Elementary student makes my day

My mornings generally consist of driving a brief bus route in which I pick 3-4 elementary students, all of which are boys. The number depends upon the day and if the preschool is in session.

During this route, I listen to NPR so I can hear the news.

The little guys listen along and ask questions, which, as a journalism teacher, I think is freaking awesome.

My joy for getting youngsters interested in the news swelled even more this morning.

One of them, a first grader, came out and asked me if I’d heard about the prison.

It didn’t know what he was talking about, so he explained that a prison had caught fire and several prisoners had died.

Wow! He was watching the news! I am thrilled! It truly makes me feel like I am influencing the students in this district! He made my day!

And just so you know, he was right. There was a prison fire in Honduras. More than 300 were killed. Here’s a link: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/15/world/americas/honduras-fire-deaths/index.html

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About toddvogts 833 Articles
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of media at Sterling College in Kansas. Previously, he taught yearbook, newspaper, newsmagazine, and online journalism in various Kansas high schools, and he ran a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas. He continues to freelance as a professional journalist from time to time. Also, Vogts is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), among others. He earned his Master Journalism Educator (MJE) certification from JEA in 2022. When he’s not teaching or writing, he runs his mobile disk jockey service and takes part in other entrepreneurial ventures. He can be reached at twitter.com/toddvogts or via his website at www.toddvogts.com.