Student Corner - Progress4U
Kathleen Saunders, M.Ed.
Hello, Students and Grads!
I've taught some of you and met others at conventions. Many are cherished friends, or we are friends-to-be. When I was requested to write this article, I was delighted to accept the opportunity to reach out to you and/or reconnect.
First of all, congratulations on believing in yourself and this wonderful profession! We all know the road to court reporting and captioning is not an easy one, but we also know it is a highly rewarding one. I've heard many professionals say the most challenging part of this field is getting through school. Give yourself a pat on the back for your decision to be an important part of recording and making history as a "Guardian of the Record" and training your mind and fingers to be ears for those with hearing loss -- and as one of the 48 million Americans with the latter, I thank you!
You've all repeatedly heard of the importance of daily practice, so I'm not going to rehash that, again. I will say that I've learned a few things by teaching these past 15 years and observing habits of those who made it all the way to graduation and those who did not.
Daily practice is vital to success, and it does NOT work to just wait until the weekend, and then practice for hours to make up missed days. I've heard a famous speed champion say that even 30-minutes daily is better for success than binge writing on the weekends, so ALWAYS keep your machine set up and ready-to-write in the place where you spend most of your time. It should call your name and tug at your heart and conscience until you answer it with loving strokes. If it does not, you may want to rethink your future. `Nuf said.
The next pearl of wisdom I'll share is for all of you real-time addicts, and you KNOW who you are! As a recovering real-time junkie myself, I had to laugh when I once heard real-time writing described as "the crack cocaine of court reporting," and lots of you already know it certainly can be addicting. As a student, don't fall prey!
The MAJORITY of your practice time should be OUTSIDE of realtime. Do you hear me??? Turn that CAT software OFF when you are working on speed, or at least turn off your screen! One of my former teachers advised students to spend all week practicing faster than your target speed, and for "dessert," you can slow down once a week by writing in realtime about 40 wpm slower than your target speed. After you do that, global in your errors - that's right, global those puppies in, as long as they meet the following two rules:
1. They don't conflict with anything else you use regularly (more on this below).
2. You could ever make that same error in the future.
Now let's talk about Number 1, above. Some students are terrified of globaling in conflicts, and rightfully so. But there are times that you can and should; the trick is to be smart about it. For example, how many times have you ever written the name, "Nick"? Probably not very often, right? Now, how many times a DAY do you write, "in this case"? You see where I'm heading with this, I hope.
Many writers have learned that phrases are best created with an asterisk (*) to indicate that you're phrasing. This tactic really helps with read-backs. Oh, and yes, read-backs are important, too, and I mean from steno outlines, not English translations. This will help you to read through your mistakes.
Learn to create phrases that can be easily remembered, and one way to do that is by using word families. For example:
in = TPH
this = EU
case = -BG
So N*IK = in this case. I wish I could answer how many times my students have objected, "But that conflicts with the name "Nick"! Please reread the paragraphs above. 'Nuf said.
Let's move on to other words that can be used in word families:
that = A
the = E
Now we have "N*IK, NA*K, AND N*EK" for "in this case, in that case, in the case." The asterisk resolves the conflict with the words "nick, knack and neck."
"But what about poor old Nick?" you may ask. Should you ever need to write about a Nick, you can follow the old rule of writing names twice "N*IK/N*IK" or throw in another letter such as initial S. Problem solved!
Many of these ideas are not new or even entirely mine, so I'd like to credit and thank Ed Varallo and Mark Kislingbury, speed champions, authors, and teachers. They are our heroes, so be sure to Google them and their books to learn more. And remember that the way you write is entirely up to YOU! Take what others offer you and be flexible enough to create your own style of writing by using what works for you.
Final words: When working on speed, JUST GET DOWN SOMETHING YOU CAN READ! Hit it and move on - in the ears, out the hands. Don't think! Don't worry about real-time translation accuracy! When working on speed, push for the extremes of speed; only when working on realtime, your "dessert," push for the extremes of your accuracy. Most importantly, just get out of school! This profession truly needs
YOU.
Look for more in future articles. Best wishes and big hugs to all! - Ms. KT
My name is Tracy Taylor and I am co-owner (with my sister) of Tiger Court Reporting, LLC in Columbia, Missouri. I began the Court Reporting Program at State Fair Community College in Sedalia, MO in 1991 and graduated with my Associate's Degree in Court Reporting in 1993 and have been a working reporter ever since!
