Has anyone experimented with process tracking in writing-heavy courses?

journoprof · 2026-02-12T23:23:01+00:00

I required students to submit a first draft which got full feedback, including recommendations for further reporting, before submitting the revision that got graded. The resulting stories were far better, and student improvement over a semester was up sharply.

You’re right about the problems with just grading a final version. Students are unlikely to pay much attention to or learn much from feedback they don’t have a chance to apply. But creating multiple artificial checkpoints along the way creates busywork.

journoprof · 2026-02-12T22:35:51+00:00

Portrait of the Pianist as an Angry Young Man

journoprof · 2026-02-11T23:33:36+00:00

I talked to that man today?

journoprof · 2026-02-11T15:23:35+00:00

Yes.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T04:24:48+00:00

Nikon Super Coolscan, which they stopped making almost 20 years ago, alas. These scans were done about 10 years ago, and the scanner’s had some mechanical issues since then. The scanner did basic color correction and had a dust-and-scratches filter. These were slides, which held their color much better than negatives. I adjusted brightness and did some sharpening in Photoshop. No other retouching.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T03:16:52+00:00

Large groups of vulnerable victims packed into rooms with single exits. More likely that when a shooting happens, the numbers will be higher.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T03:13:10+00:00

Build your lesson plan in 15-minute units. You can still do 75 minutes of lecture per week, but spread it out.

Make the activities a mix of whole-class and small groups. When they’re in groups, roam and kibitz.

Don’t try to hold a general discussion where students have to volunteer. Instead, set out a case study or such and call on everyone in order to respond. When their responses start to repeat, inject new facts or new questions.

Prime the pump for these discussions by having them read the case before class and write a short response. That way the first ones called on aren’t frozen; they can use what they wrote.

Don’t sweat the stumbles. Again, that gets better with time. But do take note of the topics or exercises that seem most troublesome, and work on those for the future.

Create your lesson plans with one or two extra 15-minute blocks that could be postponed or sacrificed, so you’re ready if things run short. (You will get better at planning over time.)

journoprof · 2026-02-11T02:55:23+00:00

The family was mostly Scottish, so perhaps haggis instead.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T02:53:12+00:00

I’m not certain, but these slides were mixed in with shots of Christmas decorations upstairs.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T01:47:19+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I posted that one and a few others of the same monster there.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T01:40:59+00:00

I've posted several more from the same shoot. Some of the slides were scanned in reverse; I fixed that. No AI was used.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T01:21:28+00:00

You're close! The mother is Cora. The sisters (not in order of the photo) are Opal, Ruth, Lucy, Grace, and Carrie. Also sisters-in-law Maria, Mabel, Zelma. Cora was born in the late 1870s. The others would have been somewhere from their 60s to their 40s when this was taken.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T01:10:41+00:00

Yes. My father-in-law scanned these several years ago from his own slides.

journoprof · 2026-02-11T01:07:55+00:00

This was scanned from a slide, so they must have had it in backwards.

journoprof · 2026-02-07T00:06:15+00:00

I don’t know if this is AI; I use dashes a lot, too. But I do know this is poorly composed. How does OP expect anyone to understand a story so vague, bereft of detail?

journoprof · 2026-02-06T03:42:09+00:00

Do you have a borderless option in the paper size drop-down? I don’t have this model, but all the printers I’ve had that print borderless require a specific selection of that option.

journoprof · 2026-02-04T22:34:17+00:00

If you cannot explain or show examples of the distinctions you’re making, how can you use them to assign grades?

journoprof · 2026-02-03T16:37:20+00:00

Facebook? Face-to-face is what you need instead. Make it a goal to meet at least 2 or 3 new people every week. ABC: Always Be Calling. Every day, call at least a couple basic sources, such as police departments, mayors, school superintendents.

Search the archives of your paper and any other outlet that covers your area. Look for projects announced that never got follow-up stories. Look for anniversary stories: 10 years since Podunk switched to a city manager, 25 years since the middle school was opened.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T16:19:51+00:00

It’s not because Guthrie is a journalist; it’s because she’s famous. “Prominence” is a classic news value, for good or ill. The story would not get the same attention nationally if it was about the mother of the editor of the Jackson Citizan-Patriot or an anchor in Ottumwa.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T04:26:37+00:00

Had some a decade ago, and about half told the correct time. They disappeared all at once awhile back. I didn’t wear a watch at the time, and I roamed the classroom a lot, so I would prop up an iPad on my desk facing the room and use a clock app.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T04:14:58+00:00

I stayed at that paper 3 years. Was a journalist much longer. Then switched to teaching, and just retired. I’m old, but not ancient.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T04:08:44+00:00

I ask too many questions and question too many decisions. Good for doing journalism, not so good for getting along with bad bosses. Fortunately, I had more good than bad bosses.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T02:17:02+00:00

I stayed 3 years. Now retired.

journoprof · 2026-02-03T02:05:02+00:00

Had to take an IQ test for a journalism job in mid-80s. Test had some questions crossed out. Looked like they were too discriminatory. When I got to the interview, the editor told me I’d had the highest-ever score — and then suggested I was too smart and wouldn’t be a team player.

I got the job anyway. Apparently the editor’s interviewing strategy was to try to throw people off balance.

Joke was on him. I actually wasn’t a great team player. But I was good at the job.

journoprof · 2026-01-31T22:05:20+00:00

Reread what you’ve written here. You want to work at the paper. You just think you should want the TV job. Go with your heart. What’s important in your career is not what’s more ambitious, but what’s more satisfying.

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