Seven guest speaker appearances make the grade of A+

Even though I come from the journalism field and am teaching what I know through experience, there are times when I don't know everything or wish for students to gain a different perspective. It's during those times when I bring in guest speakers. 

This semester I was fortunate enough to bring in several experts in their fields to two of my classes. A few of the speakers showcased their work and talked about what they do for a living, while others were open to being interviewed in joint sessions for stories and press releases. 

Wayne State University

For the digital photojournalism class at WSU, my students were fortunate enough to have in their presence award-winning photojournalist and educator Eric Seals, of the Detroit Free Press and a former student of this class, Irving Mejia-Hilario, of the Dallas Morning News. 

I was excited to bring Irving back into the classroom (via Zoom because he lives and works in Dallas now) to share his transition from school to professionalism. Irving is a WSU journalism graduate and former pj student in this class, and has landed his first full time job at a major newspaper out west.

It's so thrilling to see students thrive after graduation, and there is no better way to highlight their successes than to bring them back to share their experiences and journey. It really inspires the current students who dream of landing that first job in journalism.

Irving got his foot in the door at the Dallas Morning News as a business intern ... and never left. He talked about how took the job despite not being business-world savvy; using his camera on the job; the steps he took to get that internship; and inspired the students to work hard and never give up. 

Thank you, Irving!

Welcome back multimedia scholars! Time to learn cool stuff!

Welcome to King's Klass Blog! 

I'm excited for another semester of training students to learn multimedia and writing skills you'll undoubtedly use in just about any media or marketing job.

I'm very aware my classes are mixed with freshman and seniors, experienced and non-experienced, and introverted and extroverted. With that in mind, I try to take my time ensuring that most of you get a concept before we move on. To speed the process along, I rely on more experienced students to help me with that goal because sometimes you, as a fellow student, can get a point across better and faster than me.

One new aspect I'm excited to add this semester is using free source textbooks for UToledo's Media Writing class! That means they don't have to buy a book. Because the assignments are a mix of legacy journalism, broadcast and public/relations writing, I've searched the web for book sources that will be specific to the topic taught.

I want you to know that no instructor or experienced professional knows everything. Nobody is perfect, so I welcome input from you when I need it. Don't hesitate to correct me when I'm wrong, off base, confusing or whatever. It's going to happen, trust me. I don't like the word perfect for that reason, so I discourage the use of it. 

What I do encourage is just doing the best you can do. Failure is a part of life, and I've gotten where I am today because I've learned from my many failures. Instructors have made lots of mistakes throughout their professional and educational lives, and we should openly and freely admit that.

My classes are on the complicated side because they are so technical. You'll learn all about camera operations, editing software, writing tools, and so much more, and that's not easy. So, please have patience with me, yourself and others as we tackle each assignment, especially if I tackle AI! That will be a new topic I will have to add .. soon.

In my experience, the students who end up failing or not doing well throughout the course are the ones who just stop trying or showing up, but I will encourage you to not give up. I have a 'leave no student behind' philosophy because when I was a student I had instructors and fellow students who didn't give up on me. I had great bosses and coworkers throughout my career who were patient, kind and understanding when I struggled. Thanks to them, I'm able to pass that philosophy forward.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope you have a great semester!