Comments on: Experience, the best teacher

By: Teaching vs. Learning | Teaching Journalism Today

Teaching vs. Learning | Teaching Journalism Today — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:19:06 +0000

[...] been thinking about the role of the learner vs. the role of the teacher ever since I read this recent post Mindy McAdams’ blog Teaching Online Journalism. In it, she makes the case that students [...]

By: Mindy

Mindy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:08:42 +0000

@Mark Hamilton – Gosh, I hope you specifically told them they cannot interview their roommate.

By: Mark Hamilton

Mark Hamilton — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:11:35 +0000

Good timing: I just threw out all the prepared exercises for the first-year Writing Skills class and told me students to go out and interview someone interesting, or with an interesting story to tell. I’m betting they’ll better learn the writing skills by drafting and polishing a story that is meaningful and interesting to them.

By: Links para o fim-de-semana | Links for the weekend « O Lago | The Lake

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:03:28 +0000

[...] Experience, the best teacher [...]

By: Mindy

Mindy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:29:57 +0000

@Danny – You do mean the Sunday nights before the work was due in class, on Monday, yes?

By: Danny Sanchez

Danny Sanchez — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:43:58 +0000

You’re absolutely right. I learned far more about Flash by hacking ActionScript on Sunday nights than I did sitting in class.

By: Evelio Contreras

Evelio Contreras — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:11:53 +0000

Great post, Mindy. Learning how to shoot video for me was a tough but rewarding experience in Roanoke and something I’m happy I stuck with because it’s given me the tools to tell stories that never would have occurred to me when I was just a print reporter.

A lot of the motivation to keep learning and to keep pushing – especially, after a number of failed attempts – came from being able to share that experience of failing and getting back up again with my newsroom mentor, Seth Gitner, who let me fail (over and over again) and learn for myself what worked and didn’t work.

In college, I had professors like that who ripped my work apart and shredded my stories to pieces (sometimes, literally) because I knew they were paying attention and didn’t let me off the hook easily. That’s something I think newsrooms (and colleges) need more of: people who are willing to let you fail when you’re learning with the hope of having you get back on the saddle again with confidence to do something better.

You likely won’t produce your best work the second, third or fourth time around. But at the end of the day, if you got that professor or newsroom mentor who values and charts your growth – not your final grade or winning some journalism award – that, I strongly believe, is what makes this job of being a journalist fun and all the more rewarding. And I think your audience will see that in the quality of the stories you show.

By: Wash, rinse, repeat – Innovation in College Media

Wash, rinse, repeat – Innovation in College Media — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:22:51 +0000

[...] McAdams writes about something I’ve been thinking recently: No one learns how to do anything by sitting in a [...]

By: cyndy green

cyndy green — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:28:38 +0000

Amen to the main task of learning falls on the learner. My goal (in high school) is to give them the tools, the instruction on how to properly use the tools, examples, and then set them loose. Those who do the work earn a grade.

Strangely, those who forget about the grade and take off and fly get the best grades. They stop trying to please me and begin to teach themselves.

(Only one or two a term unfortunately)

By: Bryan Murley

Bryan Murley — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:11:47 +0000

I was thinking about this recently as well. I like to call it the “wash, rinse, repeat” method of teaching. Show them how to use the tools and then spend a lot of time getting them to use the tools.