Tag Archives: Shorthand

Hi, I’m Kyle.

Hi!

I hadn’t forgotten about you. I just was too busy to write anything!
So much has happened in a very short space of time. On Wednesday night (24th October I think), Glyn, Dad and I went to Auckland to watch Mary Poppins the Musical at The Civic theatre – and wow it was incredible! Even better than when I saw it in Australia earlier this year. It’s just breathtakingly wonderful! If you haven’t gone, you’ll regret missing it! The cheapest seat is around $55 and even then it’s a okay view (I got the $115 ticket).

My heads a little all over the place as my Mum was in a car accident this afternoon – so I’m sorry if my writing is blah! She’s been discharged from hospital and is okay, but still a little upset. I left work when it happened so I could make sure everyone was okay, and it was a very interesting lesson for me. One of my first thoughts was ‘Oh I hope the Daily News don’t come’, and I was fully prepared to ask them to go away. But then I thought about it – I’ve been trained on how to deal with emergency situations, as part of a media crew. So I know exactly what their rights are, and what they can do – and what they would say if I told them to go away. They would be fully entitled to be there and take photos, and I was so hoping they wouldn’t and thank god they didn’t so yay! But it was interesting to me being on the other side of an emergency situation for once.

Journalism for me wraps up in three weeks! After that, I’m off to Wellington to open Countdown Newtown – the company’s new flagship store complete with two levels of parking, pharmacy  cafe and more. It’s the whole package, and it’s my third store opening so I’m excited. Plus it’s in the capital city, somewhere different than Hamilton or New Plymouth for a change! I’ll be helping train staff and I’ll supervise four nights a week so that’s cool. And no, I’m not leaving Journalism – it’s more of a break, and then I’ll get back into study. I love being a student journo, but I’m far too young to get a job in the industry I think. Plus I want more experience.

My to-do list has shrunk – All I need to do now are my features and shorthand. By tomorrow afternoon, I should have completed the video unit. So close to the end! And if I’m being honest, I’m really nervous about my shorthand. I must be the worst in the class with it, and the tutor knows it. Bah.

Speaking of, I should do some quick revision before bed.

Cheerio

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Holi-Holidays…

Almost there….

WHOOOO for productivity!

These holidays have been great, I’m powering my way though a list of things to get finished before the end of the year.
During the year we have to produce six photo assignments, and so far I’ve done 4 so that leaves 2 to complete next term which is good. I have two main assignments left, bicultural and news video. Not that it’s very exciting for you to read, but it feels pretty relieving to share it out there.

So I’ve spent a few days in the Witt newsroom doing work, and studying shorthand. I’ll be working at Countdown tomorrow 9.30am – 11pm, so next few days I’ll be pretty dead but that’s okay because it’ll mean I’ll have plenty of money when I head to Auckland next week. Need to get the windows of my car tinted before the voucher expires…yes it’s one of those online deals that I couldn’t resist, hehe.

That all aside, I am SUPER excited for Mary Poppins The Musical at the end of the month! A very gay comment, yes, but when I saw the show in Brisbane I LOVED it, so I’m looking forward to sharing it with Dad and Glyn when it hits Auckland in a few weeks. YAY =D

Internships….I still haven’t found a place, but I will! I’m determined.

Back to it..

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Time for Shorthand

If there’s one thing I have time for, it’s Teeline Shorthand.

We are so, so close to the end of this course. Which means I have to be so, so dedicated to etching the squggles and lines of shorthand into my brain. Most of my time this week has been dedicated to drilling teeline. Over and over again.

It hasn’t really been that easy, but then again I haven’t really put 110% of effort into it. But now I am vowing to spend every night just practicing and learning it so I can pass the diploma.

Journalism aside, it’s been a pretty blah week. For now, I think I’ll sink into bed and have an early night..

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Instagram Photo: The Tutor

Meet our Witt Journalism tutor, Robin Martin. Note the shorthand on the whiteboard.

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Progress Report (updated)

I’ve just been looking at my progress report – a document that Robin (our tutor) keeps updated with all of our passes, fails, and story counts.

I’ve written seven stories this year so far – which isn’t so bad, Robin said it was a good number for this point in the year, and I believe I have one of the highest story counts in the class. Every student in the class has completed at least one story, which is good!

We’ve done two assessments so far and one examination:
Local Government Exam, Unit Standard 27223: Pass
Internet Research: Pass
Public Research Dossier: Pass

I will note here that because the course is made up of unit standards, it is pass or fail.
Work is not marked by Not Achieved, Achieved, Merit or Excellence, no matter how much or how little work was put into it. Which I feel sucks when you put a lot of effort into something. But in saying that, I’m proud of what I’ve achieved so far! And I feel like I’m really learning a lot, but I’m convinced I’m failing shorthand which is dangerous. If I don’t pass that, I won’t get my diploma.

Lots of hard work coming up ahead!

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To me, this is no competition

The journalism world is a highly competitive one, and the Witt Journalism Newsroom is no exception.
Sometimes it’s quite stressful because you feel like you’re being left behind when you’re not producing as many stories as other students. But I’ve been having a really long hard think about this,
and I don’t want to see this as a competition. I didn’t come into this course to be the best student, produce the most stories or the like. I came into it to learn about the art of journalism, write stories, have fun, and get involved with media and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

I hope some of the other students don’t feel like they are in a race. There’s quite a few of us moving at a good, steady pace and that I like!

I really want to put at least 65% of my concentration and effort into learning and completing assignments. At the moment, we are learning about media law, as well as shorthand. Take it from me, media law is not as interesting as local governement! Well not at this stage anyway. I’m also working on my public figure research dossier. It’s slightly creepy because we have to stalk a New Plymouth public figure as much as we can in libraries, records and the internet to put together a report. I’m researching John Rae, and my report is almost complete. I am really proud of it so far. It’s the best assignment I’ve ever put together, and the first in about three years.

Until next time, thanks for visiting :)

Kyle

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Boo!

Hello!

How are you doing? I hope you’re wonderful!
It’s Kyle here. This is where I am going to blog about journalism, thoughts, stuff I like and stuff you probably like.

At the moment I have a lot of things to revise for – tomorrow we have shorthand class (which is incredibly difficult) and a test on local government which is really, really important. Well both things are important, but I’m weighting the test over shorthand as it’ll probably be more fun.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I promise I’ll have it all happy and jolly soon and over brewing with content.

Such Fun!

Ky :)

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