I didn’t know how much I didn’t know (or maybe I did)

I came to the institute with expectations of what I’d learn. It fulfilled all of the obvious and valuable things to expect- tips for writing, InDesign, Photoshop, etc… However, the really fun part was the anticipation of what unexpected thing I was going to learn in each session, and I’d like to share a laundry list of the things I loved (sans photography b/c I’m doing another post on that):

1) Google advanced search for free use images & reverse image look up/verify

                *Had to share this: It’s just a funny google feature if anyone ever asks a really stupid question (or a question that could obviously be googled. Let me google that for you- lmgtfy.com)

2) Teach in method- I’m going to use this in my classes. I think it’d be great for unit reviews or photo unit (one picture-explain composition) or many other subjects. I’m also going to suggest it for department or faculty meetings.

3) Quill & Scroll Honor Society- looking forward to calling up Judy from Q&S to get signed up.

4) Social media analytics- analytics.twitter.com. tweepsmap (shows where your followers are located), tweriod (shows day/time of follower interaction)

5) trendsmap.com (google maps what’s trending by city)- I think this will help with understanding story ideas and how media influences society. Great tool for discussion!

6) Write tight using a video clip from a movie to show not tell. I’ll use this in all my classes!

7) Fonts & formatting- serif for text, sans serif for headlines, ideal column width is the alphabet plus half the alphabet (even I can do that math)

8) Mock reporting activity- I think students would love this (we all did!)

Geez, that’s only from my little notebook that I can actually reach on the plane…I can’t imagine how much longer my list will be from the giganta-file we got to bring home! 

Andrea Lyons

Marietta High

Marietta, Georgia