One Thing... Class all Semester

 

        I'll be honest. I was nervous going into this class based on the reviews written and showed to us the very first day of class. Everyone wrote "get out while you can" "you'll hate this class" "hardest class you will ever take" "drop it now.. oh wait you can't it's required" etc. I was nervous, it is only a one credit class and I knew there was going to be a lot of work and assignments and essays all just for a one credit class. I had doubt on how well I was going to do, and almost accepted the fact that I would do poorly since apparently even the best writers do so in this class. However, it was all completely opposite. I loved this class, it was one of my favorite to go to. I attended all classes, I looked forward to going, and even sitting in class I was interested and had a good time rather than sitting there and hating it. The experience of the class was such a positive one. I don't know how people wrote so negatively about the class and all of its work. Yeah, there were a lot of assignments due, but they were fun and interesting, not boring and just "busy work." The material we learned is stuff that will last me a lifetime. I do honestly feel like I learned a lot more from this class then I expected to. It was a good time and everything I'm taking from the class is information that I'm happy I learned. I even learned a lot about news writing, and it was interesting! I hadn't thought that I would be interested in anything news related because typically I wasn't a fan of the news, but instead it encouraged me to become a part of the news. I began reading it daily, when asked in class what news was going around I wanted to make sure I always knew what everyone was talking about and have prior knowledge to the info the class was sharing. I even see the news as more than just news now too. I understand how news stories are written, where they come from, that there is a specific way to write about it, and it is such beneficial knowledge that I'm excited I learned it all.

       This was an amazing class. I can't believe I'm saying that after what I thought it would be, but it turned out really good for me. Even Kim Young was excellent as  a professor. Willing to always help and having a great attitude about everything. I don't want people going into this class thinking such bad things about it because it was honestly a positive influence on me, and I am glad that it was.



One Thing... from Class April 22, 2014

 

 

                With classes coming close to an end, there is only a limited amount of material we could learn in one day. Last class we took a quiz and re-visited the words we started the first day of class with. Words such as effect and affect; you're and your; two, to, and too; and quite a few other ones. Learning those words on the first day of class really helped with understanding the difference between a couple. I never really understood the difference between effect and affect because I thought almost they could be used simultaneously, since I was never corrected on their usage before, and I definitely have always had troubles with lay and lie. I learned those back in probably ninth grade of high school and still can't really tell the difference between them. However, during the quiz it hit me that I did understand the differences finally without really noticing. You lay something down, and people or animals lie down on their own. I actually saw online once about Eric Clapton's song, lay down Sally. It is grammatically incorrect because it is telling someone else to lay Sally down. If he wanted her to lie down on her own, he'd say lie down Sally. It's just a silly mistake and you can't really judge based off of that, but how easy it is to mistake these words really can be troublesome. However, it really helped me remember the correct way of using the two, one's physical in the self, and the other is physical in someone elses doing so to the object.

One Thing... from Class April 15, 2014

 

 

                I've learned a lot from this class these pasts couple of months, knowing finally how to write a solid news story or news lead. Coming into the class I never would have thought that I would be learning to write a news story or lead and putting together my own writings that I always just picture that they'll be in the newspaper or online. When I write my stories, I write like I'm writing for the Erie newspaper, not just like I'm writing an essay for a class. The material and content and grammar may not be the highest of levels, but you have to be willing to put yourself in that mindset that you can write for an audience, or write like you are the one who is going to have to read that later. When I read the news, I never found myself paying any attention to what grabs my attention in what order, or who wrote the piece, or what information they were actually given and had to find the rest on their own. Now after this class I definitely read the news in a new way. I am always thinking about how the article is set up, and what went into writing it. When I read leads I think to myself, "Is that catching my attention?" "Are they telling me the most important information that I should be reading or knowing about?"

 

                There was never any thoughts in my mind about what went into writing the news. I thought that it was just writing a quick summary of what you are told to report on. While some of that may be true, there is a lot more to it than that. People are always reading and wondering about the news, and if you are that person that is supplying them with the information, then you should make sure that it is correct and accurate, and written well that it will capture the audiences attention long enough to get through the whole news story.

       

              This class shed a whole new light on news writing and the news in general, which I am very thankful for. I never would have known this type of writing was out there, because I never saw it as any different than just regular essay writing. Now that I know, it is very helpful and keeps broadens my horizon of choices and opportunities for jobs and careers, and know how to correctly write news story and such, maybe one day there is the possibility of getting into something like that, knowing that I can properly do it.

One Thing... from Class April 8, 2014

 

 

               Last class we had to write our own "story telling news story" about any fairytale or child's story we wanted, and create a well written news story about it. I chose to do the three little pigs because once we went over the example of Goldilocks I realized how dark and deep these sometimes everyday stories we hear as kids, really are. The Three Little Pigs is about a bi bad wolf destroying their homes, and depending on the story in which you hear, the pigs get eaten, or they can escape. Either way, the wolf dies a tragic death in the end, creating a great lead for a very interesting story. "Wolf falls to death after destroying homes," "Wolf boiled to death after breaking and entering." There were a lot of ways I could put this tragic story, but it seemed so realistic. The main idea of the whole thing sounded like it would actually be a real news story, and would be something I would want to read. It was a lot of fun being that creative, and making your own headlines based on the innocent seeming stories we all grew up with.

 

                 I did realize too that when we learned to tell the story by beginning, middle and end, like an actual story, that the pieces really all fall into place themselves. You have the intro of the character and the conflict, continuing on to the unfolding of the story and conflict, ending with the conclusion or the resolution of the conflict. It was just like reading or rewriting the story, but in a more professional, news story way. Adding the comments from some of the little pigs or the mother of the pigs made it seem like they had a voice finally too, and could tell the story how they wanted and how it happened really (haha). All in all, this story telling way of writing stories for the news in very fun and interesting, keeping the attention of the writer, which will definitely keep the attention of the reader.

One Thing... from Class April 1, 2014

 

 

       Writing a news story is not as easy as it seems. You read the news everyday, you don't really think twice about who wrote it, did they take the time to write an outline and set up the article perfectly, and did they maybe have outside opinions on the content and grammar? If you have to write news stories for breaking news, or over night so it doesn't just become yesterdays news, you are not given much time to write and edit until it is perfect. People who write and edit their stories put a lot of work into their writing to have it published only hours within receiving the topic of their report. Especially if their story is breaking news, they have to get that information published as soon as they possibly can. There is no time for them to make mistakes in the first place, it has to be perfectly written the first time because the audience cannot wait for so long to have information put out there that they may have already read on another news site.

 

        Even though we are given plenty of time to write our own news story on Erie being the snowiest city, there is still a lot of pressure to produce the best news story that sounds like it could be a head lead. With this being the first news story I have ever written, it is hard to understand the main ideas and concepts to include into making it suitable for an audience, and for keeping their attention. Not only does your information have to be correct, and you have to have guests to interview to get their own take on things, but you also have to know the right words and grammar and information that is needed and not just pointless information used as fillers. News writing is tough, and the audience that critiques your writing is even tougher. Who wants to write every day news stories that no one will find interesting and read? The whole purpose is to capture attention and provide correct and accurate data, and it isn't always a piece of cake to do, figuring that all of your audience may be different.

 

        Writing about something is easy, almost anyone can do it. But writing the best news story coverage, that's the real challenge, and it just takes one step at a time, learning through it all to be a top notch writer.

One Thing... from Class March 18, 2014



 

          I definitely learned last class that I did very well on my first test in this class. I was entirely pleased with my grade, and was almost not even surprised I got that grade! I had felt confident taking the test, and actually was not stressed out over it because I had learned so much for that class that I was happy taking it. Especially when it came to the last part of the test, and having to write those three news leads, I was very surprised I had gotten them all correct! I wracked my brain on trying to write an acceptable news lead, and I had done just that.

           However, when it came to the quiz we had taken previously on the news leads, for some reason I had not done as well as the test. I believe this is because I was not as educated on the leads; I had been absent the prior week when we learned about the leads, and I was going into the quiz without any knowledge on them. But once you practice, it becomes a lot easier to write a good lead. Especially with the review we had last week on the best way to write one, it seems like I really get them now. It is hard when there is a lot of information on the leads because many events may have occurred, creating the news story, but being able to finbd that balance and the most important information is important.

           "Good leads contain those interesting details, and can help the readers "visualize" events they describe."

One Thing… from Class February 27, 2014

   While wasting time on Facebook, like I usually do almost every day, I came across this picture that one of my friends had shared. It's perfect! I couldn't help but laugh and save it to my phone because it perfectly explains how myself and a lot of people feel about commas. I remember in class we talked about the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes on the posters around school, and someone had brought up that one of the posters used far too many oxford commas. I wasn't really sure at the time what an oxford comma really was, but I looked it up and understood that we had talked about the use of commas before the word "and" just in a previous class before. 

 "Oxford comma is an optional comma before the word 'and' at the end of a list:

'We sell books, videos, and magazines.'"

        Starting with that simple definition, it all came back to me. I remembered that we had called the "oxford comma" in class the "serial comma." There was a very bold star in my notes saying "No comma before and/or!!" Then it clicked that ever since then I really had found myself not using any commas before and/or, I wanted to make little use of commas, and almost try to eliminate them from being used to much in my writing. But then along came this picture, and it all made perfect sense. It is really hard to not use commas, or especially this oxford comma, because it does paint a picture in people's heads that if you don't use that one extra comma, you imagine yourself eating toast with orange juice on it. I still try and not use them when I am writing, but it does occasionally slip in there because I know that when I read things like that without the comma, I see it as something that should be bunched together, like orange juice toast. So when I write, I like to keep it simple and clarify separate items so they are not to get confused together. Whether I find myself still using a bunch of commas, or trying to use non at all, I think I will forever try and remember to not put those pesky commas in front of and/or, but when it comes to people thinking I eat orange juice toast, I may slip an extra comma in there.