Here we go again

I'm once again teaching Blogging for Journalists at the University of Northern Colorado. I'm excited to see what the students write about, and how they take to the craft. I've got a good mix of journalism and non-journalism majors, so it should be  interesting.

This semester I've decided to teach the class as a hybrid, meaning that we'll meet once a week as a class, rather than online only, which I've done in the past. I think this will work nicely. I'm planning to meet with students during class to critique their blog posts. I think doing this in person will help them learn.

I can't wait to see what the semester brings.

Refresh your page

Students: Please hit refresh when you visit this page because I've fixed the links to your blogs.

Students are blogging

My students are starting to blog. You can see the links on the right side of the page. Blogs will be active for at least the next month.

What I miss

Some things I miss during the pandemic:

• Brunch at Tangerine;
• Listening to Jerry, Dennis and Dave banter during Boston Red Sox games;
• Stopping for coffee and a muffin at The Human Bean on my way in to Greeley.

Things I don't miss during the pandemic:

• Office hours when nobody shows up, which is usually how it goes.
• Sitting through city council meetings.
• Driving to Greeley.

Class is about to begin

I am once again teaching Blogging for Journalists. The class will run during May-June 2020. I am excited to teach this class. I hope students will learn a lot and have fun.

Great class

Well, class is over for the summer. It went well. Students did a great job blogging, and I think they learned a little. I learned some things, too. I will definitely change a couple of things next time I teach it. Looking forward to next time.

Students are doing great

We're now halfway through the semester, and students are doing great. They are now posting to their blogs three times a week. They are also required to comment on two of their classmates' posts per week. We've actually got some interesting discussions going. A good conversation is one of the positives of a well-done blog, in my opinion.

Reading the posts from the past week, I was struck by how much impact a good image can  have on a blog's audience. I was particularly intrigued by the photos of food and drink on Zoie Campbell's blog and the image of the placenta on Desirae Holliday's blog. The one of the milkshake made me want to drive to Greeley and order one at Stuft, and the one of the placenta made me wonder why on earth anyone would eat something like that. To each her own, I guess.

Here we go

Students have created their blogs. I'm very excited by what they are doing. We've got lots of cool topics and people are blogging from all over the state and even from England. The links to these blogs are on the right. Please check them out.

Students will begin blogging soon

My students will begin blogging in about a week. They've got some interesting ideas, from recreation centers to racial issues, from local restaurants to film, from bars to the environment. I can't wait to see what students do with these topics.

As students decide what to blog about, I wonder what beat I would pick if I were in this class. I am passionate about a few things. I might pick poker, country music or "Jeopardy!" Or I might choose one of my favorite sports teams, the Red Sox, Giants or UConn women's basketball.

One of the great things about this class, in my humble opinion, is that there are so many things to write about that anyone can come up with a blog topic. You just have to pick something you're really excited about. As I tell my students every semester, if you're going to be a journalist, you have to have a passion for something.

Summer class 2018

Welcome to Blogging for Journalists. This blog will serve as a home base for the class. Check in daily to see what's new.

Once everyone creates a blog, I will link to them on this site. That way you can easily find them to read and comment on.

Check out what students have done in the past by clicking on the links to the right. One blog that was particularly good was Santa Fe Art Scene by Jordan Baca, so please read it thoroughly.

Students blogging again

I'm teaching Blogging for Journalists during the summer semester. I'll use this page to link to my students' blogs. They'll be blogging three times a week during May and June. Each student will pick a beat to cover.

I teach journalism at the University of Northern Colorado. In the past, I've worked at three newspapers. My last editing gig was at the Johnstown Breeze in Johnstown, Colorado.

Class wrap-up

My summer 2014 Blogging for Journalists class is in the books. I think students did very well. The topics they chose to blog about were interesting, and I think they had fun. Read their posts and see what they learned in the class by clicking on their blogs on the menu at the top right of this page.

Here we go!

My students have created their blogs for my blogging class at UNC. They're covering everything from fashion to fantasy literature to the Colorado Rockies. You can check them out in the links on the upper right of this page. They're going to be blogging three times a week for the next month. We'll see how they do.

Welcome to my world

I'm starting this blog to help facilitate my class, Blogging for Journalists, at the University of Northern Colorado. Once students create their blogs, I will link to them from this page.

As well as teaching classes in news writing, editing and sports journalism, I also do a little editing at The Johnstown Breeze, which covers the towns of Johnstown and Milliken, Colorado.

I attended Indiana University (bachelor's), the University of North Carolina (master's) and Ohio University (doctorate). I majored in journalism in all three, but I also have a bachelor's in history and a graduate certificate in women's studies.

In my free time, I like to hang out with my son, watch sports and listen to country music.