#com 102

[everything-person]

I just wrote about Jeffery Dean Morgan and why I love him for homework for my college COM 102 class.

[alexisrivell-blog]

Post Interview

Hello everyone! Yesterday I had my interview with professors Jennifer Courtney and Ron Block for the Teaching Experience Program at Rowan University. You can read about the prep work involved for that and my thoughts the night before in my previous post. On the day of the interview, I shared a Facebook post explaining all of the reading I had done and how I was a bit nervous still even though I…

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[news-writing-com102]

COM-102 Reflections

I've learned a lot this semester in taking News Writing. Most importantly, I've learned about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and reporter. I’ve found that, through the various forms of reporting exercised in the class, my strengths lie in the writing of news, rather than the gathering of information with which to write.

The COM-102 class for Spring 2015. (Photo from @NewsCom102 Twitter)

I was surprised at how much easier it was to write in reporter-esque style as opposed to a more novelistic/essay type of style, like I had been taught for so many years. It was not hard for me to write in a journalistic way, and I enjoyed doing so very much. I would not be against the idea of continuing to write this way for any future journalism practices that I may delve into.

Photo of Nick and I from the beginning-of-the-semester scavenger hunt.

Despite my lacking to do so on occasion, I also enjoyed tweeting AACC-related news on a joint Twitter account. I found it rewarding to find a unique piece of news or to be the first to tweet about something that I thought would have already been tweeted about by one of my classmates.

Some of my favorite tweets included:

#AACC shows support of Charlie Hebdo victims with "Je Suis Charlie" rally http://t.co/hTZ4yx6Gq6 (via: AACC) #rs pic.twitter.com/dLAMSQngNT

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) January 30, 2015

Come see "The Vagina Monologues" this Thursday, March 12, at 7PM in the Kauffman Theater! #AACC #WomensHistoryMonth #rs

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) March 9, 2015

Don't forget to pack an extra cape, today (3/24) is Superhero Day! #AACC #SpiritWeek #rs

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) March 24, 2015

Happy Earth Day! Free flowers are being handed out in the cafeteria! #AACC #EarthDay2015 #rs

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 22, 2015

The Phantom of the Opera at AACC closes Sunday! See Broadway's longest-running musical before it's too late! Check AACC's site for info. #rs

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 24, 2015

AACC sent this alert out to all students this afternoon regarding the #BaltimoreRiots. Stay safe, everyone. #AACC #rs pic.twitter.com/rg6W9PjB1y

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 28, 2015

A small fire by careers, probably from cig butt, was promptly put out by campus safety around 3:20PM today. #AACC #rs pic.twitter.com/XdDd7PnudN

— Com102 AACC News (@NewsCom102) April 29, 2015

While there was not much of the class that I did not enjoy, I will say that the workload, while I expected it to be larger than it turned out to be, was still overwhelming at times, and that I wish I had prepared myself mentally to be more proactive when it came specifically to gathering information and conducting interviews for time-sensitive articles.

The most challenging assignment I completed was the entirety of the jobs fair article. While the writing of the article was not so difficult in and of itself, having to conduct interviews at the event while writing down information and composing tweets at the same time proved to be more challenging than I had assumed.

Photo from the AACC jobs fair, which I covered and live-tweeted.

I also found the news quizzes to be more difficult than expected, due solely on my inability to properly study for them. I thought they were interesting, nonetheless, and I appreciated how they made the class actively seek out information about what’s going on in the world. I wish I had been able to more fully commit to them.

All in all, I am glad that I took the News Writing class and gained the experience I did while doing so. As a communications major, I think that what I’ve learned over this past semester will help me greatly in whatever career path I choose. This class has given me more motivation to pursue communications, as I really did enjoy the journalism writing aspect of it. I could see myself doing something along the lines of the work done in this class as a job sometime in the near future. I definitely recommend this class to any fellow communications majors, or anyone just looking to gain a bit more writing experience.