Worn down by writing

Out of my element.  That is how I am beginning to feel about writing.  Don't get me wrong, I love to write. But I have not taken a writing course or any training on writing since college (about 10 years ago).  So here I am, taking notes on movie scenes, playing AP journalist.  Unlike most of those here at the institute, I spend most of my curriculum away from writing and more on the visual medium.  And the writing we do in the class is, aside from answering questions and taking notes, based on screenplays and fiction.

So now, taking notes of events, creating a story on a time limit that feels like a microsecond, and not misspelling, is something that is turning my brain inside out.

In this assignment, we watched two video clips, and were expected to take notes as if we were reporters about to report on the events seen in the video.  And while the assignment itself was not too difficult, it was a challenge to really find exactly WHAT i wanted to write and to find the best parts of the scene to write.

As the lesson went on, we learned more strategies on writing, and we learned about leads, something I haven't really looked into since most of my instruction, again, is on video production.  This set of lessons and practices, however, were very valuable in helping me find ways to get the leads for my video journalists, and now I have a handle on how to approach teaching my students to create engaging broadcast leads.   Plus, i learned way more about how to start an article than i have ever thought i would ever want to know.

Rudy De La Torre

Escondido High School

Escondido, CA