Linda Dennis, Bio & Others
Our instructors are experienced teachers and business professionals skilled in their craft, dedicated to serving youth and their families! Our focus is on “Scholastic Journalism!”, and we are committed to help each young person find their voice, and then to become a great storyteller!
Our teachers provide a combination of lecture – hands-on and personal one on one conferencing with all youth! Often we work late into the evening!
Each teacher has a proven successful track record – communicating with youth and is dedicated to making a difference in the life of youth! And if writing is not their chosen path of self-expression, then we offer the lyrics (for song), the camera for visual imaging and Cowboy Poetry and of course film making.
Our teams are mobile and travel to reach youth, and do so today, at educational venues! (Check out our online store for our two new books!)
One key ingredient to each – is having a “servant’s heart” – that is so focused on giving.
Program Manager/Founder – Writer & Storyteller
Author THE BOOK. Linda Dennis – Charleston, SC
Program Manager/Journaling/Instructional Writing
- Program Manager/Founder/Volunteer – Writer & Storyteller
Linda Dennis – Charleston, South Carolina
Program Manager/Journaling/Instructional Writing/Filmmaking with an iPad.Linda Dennis is the published author of instructional technology projects and educational activities for youth. As editor, then publisher working with Primedia Special Interest Group, she developed the first computer based arts activities for consumers, then computer based lesson plans and training for teachers. (PC CREATE IT and PC TEACH IT) .As a result of her community service, she became known as the “magazine lady” for inner city at-risk (Columbia, SC), volunteer at Fort Jackson, SC and military youth at summer camps.
In 2008, seeing a need to help military youth communicate with their deployed parents, and hearing from a youth – “I don’t know how to write”, she developed the concept: A Backpack Journalist. Following market research and a pilot test funded by a Texas Military Family foundation and with the support of the University of Texas, with David Knight, a 30-year writing and broadcast journalism teacher, Dennis began a hands on writing workshop for youth.
Dennis lead the program that expanded based on the responses from youth, traveling US military installations and worked with National Guard Families and Youth, and US Army Reserves (ARTP) youth and families.The mission was to help youth – build resilience through creative expression, find their voice and self-esteem.
The curriculum for the student and staff was presented in workshops and included: Narrative writing, Journaling, Photojournalism, Songwriting, Broadcast Journalism, Cowboy Poetry, Little Backpackers. The program continued serving military families/youth until 2013.
Dennis returned home to Charleston, SC.
With the encouragement of Mayor Joe Riley, City of Charleston, Dennis added IPAD Storytelling and adjusted the curriculum to lower L and elementary school students and began to work within the Charleston Promise Neighborhood and Title One Schools
Dennis during her Charleston, SC years, lead youth in collecting Oral Histories of SC Vietnam Veterans, producing a short film, Lowcountry Civil Right Heroes research and stage performance, Dock Street Theatre with Randy Neale, and multiple iPad Storytelling adventures, working with the Charleston RiverDogs and the SC Port Authority and Hendrick Automotive and Starling Chevrolet.
THE BOOK contains celebratory stories about youth today, now in professional careers, many graduating and with their own personal stories and how the A Backpack Journalist program came into their lives, impacting their education in a positive way. PLUS Dennis has included pages of lesson plans, and templates needed for someone to create their own team of “Backpackers”.
Previously, Linda Dennis presents was a series of Arts and Crafts Book, Ribband for counted cross stitch and remain classic how-books. Artist with ECM, Charleston, S
For further information on how to bring in A Backpack Journalist:
Journalistic Writing
David Knight – Lancaster, South Carolina – Headmaster – Lead instructor (NOW RETIRED)
- David Knight is a 30 plus year journalism educator who has traveled the US educating teachers, their students and now National Guard staff and youth. He’s the Public Information Director for the Lancaster School District. He, along with a former TV videographer, established a cable access channel for the school district with students producing the show. Every student in the class has a show that he/she produces. Each year, the station produces more than 200 editions of 50 different shows, and more than 900 members of the community visit the studios as guests on the shows. He spends his mornings at the station teaching journalism, followed by an adjunct journalism professor at the local college. For the past 20 years he’s taught journalism workshops in Texas, Kansas, and all across the nation, and as recent as this past October was a presenter at the Texas Journalism Educators annual fall conference and the lead instructor during a two-day session for Texas Military Forces – Youth, supported by the Texas National Guard Family Support Foundation, during the Volunteer Meeting. David has become a legend and beloved among military youth as he has taught them to “observate”, to “name the dog” and to “find the motif”, and to find their voice through simple writing skills.
Bobby Hawthorne – Austin, Texas – writer
- Bobby Hawthorne is a writer, writing teacher and adjunct professor in the Michigan State University Department of Journalism. He is the author of The Radical Write, a textbook on reporting and writing for student publications. In 2005, he retired from the University of Texas Interscholastic League, where he served as director of academics and director of journalism. In 2007, he received Carl Towley Award from the Journalism Education Association, its highest honor, and the Charles R. O’Malley Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, based at Columbia University in New York City. Hawthorne is also the author of Longhorn Football: An Illustrated History, published in 2007 by the University of Texas Press. In 2009, he completed writing and designing a 240-page illustrated history of the UIL as part of the League’s 100th anniversary celebration, and wrote the text for a landscape photo book, Home Field, to be published by UT Press in August, 2010.
Photojournalism
Mike McLean – Dallas, Texas – Photo Journalist & Visual Story Teller -NOW RETIRED
- Mike McLean is Texas-based freelance photojournalist and teaches photojournalism workshops throughout the nation. McLean got his start in photojournalism while in high school where he serviced as photo editor of his school publications which won National Scholastics awards. As a staff photographer for the Dallas Times Herald he served on a reporting team nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the crash of Delta flight 191 at the DFW airport. In 2003 he was inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a co-author of Get The Picture, a photojournalism curriculum published by Jostens. Recently McLean developed a digital photography storytelling course that is part of a digital media degree program taught through a University online. He is a featured teacher/speaker throughout the year at Journalism and Photography workshops around the United States and has worked extensively with high school youth along with David Knight. His website shows his wide range of talent and portfolio from portraits to action and commercial photography. His clients include, Motorola, Sony Music, American Airlines and the Discovery Networks. His photography has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, Business Week, Outside Magazines, and Climbing Magazine.
Daniel “Masterpiece” Jones – New Orleans LA. – Songwriter
Christian Rapper/Performer/Song-writer & Backpack Journalist Music Intern
- Daniel was raised in Europe, with parents in the US Army. Upon return to the United States, Daniel continued his education at college, and worked on his “rap” and writing. He is a regular performer of his original music/songs at Yellow Ribbon Events for the Army Reserve, and A Backpack Journalist. He writes and composes, and performs live. He has a “servant’s heart” and gives of himself to others as a supporting friend and colleague.
Cowboy Poetry
Jerry Warren – Griffin, Georgia – Cowboy Poet
- Jerry Warren is a professional entertainer who recites original and classic cowboy poetry and a published author of hundreds of cowboy poetry. He is also a student of the classics dating back to the 1860’s where it had its beginnings. Jerry has been writing and reciting for over 50 years and is often found at poetry gatherings all over the United States, from Elko, Nevada to the heart of Florida’s cow country. Warren also assists in programs and seminars on the writing and recitation of cowboy poetry for the young people in Georgia and throughout the United States. In 2002, the Georgia legislature named him Georgia’s Official Cowboy Poet. In 2004, he was enshrined in the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, the only cowboy poet ever honored as such. Jerry Warren hails from the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee where his family raised cattle and horses for five generations. Add this pedigree to life on the rodeo circuit as a calf roper and bronc’ buster and you uncover a real cowboy, a poet who has experienced what he writes about. Jerry owns and operates a horse ranch near Griffin, GA where he raised, trains and sells quarter horse and plies his trade as the foremost cowboy poet in Georgia
Editorial Cartooning
Advisors
Dr. Frederic J. Medway – Columbia, South Carolina – ADVISOR/Curriculum.
- Dr. Medway is a Professor Emeritus: University of South Carolina, PhD in Social Psychology, University of Connecticut. Adjunct Professor: Department of Pediatrics, University of South Carolina Medical School; Affiliated faculty member: Institute for Families in Society. CREDENTIALS AND CERTIFICATES: Certified School Psychologist, Level III, South Carolina, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Licensed School Psychologist, South Carolina, and Academy for Leadership Development, 1999 New Dean’s Institute. He is the published author in hundreds of articles, books and newsprint. He has appeared on CNN and FOX News when the subject matter relates to military families and the effects of deployment on families.
Program Manager/Founder – Writer & Storyteller
Author THE BOOK. Linda Dennis – Charleston, SC
Program Manager/Journaling/Instructional Writing
- Program Manager/Founder/Volunteer – Writer & Storyteller
Linda Dennis – Charleston, South Carolina
Program Manager/Journaling/Instructional Writing/Filmmaking with an iPad.Linda Dennis is the published author of instructional technology projects and educational activities for youth. As editor, then publisher working with Primedia Special Interest Group, she developed the first computer based arts activities for consumers, then computer based lesson plans and training for teachers. (PC CREATE IT and PC TEACH IT) .As a result of her community service, she became known as the “magazine lady” for inner city at-risk (Columbia, SC), volunteer at Fort Jackson, SC and military youth at summer camps.
In 2008, seeing a need to help military youth communicate with their deployed parents, and hearing from a youth – “I don’t know how to write”, she developed the concept: A Backpack Journalist. Following market research and a pilot test funded by a Texas Military Family foundation and with the support of the University of Texas, with David Knight, a 30-year writing and broadcast journalism teacher, Dennis began a hands on writing workshop for youth.
Dennis lead the program that expanded based on the responses from youth, traveling US military installations and worked with National Guard Families and Youth, and US Army Reserves (ARTP) youth and families.The mission was to help youth – build resilience through creative expression, find their voice and self-esteem.
The curriculum for the student and staff was presented in workshops and included: Narrative writing, Journaling, Photojournalism, Songwriting, Broadcast Journalism, Cowboy Poetry, Little Backpackers. The program continued serving military families/youth until 2013.
Dennis returned home to Charleston, SC.
With the encouragement of Mayor Joe Riley, City of Charleston, Dennis added IPAD Storytelling and adjusted the curriculum to lower L and elementary school students and began to work within the Charleston Promise Neighborhood and Title One Schools
Dennis during her Charleston, SC years, lead youth in collecting Oral Histories of SC Vietnam Veterans, producing a short film, Lowcountry Civil Right Heroes research and stage performance, Dock Street Theatre with Randy Neale, and multiple iPad Storytelling adventures, working with the Charleston RiverDogs and the SC Port Authority and Hendrick Automotive and Starling Chevrolet.
THE BOOK contains celebratory stories about youth today, now in professional careers, many graduating and with their own personal stories and how the A Backpack Journalist program came into their lives, impacting their education in a positive way. PLUS Dennis has included pages of lesson plans, and templates needed for someone to create their own team of “Backpackers”.
Previously, Linda Dennis presents was a series of Arts and Crafts Book, Ribband for counted cross stitch and remain classic how-books.
For further information on how to bring in A Backpack Journalist: