Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

This was the mantra that my high school Yearbook advisor drilled into our heads (well, that and, "I don't want excuses... I want RESULTS!!!"). Every time we sat down as an editorial team to try and come up with layouts, copy ideas, themes and the like, Mr. Tovey would challenge us to come up with something original... Only to remind us that the odds of us doing so were, to say the least, slim to none. I don't think he did it to squash our efforts or discourage us, but to point out that there was nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from someone else's work. I don't think he would have condoned flat-out plagiarism or thievery, but "creative resourcefulness" would not have caused him to bat an eye.

As I embarked on my first year of teaching, I had dozens of other teachers telling me that I didn't need to "reinvent the wheel" with every assignment, that there were tons of resources out there, for me to use, and that everything had been taught before.... Essentially, the sent the same message as good ol' Mr. Tovey---I wasn't going to spawn some incredible new teaching strategy and have the whole world bowing down to kiss my feet. Everything I came up with, even if it was new to me, had probably been done my someone else before me (and probably done better).

Both Steve and Alan reiterated these ideas in our sessions today, perhaps offering the perfect coupling of the two examples I just provided. When it comes to our publications, or teaching practices, our lesson plans, etc.... It's all been done before. But I think the great point that both of our mentors made, is that there is no shame in learning, borrowing and implementing from someone else's experiences. As you take materials, activities, lessons, etc. from the hsj.org site, or from your colleagues or other resources, you adapt them, you tweak them, and you make them your own. As you teach the material, you put your stamp on it, your flavor, and who cares if it wasn't your idea from square one?

I think that there is something to be said for the ability to, as Tim Gunn says, "Make it work." So you didn't come up with the reporting scenario on your own---big deal! You can still take that material, adapt it and make it meaningful for your kids (use figures that they would recognize, take an event from your hometown, etc.), and they will still get something out of it--probably more than if you had just taken it, left it unchanged, and tried to teach it that way.

We're all being provided with amazing resources and experiences while we're here. I know that not every session is going to result in some sort of phenomenal lesson plan that I'm going to take back to San Diego and change lives with. But I also know that I can pull bits and pieces from sessions, from discussions and from this experience in general, and really apply them to my classes in a way that works for me, and works for my students.

One of the greatest things about this institute, for me, so far, has been the opportunity to really talk to other people about teaching journalism. It's not like teaching a core subject, where you have an entire department to bounce ideas off of. You're alone, for the most part, the only one that teaches what you teach. Being granted access to so many other people that are facing the same obstacles, have been through the same experiences and that have some of the same questions I do is phenomenal. I've gotten so many good ideas just from chatting with y'all!

And with that in mind, I mentioned a reading that I use with my students in one of the workshop this morning. It is called the "Shitty First Draft" and it is written by Anne Lamott. It's from her book Bird By Bird, which I also highly recommend. Her writing is dry, crass, to the point and hilarious. It's great for high school kids (if you can get past the swearing).

Jessica Young

Orange Glen High School

Escondid, Calif.