Mikki’s Portfolio semester 1 2020
Self Reflection This semester in newspaper I have learned that time management is key. Having to write and edit articles by a specific deadline has given me the realization that I still have to improve on not procrastinating. In newspaper people depend on me to have things done which is a pressure I am still getting used to. Although time management may not be my strength, I have learned how to edit stories correctly, which is something I am proud of. In my opinion, I have improved a lot with my writing skills as well. I also learned a lot in indesign in just a few months. With having to learn the many things I have to do as an editor while online, I think I have done pretty well. The greatest production skill I learned was how to manage writing my own article and editing others at the same time. Even though I may not get everything done by deadlines, I still try to help my writers to the best of my ability. I can use this skill in the future, for example, when training someone in a new job, I still have my stuff to do, but I also have to teach someone the ropes. I have a love-hate relationship with deadlines. I like the fact that they make me get my work done by certain dates so I am actually working when I need to be, but I do not like that they creep up on me sometimes, and they stress me out more often than not. When we came back to school from being online, we had new deadlines everyday which was very hard for me. I got very behind and was not doing my work when I needed to be. Once we got back into the swing of things, I did start turning some things in on time and began to catch up on missing work. With this being my first semester as an editor, I learned a lot about teamwork and leadership. I kind of knew what to expect going into being an editor, but starting the semester online made a huge difference. I wasn’t able to talk to writers and help them as often as I would have liked which led to me getting articles for my page that weren’t the best. Also learning the leadership skills of an editor online was very hard. This semester definitely brought editors closer together because we had to do a lot on our own. I can always count on Adamson’s stylebook when I get confused about writing. That thing has everything I need to know for when I am writing my own article and for editing others. I still look at it when I have a brain fart and don’t know whether to write out the word percentage or use the symbol. I feel that I was a good asset to the staff because I gave staffers fun style stories to write and I did my part as an editor by writing and editing stories. I definitely think I could be a stronger editor in the future, I just need to really assert myself and focus on my work etiquette.
The greatest problem I faced this semester would have to be my procrastination. I kept putting things off to the last minute and it never really worked out for me. Procrastinating led to me feeling like I was not putting out my best work and that always left me feeling upset and like I was letting everyone down. I just need to really push myself to do my work on time and put more effort into it. I need to look towards the future and think about how I want my last semester to end. I need to buckle down and get into time management, and I will try to be the best student and person that I can be.
Best Work I believe that my best published article is my Prop 207 article that came out in the December print issue. This is my personal favorite because this issue was our first print issue of the year which made me want my article to be even better. My purpose in writing this article was to show how Prop 207 will be benefiting Arizona as a state. Writing the article took some time for me because there was a good amount of research involved, and I also procrastinated a lot. I chose this article because I do support the legalization of recreational marijuana and I wanted to write about the benefits of it so younger people can learn that it is not just a drug that people wanted to be legalized for fun, but that it will bring economic benefits to the state as a whole. Since I was so invested in this topic, I loved writing the article, so it was not too difficult for me to finish, once I actually started writing it. The only thing that held me back while writing was the research portion because I had to find good sources and many statistics which was just time consuming. When I was doing my research, I learned even more about the topic myself. Writing this taught me about how businesses start and grow, how the economy works, and even more about how the justice system is corrupt. I also learned many interesting statistics about the marijuana businesses and benefits. I thoroughly enjoyed researching for this article and learning so many different things about the benefits of marijuana and how passing this proposition has benefited other states already. My first draft was pretty rough because I was turning it in on a deadline so I just needed a rough draft for points. I had a pretty bad article just thrown together as mainly an outline of how I was actually going to write the finished product. Then when I finally got to it, I fixed the article by putting all of my main ideas in order and layering in many statistics to make it very informative. I feel that this article was a great asset to the paper and the page it was on. This issue had multiple articles relating to the election and the propositions that were passed. I feel like I did do a good job summarizing all of the small topics that I did include within the article, but it does have the potential to be 100% more indepth if I wanted it to be. I also love how the article looks in its published form because it is sectioned off by each topic and just looks amazing. In the end, I loved researching and writing this article and I feel that it can be labeled as one of my best pieces of work.
first draft
final draft
Three Examples New Rules
Fall Sports Update
this article because it was I like this article because I had 1. Imylikefirst 2. one from coming back to good interviews and it is one of in person school so it was intersting to write about this topic.
my personal favorites because I like writing about sports.
Senior Assasins Twins
favorite thing about this ar3.My 3. ticle is the fact that I have both twins in it, and it represents senior year well.
Being an Editor During this challenging semester, I have somehow learned how to be an editor. I learned how to edit articles correctly, how to use indesign, and got to actually design my own page. Working as an editor was almost harder during inline school. Even though all I had to really donwas edit articles, it was hard to not be able to have my own page to look forward to and not be able to talk to my writers about their stories whenever they needed help. Now in person , I love being an editor. It is definitely easier to talk to my writers face-to-face, as well as have a page to be able to design and have fun with. Being a leader in newspaper can be difficult. You do not want to be bossing everyone around and seem annoying but you can not be a pushover in this role either. You really just need to find a balance to where you are nice to everyone but you still need to be respected by them and listened to. It is kind of fun being able to boss people around anyways, they are dependent on you so they have to listen in the end. You just need mutual respect in the classroom and you will be a good leader. The leadership role is different for me. I do enjoy it but sometimes it can be a lot. Like people are coming to me with questions and I still have questions myself. It really is just a learning process and I am grateful I have this opportunity to grow in this way. Being a leader is very fun and I love it. The only thing that stresses me out is getting overwhelmed with writing my own story and having to edit all of the stories written for my page. As well as having people come to me for advice and questions with writing, I still have the same questions sometimes so I don’t know how to respond. The thing I love about being an editor is getting to tell people what to do, but I don’t like to be mean so I do it nicely. I also love getting to design my own page. It is a great way to let out creativity and I can do so much with it. Also, the comfy chairs are a big plus. I just have to step up a bit more and learn how to be a better leader and editor. In this wolf scenario thing the leader is last. I believe that is because the leader has to watch everyone. If someone gets out of line they have to put them back into place. If someone is not behaving, they can see them and tell them to be better. The back can see everything. They can see if someone makes a mistake on the way, and they are coming along right behind to fix it. The leader in the back can pick up and fix any mistakes left behind by the rest of the pack. They have taken that responsibility and have to uphold it for the whole group to move forward.