I had so much fun and learned so, so much at the Reynolds Institute. But it's also really nice to be home. :) 

Dan and I spent the weekend with his family -- they were visiting from Atlanta, Reading, and New York! It was so much fun meeting new family, and traveling all around southwest Michigan with them. I felt bad that I was still largely sleep deprived and out of it, but hopefully I'll be more awake the next time I see them! 

The past few days have been a whirlwind of Jazzercise classes and routine-learning, laundering two weeks worth of clothes from the trip, organizing the house, and getting back into wedding planning mode. Holy cow, being gone for two weeks can be rough. 

Tomorrow is August. Say what?! Where did July go? 

Today was the first day of summer that I couldn't remember what day of the week it was. Therefore, I know it's time to get back in to school mode. I'm working on preparing my newspaper staff manual, updating syllabi, and figuring out what I want to start with in Junior Honors. Or, I should say, I have plans to work on all of these things. Soon. Tomorrow. Or maybe Friday. 

It's so good to be home. 

Lies

Occasionally, I lie to myself.  I tell myself the grading will get done if I take it home over the weekend. Lie. I tell myself it doesn’t bother me when kids blow off my classwork or class in general. Lie. I tell myself cookies are calorie free. Lie.

When I applied for the ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute this past winter, I told myself I didn’t care if I was accepted. Another lie. I wanted to be accepted for so many reasons.

I’m entering my ninth year of teaching this year, and have advised publications for all but one of them. And as much as I truly love, love, love going to work every day, I was starting to feel burnt out. Journalism classes can be a strange beast, often one that evokes a love/hate relationship within me. I was craving more – something new, something innovative, hell, even just someone who truly understood my plight.

The ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute has given me everything I had hoped for and more. I’ve been involved in seminars with the best and brightest professionals in our field. I’ve gotten hands-on real world experience with the brand new technology I’ve learned. I’ve made friends with people from all over the country who are intelligent and articulate and are willing to give fellow participants anything that will possibly help them. As another conference goer said, I have literally learned something from each and every session we’ve attended and each and every person I’ve spoken with. This experience is priceless.

On day one, I started a Word document of all of the things I wanted to change in my classroom this year. Some of them were very concrete ideas – things like getting our student newspaper online in a daily or weekly format or specific interviewing activities I want my students to do. Others were a bit more abstract like apps to check out or websites that need further exploration. But I’m walking away from this with over four pages in my Word document, countless ideas in my head, even more ideas on a steno pad of paper, and a literal boatload of resources to make me a better teacher for my students. Because of this workshop, I will be a better teacher, my students will be better equipped as journalists, and our newspaper will flourish as a product. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

I will miss each and every person at this workshop. And I truly mean it when I say that this workshop has been life-changing.

No lie. 

Conferencing

Delicious BBQ at Jack Stacks

Oh boy. The ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute insanity kicked in full force during the latter part of the week, keeping me from posting anything noteworthy. But the conference has been totally incredible. 

A brief recap: I have learned SO MUCH in the six days I've been here, and know that the next several will probably teach me just as much (if not more). We've talked about print, video, infographics, diagrams, sources, editing, and general elevation of all of our programs, which has been incredible. The best part is I get to be surrounded by other journalism professionals who know the battles we face (like, with funding, say, or technology) and who know lots of things about lots of things I don't know. We're learning as much from each other as we are from the incredible array of experts that have been brought in for us. 

Mostly, though, this institute makes me realize how vitally important professional development is, and how much I wish we had a chunk of our budget for this. When I started teaching journalism eight years ago, there was no Twitter, no Instagram, no... well, a lot of other things. And now everything in journalism has changed, and we need to adapt with it. It's been invigorating to spend time with people who want to make changes and make their programs better instead of just doing the same 'ol, same 'ol. I feel inspired as a teacher to make our journalism program the very best I can for our students, and I can safely say I wasn't feeling that way just a few short weeks ago. Professional development is so important for so many reasons, but I'm grateful that this opportunity brought me here. It has truly been incredible. 

Below, some pictures that can never come close to capturing this experience

Our field trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Ernet Heminway worked at the Kansas City Star!

A handy little infographic

The Journalism School Library. In love! 

The NBC KOMO affiliate -- student operated! 

Our friend Larry the brewer at Flat Branch Brew and Pub

Made friends with this Tiger on my morning run! 

Truman's office at the Truman library

"The Buck Stops Here."

Exhaustion

exhaust (verb): to drain of strength or energy, wear out, or fatigue greatly, as a person

This conference is amazing. I'm learning so much that I quite literally feel like a sponge just soaking up everything around me. There's so much sharing going on, and it's nice to know that after these 12 days are over, we'll still have a community where we can connect to one another and share ideas. 

My group posted our first assignment tonight -- a ThingLink on our website. It took us a little while to figure out some of the elements, but overall, we LOVE the connectivity the platform offers. There are so many different things you could do with this in the classroom, outside presentations, and, I'm sure, way way more! 

Tomorrow looks like another information filled day, and I look forward to it. Our team will be looking for a local flavor article tomorrow, so that should be fun to work on! 

Goodnight! 

Today I learned a lot

Today I write from Columbia, Missouri, where I'm spending the next two weeks learning all things Journalism related. Truly, this is a Journalism dork's total dream. We arrived yesterday in St. Louis before making the two hour trek to Mizzou (yay for FINALLY seeing the university where I earned my master's degree). There are 34 of us from various parts of the country teaching various journalism classes with varied journalistic interests and skill levels. And we're all in it together. 

The Reynolds Institute is, in a word, amazing. The building is incredible, and the discussions that took place in the first 13 hours (read: TODAY) have been wonderful. I think we're all learning more than we ever thought we would. As someone who feels as though the digital media at her school is way lacking, I'm excited to be learning about things like Storify, ThingLink, and the Vine mobile app. I had no idea about these things. But I should know them! 

If anything, this conference is reminding how critical professional development is to the teaching profession. With budget cuts, we don't get nearly enough. There's something totally surreal about picking the brains of 33 other educators and professionals in our field that I can't get anywhere else. No amount of independent research will teach me application like the people around me here. I feel blessed to have been chosen for this opportunity. I am lucky that I get to have these experiences and conversations with fantastic educators. 

That's all for now, as my brain hurts from all the knowledge crammed in it between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Today, I started a Twitter. And I blog. So, I suppose now I twog? Blitter? I'm unsure. But I do it! 

Wedding Wednesday: Finding THE dress and cake, baby

Last Saturday, my mom and I drove back to Wedding Belles for round two of wedding dress shopping. My dad joined us this time, because we thought another opinion might be helpful. My consultant's name was Juli, and I could tell she was determined to help me find the absolute perfect dress. 

The first thing Juli had me do was put my previous number one contender back on, just to make sure it really wasn't the one. I put it on, and really liked it, but knew it wasn't it. Part of the problem is that it reminded me A LOT of my high school prom dress. Take a gander: 

Oh, hi, me and and my soon-to-be Maid of Honor, Prom 2000 (and, yes, I took a picture of a picture, because I'm classy like that (and yes, I thought I looked super awesome on prom night))

Totally gorgeous. Totally not my dress. 

So, once we had decided that definitely was NOT the dress, we were able to start searching for what WAS the dress. Juli had pulled a few new dresses based on my new requirements, and we started playing dress up. I had tried a few on, and thought they were pretty, but then I put on MY dress. It. Is. Stunning! To say I'm in love with it is the understatement of the year. I can't tell you too much about it (hi Dan!), but I can tell you it's fabulous, and I didn't want to take it off. Major win in my book! 

And since it's WW, Dan and I are off to Ralph's Bakery in New Carlisle to book our wedding cake! We tried some other cakes that we LOVE, but Ralph's won us over with their reasonable pricing and to-die-for frosting. Major yum! 

Today, I also worked on another mini project! Since I leave this weekend for two. whole. weeks away, I wanted to leave Dan some notes for while I was gone. I was planning on just writing post-its (we love post-its), but saw this cuteness on Pinterest today! While it was just a picture of the first note, I went on to think of my own envelopes to add to it including, "Open me when you're bored," "Open me when you need a laugh," and "Open me when you want to know how much I love you." I'll leave them when I go, and Dan can open one each day I'm gone. 

Envelopes-o-love

Off to Ralph's we go! 

I love Mr. Darcy

This just makes me smile. Giant Mr. Darcy statue!

Clean up

It was a busy 4th of July weekend with a few barbecues, holiday celebrations, and Dan's 30th birthday! Lots of fun happenings, but I'm glad that life is getting back to normal. 

Also getting back to normal is the way our house looks! When Dan first arrived, we had... STUFF... everywhere. We were tasked with combining two households worth of stuff, one that was already in place, together, which is no easy task. Ever the organizational freak, I had to let that go for a bit while boxes, laundry baskets, and trash bags took over the kitchen, bedroom, and office. But, as of this weekend, everything is unpacked from most of those areas (minus the office, where we can simply shut the door until we're ready to deal with it). 

It feels great to have the house (mostly) back in order, and it's left me time to clean other things that have long been on my to-do list. This morning, I lovingly removed ripped with vengeance and fury the ceiling fans out of the upstairs bathrooms. I've lived in my house for almost six years, and I can safely say I've done this... never. They were filled with dust and build up. ICK! Additionally, I also found this  fabulous tutorial on how to clean a top load washing machine. That's going right now! And in case you're curious, I've also been using this great about.com spring cleaning tutorial to make some changes too. 

I leave this weekend for my cousin Amanda's bridal shower and bachelorette party, and then it's off to two weeks in Missouri for the ASNE Reynolds Journalism Institute. I'm so excited to have this opportunity to learn more and teach my students better. It will be a great few weeks! But until then, the cleaning awaits!  

What's better than a casino and beer? Running too!

About a month ago, my friend Roberta told me she had seen an advertisement for a fun run at The Game, a restaurant in Blue Chip casino. Every other Tuesday, they were partnering to sponsor a free fun run. The first run was three weeks ago, so Bert and I decided to check it out. 

We had a total blast! The run literally starts at the entrance to the casino and weaves through Michigan City before heading down to the water, and running almost a half mile in the sand along the shoreline (oh, hello there, leg workout!). After leaving the beach, the course weaves back to the casino and finishes at the entrance. THEN you get to go inside and enjoy $2 Summer Shandy beers. AND prizes. :D

During week one, Roberta was the big winner (to be fair, there were about 12 whole runners, so we all won something)! It was a beer drinker's delight! T-shirts, water bottles, coozies, a cooler, and beach ball (complete with pump!)! 

Bert and her swag

Week two was an entirely different story. Word had reached the masses that a fun, free run (with PRIZES) was in the area, and our small group of a dozen jumped to, like, 35. Harumph. So, off we went on our run, and at approximately mile 1.5, the skies opened up, and completely POURED on us. Oh bother. What's a girl to do but run back to the casino? So, that we did. In the pouring, pouring rain. And yet, we still stayed for our $2 Summer Shandys. 

Water logged. Seriously. 

Roberta won another t-shirt, I won big fat nothing, but it was still fun to be running along the lakeshore while getting completely pelted with raindrops. 

There are two more runs left, but both of us will miss one due to being out of town. But these runs have been so fun because they're untimed, with a friend, and a change up in my normal paths. Can't wait until next Tuesday!