Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Despite technology
Here we are, week 2. We have survived crazy rain storms that shut down the district. We have overcome the lack of available computers over the last week and a half. We have started Issue #1!
Today, we have almost finished story assignments for the first issue. Due to my absent-mindedness (also known as pregnancy brain), we are a little behind in the story assignment process. Actually, we were behind originally because of school being canceled due to the storm. But the staff was catching up for that. No, I forgot to email the editors in chief last night, so they had to scramble to get the story ideas list updated and then try to assign the stories all today. They did an awesome job. Next issue will be much better because we will be used to the system.
The story ideas for this issue are great. The staff has done a great job of getting ideas from people not on staff (the requirement to do this might be helping that!), and that has led to some really cool ideas.
The first story deadline is tomorrow. This is the first deadline on the new system. I've got high hopes!
Another win for Spokesman, I have already graded the story ideas for issue 1 and have put them into the gradebook. I'm feeling accomplished.
So now it's on to the hard work - reporting, photographing, writing the news and deciding on a T-shirt idea. I think the staff is up to it.
Today, we have almost finished story assignments for the first issue. Due to my absent-mindedness (also known as pregnancy brain), we are a little behind in the story assignment process. Actually, we were behind originally because of school being canceled due to the storm. But the staff was catching up for that. No, I forgot to email the editors in chief last night, so they had to scramble to get the story ideas list updated and then try to assign the stories all today. They did an awesome job. Next issue will be much better because we will be used to the system.
The story ideas for this issue are great. The staff has done a great job of getting ideas from people not on staff (the requirement to do this might be helping that!), and that has led to some really cool ideas.
The first story deadline is tomorrow. This is the first deadline on the new system. I've got high hopes!
Another win for Spokesman, I have already graded the story ideas for issue 1 and have put them into the gradebook. I'm feeling accomplished.
So now it's on to the hard work - reporting, photographing, writing the news and deciding on a T-shirt idea. I think the staff is up to it.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Ahh... another new year
I seem to always start my post after a long hiatus with something about how crazy it has been lately. That seems a little silly now that I am realizing life is always a little crazy.
I'm starting this blog again today because today was the first day of Spokesman Week 2007-08. The staff showed up this morning with lots of good energy and fun summer stories, except for Sarah, who had an unsettling story about her house being broken into. She was still in good spirits though.
I made the official announcement that, yes, I am pregnant. In fact, I even wore a lovely maternity outfit of pants that barely fit and one of the hand-me-down maternity shirts my friends have lovingly loaned to me. The staff seems pretty enthusiastic about it so far. I even got advice on where to find cute maternity clothes (which I am sure had nothing to do with the baby blue shirt with the tie in the back that I wore today).
So, true to the little bits of craziness life always has in store, we were not able to do as planned today. There was a water leak last week in the back room (it came through a ceiling tile) that took out a computer and our two scanners. The tech guys are working on getting the equipment either running or replaced. I love those guys.
We also could not access our files yet. Actually, I couldn't even log in, neither could the students. So instead of photography workshop, we went over the calendar and the new grading system. While they weren't jumping up and down excited, I think they are slightly intrigued.
The staff also helped me rearrange the room a little, which was nice. Then Claire, Neal, Hillary, Bryan and Dan stayed around to work on the redesign. This was interesting since we couldn't log in, but the tech guys hooked us up. The kids saved everything to my flash drive, and that seemed to work.
I think it was a pretty successful start to this new year!
I'm starting this blog again today because today was the first day of Spokesman Week 2007-08. The staff showed up this morning with lots of good energy and fun summer stories, except for Sarah, who had an unsettling story about her house being broken into. She was still in good spirits though.
I made the official announcement that, yes, I am pregnant. In fact, I even wore a lovely maternity outfit of pants that barely fit and one of the hand-me-down maternity shirts my friends have lovingly loaned to me. The staff seems pretty enthusiastic about it so far. I even got advice on where to find cute maternity clothes (which I am sure had nothing to do with the baby blue shirt with the tie in the back that I wore today).
So, true to the little bits of craziness life always has in store, we were not able to do as planned today. There was a water leak last week in the back room (it came through a ceiling tile) that took out a computer and our two scanners. The tech guys are working on getting the equipment either running or replaced. I love those guys.
We also could not access our files yet. Actually, I couldn't even log in, neither could the students. So instead of photography workshop, we went over the calendar and the new grading system. While they weren't jumping up and down excited, I think they are slightly intrigued.
The staff also helped me rearrange the room a little, which was nice. Then Claire, Neal, Hillary, Bryan and Dan stayed around to work on the redesign. This was interesting since we couldn't log in, but the tech guys hooked us up. The kids saved everything to my flash drive, and that seemed to work.
I think it was a pretty successful start to this new year!
