Tremendous typing
Yay! This trimester I beat my typing record on a non-abbreviated (spaced-out keys) keyboard! Finally, I made it to the 'Fast' range on the speed chart below! I love typing. I know lots of people that don't, but it's a great skill to have. You can take notes quickly and shave off tons of time on homework, especially now that were using iPads more (I have an attachable keyboard).
Brilliant beat
Yes, you read that right. My beat is absolutely brilliant. For those of you that aren't educated in the ways of a journalist (or journalist in training), a beat is basically just a job. Staff writers will all have certain tasks they need to accomplish. For instance, the lucky kid with the math beat needs to find out from the head of the math department if there are any new newsworthy developments in the learning at the school. If so, they relay it back to the editors at the staff meeting. I had the math beat twice, both first trimester and second trimester and both well inside my comfort zone. I was a little worried when I was handed the new beat of ASB, associated student body. ASB is basically the student council. They ask each class to send a representative to a monthly meeting, where the representatives learn about what's going on in the school, then report back to their classes. I am usually a nervous Nancy. I didn't know where to go, when the meetings were, what to bring, or what was going to happen, so I was a bit more flustered than usual. A step outside my comfort zone. I never back down from a challenge because I know I can be the best. So here we are, almost 4 weeks into the third trimester, and my head hasn't exploded. I've been to two meetings and relayed the information nicely. I've made a folder for the meeting's minutes out of an old newspaper, when we had no supplies. I've also ran across campus for a meeting that wasn't actually going on that day, but let's just forget about that unfortunate mishap. I'm definitely glad that I have the ASB beat and am proud that my already tiny comfort zone got just a little bit wider.
One man's trash is another man's treasure
It's gorgeous, I know. Our wonderful Journalism teacher gave us the best homework assignment ever. To enter the eco-art contest the city was holding. The idea of the project was to make a sculpture of old water bottles. I was struck with a fabulously brilliant idea of 'One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure'. If you don't understand why it's fabulously brilliant, it's because it's a treasure box and it's made out of trash. If you still don't understand, my friend, I'm sorry to say you're beyond help. The gold and silver pieces are bottle caps and everything else you see is made from the body of the bottle, paint, glue, and glitter. Lots of glitter because who in their right mind doesn't love glitter? It ended up getting second in the competition and someone else in my class got first! Now it may sound like I'm bragging. That might be because I am. But seriously. I worked for twenty-six hours on this thing and am extremely proud. I believe I deserve the right to brag a little. I have never gotten money for doing a homework assignment. There's a first time for everything I guess because second place came with a prize of seventy-five dollars. Awesome, right?
Notable note-taking
awful notes
My very first article notes. Gosh, they were awfully awful! It's basically just me rambling on in incomplete thoughts. No research involved. Don't worry for me though, I got better. Better enough, actually, to put on my skill page
Good notes
I am one of the only people in the class that actually take notes. This is a picture of my latest article's notes. I think that I am an excellent note-taker. What people don't understand is that taking good notes makes writing the article so much easier, and there's less of a risk of plagiarizing.