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About Me


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I just stole this from a friend's page. It is so true:
"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin." ~anonymous~
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The above is a link to our brand new online edition. It's a work-in-progress and has a way to go before all sections are complete, but we went ahead and launched it this week.
More proof that Journalism Kids Do Better! High School Journalism Matters
THIS columnist GETS it! Woo hoo!!!!
Washington Post Column
To put life into perspective, CLICK HERE
Because several of you have asked, I'm reposting the link to the story about my aunt's high school ring which I had posted as a tribute to the love shared by my aunt and uncle when he died in November. Journey of the Ring
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I've been a journalism teacher for 33 years, at six different schools in different parts of Texas. I knew I wanted to be a journalism teacher in high school, inspired by my journalism teacher, Nancy Wagner Crowley.
I'm active in Journalism Education Association and Texas Association of Journalism Educators. The First Amendment is very important to me, and I've conducted many workshops on it and student press freedom.
I'm very concerned about the direction our media are taking and very worried about a future without a truly free press.
My profession has been good to me. I've been the recipient of numerous awards which really are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the students I've taught over the years. Never believe that today's kids are not as driven as students of the past...they are creative, intelligent and passionate about things that mean something to them.
My colleagues across Texas have honored me with the Edith Fox King Award for outstanding service to Texas scholastic journalism (Interscholastic League Press Conference) and the Trailblazer Award, evidently for blazing trails, by TAJE. Texas Press Women designated me the Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year in 2003, a surprise for sure. I was also designated a Special Recognition Adviser in 2001 by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and two years later was a finalist for Teacher of the Year. This past year I was included in the Manchester/Cambridge Who's Who, and in the past I've been in several editions of Who's Who Among American Teachers and was in the first (and only, I think) edition of The Most Prominent Educators in Texas.
I was named a First Amendment Mentor Teacher by Newsweek and the Freedom Forum, in 2002, which gave me the opportunity to spend a few days in Arlington, Va. at the Freedom Forum and hear from amazing First Amendment scholars. I'm also a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission of the Journalism Education Association and chair of the First Amendment Issues Committee of Texas Association of Journalism Educators.
I've always been a bit of a technology freak and I enjoy having my kids incorporate technology and new media into our program. My students were among the first in the nation, and one of the first two newspaper staffs in Texas, to take their newspaper online in 1999. Highwired.com was a new internet-based company specializing in developing online products for schools, including software for online newspapers. My students used their services until the company folded a couple of years later, and the students decided to create their own online publication from scratch. Our program was featured in a book published by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), called Applying NCTE/IRA Standards in Classroom Journalism Projects: Activities and Scenarios , by Candace Bowen and Susan Tantillo. Perhaps not the catchiest title in the world, but we were featured in Chapter 8, which was about technology.
My current students are now transitioning from a traditional journalism setup, with separate newspaper, yearbook, web, photography and broadcast staffs into a convergent media team in which each student will be trained to do it all.
I've written two textbooks on journalism for high school and co-authored two more with Tom Kaup of Auburn, Washington, geared for middle school journalism programs. These are available from Teaching-Point . I have recently agreed to do another textbook for them which should be finished in December or January.
I'm not ready to retire...when I could have retired, I simply changed school districts and took on a new challenge. It's about to eat my lunch, but I advise newspaper, yearbook and broadcast journalism at a brand new school. I'm trying to talk my principal into bringing someone else on board to help with the load so I don't have to work 12 and 14-hour days 5 days a week.
Other than work, my interests include internet surfing, shopping, chatting with friends on and offline, shopping, going to movies, politics, shopping, reading, shopping, and spending time with my family who live with me. I have one son and one very lively and brilliant grandson whose picture is all over the place here.
Oh yeah...I do have this tiny little addiction to Big Brother, but it's hardly noticeable. ;)
Life is good.
You Are an Orange Rose
You represent desire and enthusiasm
Your vibe: Sexy yet familiar
Falling in love with you: happens instantly - it's a fast ride What Color Rose Are You?
Your Blog Should Be Purple
You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything.
You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey.
You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say. What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be? ..

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Lord of the Dance

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My Interests

I'd like to meet:

People who can intelligently discuss issues.
People who can look at all sides of an issue before taking a stand.
People with a variety of interests.
People who respect themselves and others.
People with integrity.
People with confidence.

My Blog

A domestic goddess Im not

Ok, I have once again proven how utterly undomestic and idiotic I can be. About a year ago, my dishwasher suddenly quit working. It wasn't getting any juice. At the time I was pretty much carrying the...
Posted by on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:51:00 GMT

Kindlized

Today I received the Amazon Kindle, a gadget I've been wanting since Amazon first introduced them, but they were too expensive, and apparently, pretty rare because they were out of stock for a long ti...
Posted by on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:55:00 GMT

I can always find something to do...

...but it's not always what I need to be doing. School has been out a week now, and I've really gotten quite a bit accomplished, but not exactly the things I have on my "to do" list. I've completely u...
Posted by on Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:24:00 GMT

Here we go again..

Okay....so I had decided to close down jteacher.com because I felt it wasn't as relevant as it used to be, and I didn't have the time to maintain it like it needed to be maintained. There are so many ...
Posted by on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Reflections

The past two years have been a major challenge for me...starting three publications programs from scratch has not been easy, complicated by the fact that very important things kept getting cut from th...
Posted by on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:18:00 GMT

Journalism Kids STILL Doing Better

Sometimes journalism teachers feel very isolated. In most cases, they may be the only journalism teacher in the school, and if it is the only high school in the community, it can seem like a very lone...
Posted by on Sat, 31 May 2008 09:14:00 GMT

Flippin Out Again

A teacher at my school is retiring at the end of this school year, so her department threw her a bash after school this week. It was a good opportunity to get in some practice with the Flip cam, and h...
Posted by on Sat, 31 May 2008 07:05:00 GMT

Getting the Urge to Converge

Note: This is an article I wrote for the May 2008 issue of the TAJE newsletter. I'm about to wind up this year and get ready for my 34th year of teaching journalism, andcall me crazybut I am ready t...
Posted by on Tue, 27 May 2008 14:46:00 GMT

Overboard internet filtering by schools

On paper, the Children's Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, looks like a good thing. Who doesn't want to protect our children from harmful things on the Interent, such as pornography and gambling and s...
Posted by on Mon, 26 May 2008 17:45:00 GMT

So I have the day off...

...and get to play granny to my 3-year-old grandson today. At 3, he's a livewire, for sure.Sometimes he's more of a livewire than others. Today he has been a little lethargic, but I think it is becaus...
Posted by on Mon, 26 May 2008 15:20:00 GMT