class how to read music. He
started playing better. Two years ago,
he moved to first chair where he has
remained. Last year, he joined the
jazz band. He got even better. Just
this year, he has started to perform
improvisational solos during his jazz
RECOGNIZE — News Fund 2013 honorees attending the Boston Convention included: (front)
Derek Smith, Charla Harris, Ana Rosenthal; (back) Matthew Schott, Jim Streisel and Jonathan
Rogers. Michele Dunaway and Jason Wallestad are not pictured. Update photo by Bradley Wilson
band concerts.
In just three years, my son has
learned how to take what he has
learned, absorb it and turn that
knowledge into something personal.
Before my very eyes, he is becoming
more than just a music player; he is
becoming a musician with his own
sound, his own voice. His teacher
has helped to foster that growth.
Like my son’s band teacher, we
need to understand what we’re trying to accomplish with our student ̸)Q