Welcome to the Flock!

And so it begins... A little back story.

Before I became the journalism adviser, I was a middle school language arts teacher. I knew who I was as an educator, and I had a community of other language arts teachers I could turn to right there on campus. My school valued professional development for language arts and sent us to whatever workshops we wanted to go to and made time for us to meet as a department on campus. Not to sound dramatic or cliche, but you don't know what you have until it is gone.

As the only journalism adviser for our entire campus, I am basically a department of one. Yes, they have bounced me through two other departments (Social Sciences and English) before settling me into the Fine Arts department. When it comes to workshops, I get told no more than yes because the funds have already been spent.

Not having a background in journalism wasn't as noticeable when I was teaching just yearbook, but when they added journalism and photojournalism to my assignment and pulled me out of language arts, I panicked. I needed to find support, knowledge and most of all a community. I found that through social media and Kent State.

This is why The Flock is so important to me. I want this to be a place for advisers to find that support, knowledge and, most of all, community.