Author Archives: torchadviser

Introduction to Photography, Shot composition This lesson plan will take place over five to six 55 minute class periods with the creation of a final project at the end to show understanding. Students will learn three of the most basic rules of shot composition. These will help them see and set up better shots whenContinue reading “Using Rules to Compose better Photos”

This project seemed easy enough. Find a story. Film some stuff. Done. It was not that easy. The struggles started with filming. Wind. Wind is crazy. I recorded the first time with just my DSLR camera and you could tell. The wind noise was astounding. So the next time I called a student and gotContinue reading “The Confusion of Video”

Kennedy Student Robbed at Gunpoint Interviewing the principal is hard. Interviewing our school resource officer is hard, but throw in a topic that is at the front of a heated debate and it just got harder. Recently a Kennedy High School student was robbed at gunpoint in our school parking lot. The student is fine,Continue reading “Armed Robbery at Kennedy High School”

Wow.  Who knew 5 minutes could go so quickly. As I started the adventure of recording a podcast, 5 minutes sounded like a long time.  So I wrote my script and sat down to record.  Let me also tell you that there are no quiet places in my house.  I found myself locked in myContinue reading “Old dogs learning new tricks, one podcast at a time”

This week on my first edition of Torch Talks we are taking a look at the recent string of violence in Cedar Rapids and how it affects our students. Check out the podcast below and make sure to check out my advice for first time podcasters in my next post.

Summary: Today’s world is driven by smart phones and their users are always attached to them. In order to get our content to them we need to create content that can be consumed in short spans of time and located through our social media. That is where MoJo comes in.  Mobile first journalism is theContinue reading “Week 1, Lesson Plan”