WEEK 4

Hello everyone. As you are all aware, we returned from the New York College Media Association early due to the coronavirus and the city of NY shutting down. Students returned early and I arrived to a notification that our courses would be going online and that classes were cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday of that week. My intent was to have us online by Monday, March 23, and then a new notification alerted us that classes would be cancelled until March 30.

With that said, we will begin our online classes on March 30. We are not allowed to assign any work until that time. Please make sure you are on Slack and that you are keeping up with notifications. We will be a couple of weeks behind, but I promise to make this transition as simple as possible.

Be sure that you are also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so that we have all lines of communication open. I am available by text, email, and Slack.

You will receive instructions to how this course will work by next week. Please stay calm and be safe.

WEEK 3

Hello, everyone,

Last week we made sure your social media was set up and that you have photos for your press passes which will be ready on March 17. 

You worked on an in-class story to be published that day, if possible. Stories published so far:

*Kareem, Eric, Angel

http://www.sac.media/2020/03/06/proposition-13-expected-to-fail-in-california/

*The story above will be updated.

https://edsource.org/2020/california-prop-13-school-bond/624602?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_a7a18mI6AIV1iCtBh06JgmPEAUYAiAAEgLiGPD_BwE

On Tuesday, we will complete/update your in-class stories and they must be ready to publish by the end of class. 

*Jessica, Victoria, Melissa and Katie - I believe you are the ones working on the coach being fired. I'm going to assign you something else. This story has become a problematic one and need to get you all up to speed on libel law, etc before taking on something like this.

We will look at your stories and see how they can be improved:  lead, interviews, etc.

We will write headlines and sub-headlines for your stories and discuss the power of visuals.

We will discuss how to promote your stories, and how to post on Twitter.

Be sure to check Slack every day and make sure that you are reading a reputable news source every day, and that you are reading SAC.Media's top stories. You will have pop quizzes throughout the semester.

Please be on time. We have a lot to cover. Parking is a problem.The way to get around that is to arrive to campus early.

READ THIS STORY:  http://www.sac.media/2020/02/28/volleyball-coach-fights-for-her-job/

See you on Tuesday and don't forget:

NEWSROOM IS CLOSED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 12 (unless the conference gets cancelled due to Coronavirus. For now, it's a go but I will keep you notified.)

WEEK 2

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So glad to have you in this wonderful group of writers/content creators. Loved all your input last week and can't wait to get going on your first story/story package which we will decide on this week. 

You should all have Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts, and you all need to be on Slack and added to our Slack channel. You must also follow our student social media platforms as outlined on your syllabus. We will go over all this on Tuesday.

*Remember that you should all be reading a daily news site and you need to come prepared to class knowing what's going on in the world around you. See you all on Tuesday

Week 1

Welcome to Intermediate Writing and Reporting for Mass Media.  I'm thrilled to have you in the class and I know that I'm lucky to have the best writers and content creators in this  group.

This is going to be an interesting and exciting class because we have the opportunity to call the shots and experiment! Most everything that you create in this class will be published.

You will learn more advanced styles of writing, but most importantly, you'll become better writers, editors and communicators.

It's a tough world out there and I want you all to leave Mt. SAC prepared to move onto universities and/or and work in this exciting and fast changing field.

Just knowing how to write alone no longer cuts it so we will work hard together to try new things, create some multimedia, and implement social media in everything we do. Most of all, we'll work hard to create college-oriented content that will engage and retain our college audience.

I will be posting changes and updates to the weekly schedule, all readings, and any assignments here. Please check the site weekly. I will also post any changes to deadlines or notifications.

I want you all to enjoy this class. Please talk to me if you're feeling lost or behind, but NEVER, EVER GIVE UP!

Me or my tutoring assistants are always available for tutoring so don't be afraid to ask.

I look forward to hearing your ideas for making our student media, and this course, better.

Here's the syllabus-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adQYXAfovQHZ6Tx2YMT7ADHGxBaBlvHY9G8sGNy-fSI/edit?usp=sharing

If you do not have the Dynamics of News Reporting and Writing textbook from 101, I will make copies of the pages you will need, plus you MUST have your AP Stylebooks.

Be sure you all have Twitter, Instagram and Medium accounts, and be sure that we've added you to the Slack channel.

NEWSROOM IS CLOSED ON THURSDAY, FEB. 27. I am attending the ACP journalism conference in San Francisco with 10 of our editors.

Looking forward to a wonderful semester!