Welcome. I’m Julie Dodd, a professor in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. I teach a large undergraduate media writing course with about 250 students each semester and work with the six to nine graduate students and adjunct faculty who teach the lab sections of the course. I also teach Mass Communication Teaching, a graduate course for teaching assistants and other graduate students who are interested in a career in teaching.
I keep a blog as a way of thinking about teaching and learning and a way of encouraging others to do so, too. I started this blog when the teaching assistants and I decided to include blogging as a writing assignment in our introductory media writing class. I decided that I’d better start blogging in order to be better prepared to teach the students about blogging.
I hope you’ll join me in a discussion of how to improve teaching and how to make teaching and learning enjoyable and productive for students and teachers.
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February 5, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Loretta Petit
Hi Julie:
You are where I am aiming for, teaching in a college setting. My undergrad is in Journalism and I love presentations. I am elated when young people learn and grow and thrive. I believe I have a lot to offer in the teaching field. BTW, my masters is in business and I am an anticipated doctoral graduate in the fall of 2011 focused on Organizational Management.
Mentoring programs are great. Keeping logs can help you grow as well as others. Great tools, keep up the great work! Getting a job in college education has been difficult, perhaps, it is the resume’; the nation’s budget’ or my approach – not sure which. Open to feedback, though.
September 5, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Alan King
All of these are wonderful tips! When I graduated with my degree in Communications from Howard University in 2007, I thought I was fine. I was offered a job with a local newspaper and an internship with a watchdog group of investigative journalists. Of course, I took the internship and the local paper that promised to hold my spot gave it to another writer.
I worked as a helper for my dad, a master electrician/electrical contractor until I landed a staff writing job at a black-owned newspaper in Baltimore. When I was laid off from there, I took a job as a teaching artist with a non-profit, a position that led to me being the senior program director that same nonprofit. Along the way, I’ve picked up two other jobs teaching creative writing.
I say all of this underscore tip #2: Make positive use of the time if you aren’t in a 40-hours-a-week job. Prior to and during my journalism studies, I wrote and published poems in journals, came out with a chapbook and performed. This resulted in me getting into an artists community that not only supported my craft and development as a poet, but they were also great connections for job opportunities. The three jobs I have didn’t come from me working my way down job announcements on Idealist (which I did while I collected unemployment). They came from other artists who knew and respected my work ethic and level of craft.
I’m making myself more marketable by pursuing an MFA in Poetry, which opens more doors in terms of teaching and writing. Whichever route I choose to go, I’ll have more informed insights whether I’m teaching young talented writers or writing a critical essay on a collection of short stories or poems.
Thank you for this post, Julie!
September 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm
profdodd
Alan – Thanks for sharing your own recent grad experience. You sound like you really took a broad approach to trying out opportunities — from electrical work to being a teaching artist. You have skills and experiences on your resume that few would. Best wishes with your MFA in Poetry. (Did you happen to have Dr. Barbara Hines while at Howard? We have worked together though outreach to high school journalism.)