In Writing for Mass Communication and Reporting, students face the dreaded fact error. That’s the 50-point deduction for any factual error made in their writing. The factual error can be a misspelled proper noun or an incorrect address or an incorrect time. A fact error also could be making a factual error in presenting information, such […]

The importance of practicing — Sandhill Cranes winter here in north central Florida. Today they were high in the air stream, practicing for their return flight north. Once the little cranes are big enough, the flock begins flying to give the little cranes practice. The flocks are way up in the sky, circling and calling […]

One of the college’s secretaries told this story. The secretary answered the phone in the departmental office. A woman identified herself as the parent of a student and said she had a question about her son’s class. Her son had called her earlier that day to say that he had gone at 10 a.m. for […]

Another aspect of the blogging assignment: What if they have their own blog already? Can they use it and make our required posts as part of their own blog rather than setting up a new blog account? I had lunch today with Paige, a former adjunct for the course and a former student in the […]

So what decisions did the MMC 2100 team make about blogging in our class? The consensus was that very few of the 250 students in the course have their own blogs. But we’ll find out before we start the assignment.  We weren’t sure how many of our students are reading blogs. We think that those […]

A session during the symposium included discussion of why so many beginning teachers leave the profession. One of the factors mentioned was “teaching hazing.” As the speaker talked about that, I recognized my beginning teaching experience. Having five different preparations. Having some of the most challenging students. That kind of teaching assignment makes beginning teachers […]

Throughout the symposium, Linda, Peggy, Steve, Nick and I shared what we’d heard in sessions and talked about implications for our JEA mentoring program – calling Nick on days when he wasn’t able to be there due to the pinched nerve in his neck. We called Linda Barrington, who wasn’t able to attend the symposium. […]

Julie Dodd (Boomer) and Jennifer Abrams (Gen Xer) talked after Jennifer’s session on generational differences in the workplace.

Veteran/Traditionalist (born from 1922 to 1943). Boomer (born from 1944 to 1960). Gen Xer (born from 1961 to 1980). Millennial (born from 1981 to 2000). This session asked us to discuss what political and social factors helped influence attitudes of each generation and then consider how differences between generational groups can affect interactions between mentors […]

Pedro Noguera commended No Child Left Behind’s message that every child can be a successful student. But he criticized national, state and local officials for not providing the funds necessary to help the most-challenged schools be able to meet the needs of students — and their teachers.