Why I Love My Job

It's no secret that I love technology.  I love it a whole whole lot.  I am so fortunate and blessed to be in a job that revolves around solely that: technology!  I get to spend my time helping others with tech problems, teaching them new things they can do with a program or on their phones/computers, and, probably my favorite part, still teaching students in the tech realm.  If I can't stay home with my babies, this is what I want to be doing.

One of the classes I teach is video production.  This is such a fun class -- the students learn a ton about mobile journalism, videoing and interviewing techniques, editing, content gathering, and so much more.  One of the biggest things I've taught them is NO VERTICAL VIDEOS...

(I hope you learned something watching that too!) -- I am guilty of recording video holding my phone upright cause, let's be honest, it's just easier to record one handed that way.  HOWEVER, most of the time you really are cutting off a ton of "stuff" that you could be capturing if you just flipped your phone over and recorded horizontally!  Crazy, isn't it?!!  Try it next time you're recording a movie...

Anyways, so!  I love my job.  Earlier today was one of the big reasons why.  Last week, I took a group of my students down to KSDK news channel 5.  Well, this week they were in for a treat: my buddy Kay Quinn from KSDK was coming to UA to see our video production and broadcast setup!  How cool, right?!!  My students were sooooo jazzed that she was coming and that they'd get to show off some of their own broadcasting skills to her.

Kay arrived this morning and I gave her a tour around our campus and introduced her to a few people, and then she met with the day's broadcast team.  I don't teach broadcast (although I'd love to if I was ever given the chance!), but I was able to be the broadcast director for today since a few of my students who are in my video production class are also on the broadcast team and were up to do shows this week.

The students wanted Kay to be a co-anchor for the day's broadcast, and she happily obliged!  How cool is that, right?!!

They did a run-through of the show and then went live.  It.was.awesome.  I was beaming with pride for them because they did such an amazing job on the teleprompter, control board, directing, and anchoring.  It went flawlessly!

The feedback the girls got about their broadcast was just terrific -- even now, well after the school day is over, I'm just giddy with excitement for them that they got to have this awesome learning experience!  I hope it's something they truly never forgot.

So, this is just one of the reasons why I flippin' love my job.  Getting to help orchestrate experiences like this for my students just makes everything I do worth it.  I am fortunate to be in a teaching position that is very 'real life' applicable and I love love LOVE being able to show, give, and teach my students things that they can not only learn from, but apply to their real lives as well.