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It was a blistering hot Saturday morn-ing, and Lindsey Walcott was at the driving range with her dad.

That’s when she received the text from Stan, her first-ever eHarmony suitor.

“I did not know what a cat circus was,” said Walcott, journalism teacher at West High School in Waukesha, Wis. “I expect-ed it would be cats on hind legs jumping through hoops and meowing on command. When I got there, I found I wasn’t far off. They walked on ropes and ate tuna.”

A self-described modern woman, Wal-cott didn’t take offense when Stan declined to pay for her $9 ticket. Nor did she storm out when his friend decided to tag along.

Stan got a second date, but not a third.“In the end,” Walcott said, “the romance

just fizzled.”Walcott is

hardly the only member of the 2011 UT ASNE Institute to dab-ble with online dating. Twelve of 33 members have, with vary-ing degrees of success, created online dating profiles.

Brian Reed is the poster boy for online dat-

ing success—quite literally. Reed and his fiancee, Amir, are featured in the “success stories” section of Compatible Partners.

The two were matched on the site in 2009. In March, Amir proposed to Reed, who kept Compatible Partners updated as their relationship developed.

“They liked us, so they invited us out to do a photo shoot at UCLA in Santa Mon-ica (Calif.),” said Reed, journalism teacher at Amino Pat Brown Charter High School in Los Angeles. “They took us out for a fancy dinner afterward and gave us gift certificates.”

One of Reed’s previous long-term rela-tionships was a product of another dating site, Chemistry.com.

“I’ve had a positive experience,” Reed said of online dating.

Not all the ASNE participants can re-late to Reed’s success story.

Jessica Insco created an online profile fresh out of college but never used the site to set up a date.

“My first message was from a 56-year-old man,” said Insco, who teaches journal-ism at Maywood Academy High School in Maywood, Calif. “I was kind of grossed out by that.”

Tracy Woodham’s online dating expe-rience was also short-lived. She created profiles on several sites but only went on three dates.

“One I ended early, one the guy didn’t show up, and the other was a three-week relationship that ended with him stand-ing outside my house screaming, ‘I want to know you,” said Woodham, journalism

teacher at St. Paul’s School for Girls in Brooklandville, Md.

Frustrated with a pair of blind dates that had gone terribly wrong, Daniel Sadi-cario set up his eHar-mony profile in 2005, at a time when online dating was still “kind of taboo.”

“It was considered a little shameful,” said Sadicario, a journalism teacher at MICDS in St. Louis.

Sadicario never got the chance to use his eHarmony profile.

“The irony is a week after I registered, I met my wife while visiting a friend in New York,” he said.

Lydia Brooks, journalism teacher at Skyview High School in Vancouver, Wash., also experienced the irony of creating an online dating profile—only to meet her current boyfriend offline.

“I went on a handful of Internet dates,” Brooks said, “and none of them went well.”

Against her better judgment, Brooks once accepted a date from a local Fox news reporter.

“I wasn’t super interested, but I thought it would be a good story,” said Brooks, who does not count Fox among the networks she regularly watches.

Brian Reed met his fiance on Compatible Partners.

David+RobbHarmony Reporter

Love Journalism educators brave the cyber-dating landscape

continued on page 3

Lindsey Walcott

Lydia Brooks

June 2011

Thieves

The First Amend-ment has little importance to Americans in the

21st century. According to The First Amendment Center 2009 poll, 39 per-cent of Americans could not name any of the free-doms in the First Amend-ment.

The First Amend-ment guarantees freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition im-pacting the US culture by providing movements and alterations to create an open democracy. However, Americans have taken the

first 45 words of our Bill of Rights for granted.

“Only one in five Americans can recite the five freedoms expressed in the 1st Amendment” ex-pressed Ken Paulson, chief executive and president of The First Amendment Center, at the 2011 UT ASNE Journalism insti-tute. “It is one of our fun-damental rights, yet it is one that is forgotten.”

During the institute, teachers discussed ideas to develop knowledge of the First Amendment and its meaning.

“Many students take 20 minutes to memorize the freedoms in the First Amendment for a quiz and never think about them

again,” journalism teacher Victoria Hallberg said.

The First Amendment Center developed 1 for All, a national nonpartisan program designed to build understanding and sup-port of First Amendment freedoms.

“The truth is that we don’t do a very good job of standing up for the First Amendment. Its five free-doms are truly the corner-stone of democracy and make America the special nation it is,” Paulson said.

1 for All provides teaching materials to the nation’s schools, supports educational events on America’s campuses and reminds the public that the First Amendment serves

everyone, regardless of faith, race, gender or po-litical leanings.

Keith Higbee, a high school journalism teacher attending the institute, applauded the campaign’s efforts and supported the idea that “teachers need to teach their student what their rights are. After that, teachers need to educate students as to how their rights are being threatened on a regular basis.”

The 1 for All program will be one way to provide teachers with ideas and support needed to protect their students and the fu-ture of an open democra-cy. After all, we can’t just tattoo the amendment to their arm, can we?

2

Cathy+FongHarmony Reporter

News eThe ASN harmony

Teachers con-stantly beg, bor-row, and steal classroom strat-

egies from other teachers. This idea doesn’t sound too harmonious, but in re-ality it is a very happy ar-rangement. It is how “best practices” are developed.

Journalism teachers from around the country gathered at the University of Texas to participate in the two-week ASNE Reyn-

olds Institute. The teachers shared their e x p e r t i s e with each oth-er and bor-rowed from other experts in the jour-nalism field.

Janet El-bom, adviser of the award-w i n n i n g L A S A / L B J High Schools

newspaper The Liberator, willingly handed over her newspaper critique strat-egy during the June 23 afternoon session. She in-vited the journalism teach-ers to steal her method for their own classrooms.

Elbom emphasized that the critique is the “last step of the production process” before beginning the next issue. This “important tool” helps students to take responsibility for their learning process by identi-fying their own strengths and weaknesses and set-ting their own goals.

Being a master teacher, Elbom modeled her cri-tiquing process for the teachers requiring them to take on the role of stu-dents. The teachers, being led by their “editor” Mark Ajluni, walked through the critiquing process as out-lined in Elbom’s “How to Structure and Conduct a Critique Session” handout. Teachers were thankful for the chance to practice what they were learning.

“Because I’m a hands-on and visual person, you need to…give the informa-tion so I can read it on my own,” journalism teacher Victoria Hallberg said. “It’s just one big organic experience, a chance for everyone to share their ex-pertise. Real-training.”

ASNE teachers now plan to implement Elbom’s critiquing methods with their school newspapers.

“[The critique] has two benefits: improving the paper and building com-munity among the staff members,” journalism teacher Suzi Van Steenber-gen said. “I definitely want it to be students driven.” Van Steenbergen plans to model the critique for her students first. Then her editors will lead future cri-tiques.

The ASNE thieves will go back to their school newspapers armed with a new tool to make their newsrooms work smooth-ly.

Stephanie+ReesHarmony Reporter

Victoria Hallberg, Keith Higbee, Monica Chadha raise their 1 for All tee-shirts in support of the campaign.

ThePaulson discusses how citizens take the First Amendment for granted

Go to http ://www.splc.org/quiz/quiz2.asp

to test your First Amendment knowledge.

AmendmentForgotten

Teachers -TheUltimateTeachers steal Elbom’s newspaper critique methodBefore critique:

Teacher –1. Show students exemplar papers.2. Teach students proofreading marks.3. Determine a student to lead the critique 4. Arrange desks to allow for discussionStudents – 1. Read entire current issue2. Red-lined the current issue3. Identify likes and dislikesDuring critique:

“Always be positive first,” Elbom said. If there is nothing about the newspaper that is positive, “recognize the effort.”

1. Check that students have red-lined the paper2. Open for comments made by students and faculty3. Work through the paper page by page

• Identify the positives first• Suggest ways to improve

4. Ask section editors and writers should respond to the concerns for their sections and articles

After critique:1. Each staffer contributes one positive com-

ment and one way to improve2. Set two or three specific goals for the next

issue3. Teacher collects students written com-

ments for grading

Janet Elbom identifies the strengths of LASA/LBJ’s The Liberator.

“[The critique] has two benefits: improving the pa-

per and building community among the staff members.”

-Suzi Van Steenbergen

While the date itself was “fine,” Brooks had no interest in a second. The reporter persisted, lavishing Brooks with a cake

that she received in the mail a couple weeks later.

“It’s a lot of work,” Brooks said of on-line dating.

Walcott said she has a “love-hate rela-

tionship” with online dating. I think it’s really good to be out there,”

she said. “But you don’t always meet your matches.”

The smartest people in the world don’t know

all the answers. They just know how to get them.

As teachers, we are all too often preoccupied with impart-ing knowledge, but it isn’t the knowledge that’s truly impor-tant. It’s the skill of gaining knowledge that really matters.

I’ve recently had the won-derful opportunity to become a student again. In this expe-rience, I’ve come across more than one very knowledgeable expert in the field. But some-how I feel like I cheated. Over the course of a few days, I took knowledge it took years to accumulate and I deviously plan to implement it to my own benefit in my classroom. While it may seem like the natural order of the world to take the previous generation’s knowledge and use it, there is one small caveat. I have to be able to use it.

Everyone loves the super-intellectual teachers who seem like endless wealths of knowl-edge. Students (myself includ-ed) love to hang on every word they say to soak up their world

Editorials 3

Scott+FoglyanoHarmony Reporter

For teachers, providing questions is more important than giving the answersview and phenomenal critiques of the world at large. But be-ware. Simply knowing what they know is not the same as going through the process that led them there. Listening to what they think is not the same as developing those thoughts for yourself.

Getting the right answer is the easiest thing in the world when the question actually has an answer, especially in the world of Google, Wikipedia, and other all-knowing teach-ers. Search engines and ency-clopedias have never produced arguments of their own. At best, they can provide resourc-es and information, but unlike good teachers, they don’t nec-essarily lead the students to more questions. In order to adapt to their environment, students face a far more daunt-ing task than merely gather-ing information. The skills

of questioning, synthesizing information, thinking critically, and being scrupulous of sourc-es have always been imperative, but even more so in a world of an exponentially expanding Internet,

For most people, these skills are not innate, and they cannot

be taught. They can, however, be trained. In my experience, most students are so indoctri-nated by their schools to need to be “right” and whenever there isn’t a “right” answer, they feel like they’re somehow being tricked. Are the govern-ment’s efforts at stabilizing the economy working? What did the school board overlook in its budget? What should be done in order to calm the ef-fects of climate disruption? These aren’t trick questions, but they’re not exactly opin-ion questions either. They’re questions that matter. They’re

eThe ASN harmony StaffLindsay Walcott David Robb Cathy Fong Scott Foglyano Stephanie Rees

continued from page 1

questions that make experts struggle. They’re questions that can’t be Googled. They require a person to synthesize expert information and to com-prehend different viewpoints than might be readily available to them.

The most important thing a teacher can do is to prepare students for this process. Just like reading the Sparknotes for Hamlet won’t give a student the capability of analyzing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, simply listening to a profes-sor explain his stance on the problems America faces in the world today won’t help you understand the challenges that will pop up tomorrow.

Being a teacher is not just about making sure that students know the answers that will be on the test. In-stead, it’s about instilling the curiousity and competence to do things on their own.

For our students sake, we need to remember that the journey is far more important as the destination; otherwise they‘ll be stranded at the desti-nation with nowhere else to go.

Likes: Huck Finn, the Sun, and TravelingDislikes: Waking up LateFavorite Thing in Austin: Chili Cheeseburgers

Likes: Dogs, Drama, and DiversityDislikes: DirtFavorite Thing in Austin: Dining Out w/ Friends

Likes: Creativ-ity, Culture, and the OutdoorsDislikes: Mush-roomsFavorite Thing in Austin: Good Food

Likes: Sincer-ity, Vanilla Ice Cream, and LaughterDislikes: LiarsFavorite Thing in Austin: Ribs!

Being a teacher is not just about making sure stu-dents know the answers

When Getting the Right Answer isn’t Enough

Likes: Pogs, Pil-lows, Pixie DustDislikes: Pimples Favorite Thing in Austin: The Pubs

eThe ASN harmony

A Third Coast Ac-tivist.Org pumper sticker. A news spread titled “How

the War Economy Works.” The poem “How To Be A Poet” by Wendell Berry. A Grass-roots Economic Organizing brochure. These are some of the artifacts posted on Dr. Robert Jensen’s office door. The reverse side looks like any other door with a hook and hanging clothing. Buried underneath these garments is a sports jacket and tie. On oc-casion, these two items leave Jensen’s door when the profes-sor is asked to appear on televi-sion shows and speak on issues of power. “I don’t dress up,” said Jen-sen, University of Texas pro-fessor of media and ethics. “So I would pull the tie and jacket and go to Congress where there is a studio, and they would shoot me from the head up so you wouldn’t see that I was wearing shorts and sneak-ers.” Jensen left his sports jacket and tie on his door for his re-cent presentations at the 2011 ASNE Summer Institute, held at UT from June 19-July 1. Wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt, Jensen spoke to a room full of high school journalists about ethics and the impor-tance of critical thinking in the journalism classroom.

“The job of the teacher is to teach students to become critical thinkers,” Jensen said. “I think there is an honorable tradition in journalism of be-ing relentless critics of people in power.” Born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Jensen consid-ers to himself to be “kind of a northern hick.” It wasn’t until graduate school when Jensen began to think critically and advocate for political causes. “The first entry point for me was feminism and gender poli-tics,” Jensen said. “My interest in gender was understand-ing how power works, in that case in the context of men and women. But once you get into how power works, at least for me, I wanted to figure out how other things like foreign policy and ecology worked.” After Jensen received his doctorate degree in media eth-ics and law from the Univer-sity of Minnesota, he began teaching journalism classes at UT in 1992. Jamie Loke, ASNE staff member and UT mas-ters and doctoral graduate in journalism, has known Jensen for years and explained what makes Jensen stand out among his peers. “He is a prolific writer,” Loke said. “He is very politi-cal, and he is in touch with the real world as oppose to other teachers.” Some of Jensen’s books in-

Professor Robert Jensen models the importance of challenging people in power and empowering people to serve the community

Lindsey+Walcottharmony reporter

Fearless Professor

Dr. Robert Jensen is featured on the website Ameri-cans Who Tell The Truth. To learn about other fearless folks in history, visit the site at http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org

eThe ASNharmony

“The job of the teacher is to teach students to become critical thinkers,” Jensen said. “I think there is an honorable tradition in journalism of be-ing relentless critics of people in power.” Born and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Jensen consid-ers to himself to be “kind of a northern hick.” It wasn’t until graduate school when Jensen began to think critically and advocate for political causes. “The first entry point for me was feminism and gender poli-tics,” Jensen said. “My interest in gender was understand-ing how power works, in that case in the context of men and women. But once you get into how power works, at least for me, I wanted to figure out how other things like foreign policy and ecology worked.” After Jensen received his doctorate degree in media eth-ics and law from the Univer-sity of Minnesota, he began teaching journalism classes at UT in 1992. Jamie Loke, ASNE staff member and UT mas-ters and doctoral graduate in journalism, has known Jensen for years and explained what makes Jensen stand out among his peers. “He is a prolific writer,” Loke said. “He is very politi-cal, and he is in touch with the real world as oppose to other teachers.” Some of Jensen’s books in-

clude Getting off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity; The Heart of Whiteness: Confront-ing Race, Racism and White Privilege, and Freeing the First Amendment: Critical Perspectives on Freedom of Expression. Jensen is probably most well known, though, for his anti-war articles, which were published days after 9/11. In response to Jensen’s work, UT president Larry Faulkner denounced Jensen, and the

university requested to have Jensen fired. Fortunately, Jen-sen was tenured, so he kept his job and his convictions, but his political interest shifted once again. “After a lot of years focused on foreign policy and anti-war organizing, I am more focused on local projects these days,” Jensen said. One way Jensen has served his community was by estab-

lishing a home for the Third Coast Activist Workers Coop-erative, which is an organiza-tion that develops and supports green worker cooperatives in Austin, Texas. Jensen was ac-tively involved in buying the organization’s community cen-ter, which is located on 5604 Manor. Jim Rigby, Third Coast Work-ers for Cooperation board member, explained Jensen’s passion for empowering peo-

ple. “Dr. Jensen realized that the movement to empower workers and create alterna-tive business models would be an important change from just advocating for justice,” Rigby said. Bob Dailey, Third Coast Ac-tivist Resource Center board member, explained how Jensen continues to help the organiza-tion.

“While so many s e e m hell-bent on rush-ing into wars and destroy-ing the environ-m e n t , Bob calls for a sus-t a i n a b l e , more just society based on co-operation and mutual respect for all,” Dailey said. Jensen also models respect for all faculty, staff and stu-dents at UT by building re-lationships with the people around him. For instance, although Jensen has many titles--author, professor, femi-nist, political activist--his col-leagues, like office manager office Janice Henderson, know him as “barefoot Bob, running through the stairwell without his shoes.” Henderson explained that it is Jensen’s consideration for the people in his work commu-nity that separates him from other faculty members. “He’s always pleasant,” Hen-derson said. “He is one of the ones that will answer the phone when we are so busy. Not many professors will do that.” Jensen’s ability to connect with others on a large scale was evident during his ASNE

presentations, where he spoke about ethics to a room full of high school teachers. Journal-ism teacher Brendan Riley shared his reaction. “He has re-invigorated my interests in linguistics and communication theory,” Riley said. “I was also impressed as a teacher--just his total fearless-ness. He was just a dynamic lecturer.” As for Jensen, he hopes the ASNE participants will take back with them that same sense of empowerment when confronting adversity. “Cultivating in students this fearlessness in challeng-ing power is really important and the only way to do it is to model it and challenge power yourself,” Jensen said.

Professor Robert Jensen models the importance of challenging people in power and empowering people to serve the community

“I think there is an honorable tradition in

journalism of being relentless

critics of people in power.”

Fearless Professor

Dr. Robert Jensen presented on the First Amendment at the 2011 ASNE Institute. He began and ended his presentation with a rousing rendition of the First Amendment.

Features 5eThe ASN harmony