The new semester officially begins Tuesday

I began this blog two years ago, initially posting every weekday and now shooting for every Friday. This is post #499 in the series. The motivation for the blog was to model regular writing for my college students, though I'm not sure any of them every actually followed the link. My readers may be down to one brother and my wife.

Still, I carry on.

This semester may see some changes in topic, mostly due to the fact that one brave soul at Colorado State has enrolled in my Media Advising course. I wrote it a couple years ago but it never had any takers... until now. The department decided to run it even without the normal minimum numbers, and I appreciate that. 

What better way to figure out what works and does not work than to run the course, get feedback, and make adjustments? 

One of the key continuing assignments for the course is a weekly blog post where students share ideas about teaching, ask questions, and pose challenges. I will respond directly to those posts but may feel the urge to share more on teaching topics in this space. Forgive me, rare and valued reader.

The audience I had in mind for the advising course was practicing teachers who wanted to become more comfortable and skilled in their "added" duties involving some sort of media advising. I did have a secondary audience of current university students in mind, with the goal of providing them with some support as they applied for teaching positions, particularly in English and other humanities. 

Considering the high turnover rate among media advisers, this course might give an applicant just enough background to tip the hiring decision in their favor. Every English major can teach freshmen English (or so most people believe) but few would feel confident taking on the student magazine or yearbook or broadcast program.

Even administrators who are skeptical about giving students open platforms for expression -- so much could go so wrong, they fear -- see the wisdom in having a trained, competent adult guiding our young journalists. 

Or so I hope.