Learning to let my students fly
By Pia Longinotti
July 26 and I'm in air on route home from the Reynolds Institute of Journalism.
I did not know two weeks ago as I grabbed a cab with Ron (a man I knew to be a fellow...fellow only because he had a matching cab voucher to mine) that at the other end, I would be changed.
My eyes have yet again been opened to the joy of teaching journalism. I have been stretched, challenged, humbled, lifted up and invigorated.
I have rediscovered the joy of writing, of starting a conversation with a stranger and seeing what story they have to tell, of the pressure of knowing someone else will read what I have to say.
I remembered what it was like for my students. Oh, the empathy I have for them right now when I tell them, "No, you cannot interview your best friend. Get out there and find someone new to talk to! Be brave!"
Yep, this week was about being all kinds of brave. Comfort zone.? Check that idea at the door. You are getting right in the thick of it with no time to back out!
Deidre, Karl, Amy and all those who taught us this week asked us to do more. I was challenged to be a reporter, something I last did in high school.
I was challenged to create lesson plans to share with other journalism teachers. Do you know how terrifying it is to get in front of a room full of journalism teachers as an expert when you feel like you're still figuring it out?
I was challenged to find the story that no one else was telling. Also difficult when 33 other teachers are walking the same strip of real-estate that I am, interviewing the same people I think look interesting.
I was challenged to look at Journalism differently. Why are we writing? "What's this story REALLY about?" And isn't that the heart of it all?
What IS the story really about?
We're storytellers. News, features, sports, opinion, it all comes down to telling a story. Not my story- the one I want to tell as I'm planning my Pulitzer Prize winning piece, but his story, her story, their story.
What's the story they have to tell when I stop planning, and start conversing. When I start listening. That deep listening that feels like your whole body is participating cause it pulls you under- no agenda, just me meeting you, seeing where our time will take us.
Ah, now that's the journalism I want to teach! History's first draft, Jack Kerouac on the road, Tom Rinaldi bringing tears to a grown man's eyes on ESPN (and not because his team lost the pennant race).
Stories that matter because they weave a web between people, connecting through our commonalities.
Stories that tell the truth no matter how unsavory that truth may be when swallowing it down.
Articles that do more then report last night's box score, or details when the newest dance is going to take place.
When this is our journalism, our students' realities, then we will no longer wonder if journalism will die. It won't. It will be as essential as the oxygen we breathe, the water we drink, and the food that nourishes us into another day.
I can't wait to wake-up and consume that news with my morning coffee!
