I am no longer a teacher at Allegheny College, yet it is a part of my community and my life and I love to do what I can for it….. well for the students I guess is more appropriate to say. I am a firm believer that we all do a job on this planet and if we do that job, and do it well then we can really progress as a people.
Students are full of hope that knowledge will give them strength. Good students---these are people who I consider have an extreme passion to do good in the world--whether it is global or just in a small community-- they seek to learn in order to grow and not just pass a test.
For the last three years my dear friend Cheryl Hatch and I have worked together to put on a photojournalism conference at Allegheny. The first year it was wonderful, we had great speakers and presenters and receptions and it was great. But we saw that there was potential for more. The term "teachable moments" became something that really guided us as we began to plan the second conference.
We partnered with Ohio U. and communicated with the great Stan Alost and the next thing we knew we had a plan to turn the conference into a workshop for students. So we created a 'dawn to dusk-esque' project and paired Ohio Students with Allegheny student to create a snapshot of our Meadville Community. We also had a few students from Point Park come up to join.
It was a little rough as I was overwhelmed with what went into planning such a project. But we got through it and we produced what we said we would. "Teachable moments' aren't just for the students.
Students are full of hope that knowledge will give them strength. Good students---these are people who I consider have an extreme passion to do good in the world--whether it is global or just in a small community-- they seek to learn in order to grow and not just pass a test.
For the last three years my dear friend Cheryl Hatch and I have worked together to put on a photojournalism conference at Allegheny. The first year it was wonderful, we had great speakers and presenters and receptions and it was great. But we saw that there was potential for more. The term "teachable moments" became something that really guided us as we began to plan the second conference.
We partnered with Ohio U. and communicated with the great Stan Alost and the next thing we knew we had a plan to turn the conference into a workshop for students. So we created a 'dawn to dusk-esque' project and paired Ohio Students with Allegheny student to create a snapshot of our Meadville Community. We also had a few students from Point Park come up to join.
It was a little rough as I was overwhelmed with what went into planning such a project. But we got through it and we produced what we said we would. "Teachable moments' aren't just for the students.
After last year I realized I needed to step up a little more as someone in the community who could help guide the students towards stories they could do. Again its not my forte, but my meager efforts got us in a place where the students and their mentors could then roll with it, tweak it and even change it to see what they could come up with.
With the wonderful help of Ohio University who brought a 'newsroom' with them we had proper computers and software to produce our many stories from the weekend.
These students from Ohio, Mississippi, Pittsburgh and Allegheny all worked together and learned together while they produced some very solid pieces that were shown as the last presentation of our conference. They came with open eyes and minds and told stories!
People who hadn't met before, suddenly came together and produced something together.
Think about that for a second.
Telling stories is a very difficult thing to do right. There is so much research that should be done, so much understanding that adapting to the unexpected is a necessity and so much giving of yourself to be open to the ideas of another. Compromise is a word that is used, but most important the word compromise should be followed by 'for the ultimate good of telling the story correct.
Think about that for a second.
Telling stories is a very difficult thing to do right. There is so much research that should be done, so much understanding that adapting to the unexpected is a necessity and so much giving of yourself to be open to the ideas of another. Compromise is a word that is used, but most important the word compromise should be followed by 'for the ultimate good of telling the story correct.
I heard many times this weekend that a team or individual had to ditch a beautiful image because it just didn't fit the story. A wonderful photograph that didn't make the cut because telling the story took precedence!
"Teachable moments!"
I started off this message with "I am no longer a teacher at Allegheny College" yet i told everyone one of my students when i was teaching that i am here for them for life. So maybe I am still teaching at the college!?!?
The one thing I am pretty confident of is if we don't keep teaching about life lessons and the human right to know--then we will fall by the wayside real quick--the great civilization lost. These three conferences had allowed me to meet some of the greatest people I have ever known. Not because we hit it off and will be lifelong buds, but because they came in and touched us and then went back to work. (by the way I hope we are lifelong buds, but the strength of point I'm trying to make is we gain from the experience of others!!)
So our third conference has come and gone and I admit I get a bit emotional. We have a whirlwind of three days where we meet new people, find a dialogue together, do some work together and create something and then go our separate ways!
I would live this weekend for a month of sundays if I could!
I met some very fine people from all over the place, all different ages, all different levels of career and they all just gelled together in this common cause and … well … awesome.
I would live this weekend for a month of sundays if I could!
I met some very fine people from all over the place, all different ages, all different levels of career and they all just gelled together in this common cause and … well … awesome.
I learned a long while ago that there is very little difference between a pauper and a king. It set my mind in what I think is the right frame of mind. There are no bosses, only people who get paid to do a job that I don't want to do and that i get paid to do the job I am good at.
I truly think this is important because it generates the proper type of respect-not respect based on fear, but based on what we each need to progress!-- to help society progress.
I truly think this is important because it generates the proper type of respect-not respect based on fear, but based on what we each need to progress!-- to help society progress.
These two women above, Alysia Burton-Steele and Peggy Peattie had a profound impact on me this weekend. Talk about compassion and desire to find the needs within the human race and put it out there in beautiful and unique ways. Wow! I am hoping the students got half of what I did out of this weekend. Our third speaker, Cheryl Hatch showed her work from Liberia, here is how inspirational and great this woman is. She went to Liberia to cover a story about the US Military aid in the fight against Ebola over her Christmas break. Why?… Because its important. This journalist gives of herself and is an awe inspiring human being.
I think this picture above is my favorite from the weekend. It is a portrait of Liz Berle from Point Park. I felt this was a teachable moment where we really chatted about photography and I wanted to demonstrate some things about how to hold and angle a camera. I think sometimes as we chat about content and story we might gloss over the basics of technique and how to perform. I often feel overwhelmed myself because I feel i tell stories based on just what i see and what I'm capable of telling and I see so many people creating these powerful in-depth pieces while I'm scattered among so many different thoughts. One thing i can teach is when its hard to accomplish--it is not impossible. It hasn't been easy for me to become a photographer--yes I was told i have an eye, but do I have the rest??? Heart maybe, Intellect--sometimes!, but the great have all this together at all times and they just think of it as the way, not as something they want to do--it is in them.
Teachable moments.
I want to be apart of this sort of thing all the time. We have wonderful people in this world pushing for truth and looking to showcase wonderful stories needs to be at the core of our education. It should be taught earlier even.
I am about to start anew and it is refreshing in someways, daunting in others. I was thinking about that a lot this weekend watching these young people and wondering if they thought the same way. Then i saw their excitement as they gathered their things to go still thinking about what they accomplished in just two short days.
I hoe each day continues to have teachable moments for all of us and i hope those who have the chance to teach take the time to, and those receiving the the lessons take advantage of what they are being given.
Teachable moments.
I want to be apart of this sort of thing all the time. We have wonderful people in this world pushing for truth and looking to showcase wonderful stories needs to be at the core of our education. It should be taught earlier even.
I am about to start anew and it is refreshing in someways, daunting in others. I was thinking about that a lot this weekend watching these young people and wondering if they thought the same way. Then i saw their excitement as they gathered their things to go still thinking about what they accomplished in just two short days.
I hoe each day continues to have teachable moments for all of us and i hope those who have the chance to teach take the time to, and those receiving the the lessons take advantage of what they are being given.