My second year as a writer for 8forty was a better experience from the first. This year I felt a lot more comfortable with the style of writing and assignments in the class. I was an editor and social media manager for the 8fortymag Twitter page like last year, and I enjoyed and continued to learn a lot from both of the jobs. The class and environment felt different, as it felt more smooth and organized and there was a lot more jobs going on at once. The classroom felt like a machine which encouraged me to do my jobs to the highest standard. I also learned about different writing components and strategies that helped me tremendously. 

I feel very accomplished as a writer in this semester. I published two articles that I put a lot of effort into and that I feel immensely proud of. The first article is about one of my biggest passions which is soccer. When I wrote the article the information flowed out of me as I knew a lot about the subject. The second article was about a topic that I had no idea existed. It was about a beluga that played fetch that was rumoured to be a Russian spy. I read and looked at lots of articles to gather a good grasp on the information, which resulted in this article taking a lot more time writing. 

Being an editor was my favourite job and thing to do in the class by far. Our elite group of editors gathered almost every Tuesday to hear everybody’s pitch ideas including our own. Once everyone went that had to go on the given day we would go in a separate room (sometimes the hallway) and discuss if the future article had enough to it and if it was a right fit for our brand at 8forty, and we would eventually edit the pieces. I learned and improved the most from this. My writing skills have strengthened through being an editor. When I am editing articles I somehow see grammatical errors easier, and because of that I correct those mistakes in my own writing. My oral skills improved as I am more confident and comfortable with saying my own ideas and opinions to groups of people. 

In this semester I have made twenty-four posts to the 8fortymag Twitter page. I read a good amount of articles form doing this job, which I wouldn’t be exposed to otherwise, and by doing this I learned new information and styles of writing. I also learned a lot about brand identity and the responsibility it is to maintain it. 

This class has been nothing like I have experienced before. Students had options, and lots of them. They could choose what they write about and what jobs they want to do. It also challenged students to do things that they wouldn’t normally do, like going to an actual event and interviewing someone there. This has been my favourite English class I have ever taken by far because of those reasons. I tend to have a hard time getting my ideas written or typed down that is in organized and meaningful manner. However, through this class I have managed to develop that skill and strengthen it by writing many articles and by doing each and every assignment. I been in New Media for a full school calendar year, and I mean it when I tell you that I will miss it.

English has been the subject I struggle with the most. Getting ideas and sentences from my head to paper is hard for me and that is reflective on my report cards. I took English New Media to try something new and hopefully get a better grasp on the subject. I came into the class thinking it wouldn’t be different from any other I had been in, but I was definitely wrong. The experience was totally different and I loved the fact that the class was like a working machine and that you can work at your own pace. I learned a lot of skills and tools from Mr Turner and from my peers. Weekly lessons and my jobs as a social media manager and editor greatly helped become a better writer.

Being an editor was by far the most beneficial experience for me in the class. Participating in weekly pitch and editor meetings were incredible. However, my favourite part of the job was getting to edit peers work. I treated the job very strictly because I am able to help people get a better mark in the class. Editing has also improved my writing in various aspects, and there is something I take away from every article. For example, some of the things I took away are new vocabulary words, typical grammar mistakes, and found new ways to transition between ideas. In addition, I was also a social media manager. I posted sixteen tweets on the official 8fortymag Twitter page highlighting hardly worked on articles that deserve to be read. This job forced me to read numerous articles to write posts about them, but later on, I found myself reading these articles in my free time instead. Both of these jobs helped me learn and develop new skills that I couldn’t achieve if I wasn’t in this class.

I strengthened the knowledge and skills that I have learned in previous years. I have always known how to provide accurate facts and integrate them in all of my writing pieces but this class has taught me a new and more professional way in doing so. My grammar and punctuation have also tremendously improved from being in the class. Finally, I was taught how to make an appropriate headlines that corresponds to my articles and makes the readers want to click it.  I have titled my pieces according to rubrics before, but in this class, it needs to be interesting to the viewer.

I learned many new things that I wouldn’t have learned in any other class. When writing articles I was taught about leads and kickers. Leads start off the article that set the tone of it and provides the necessary information to make the reader continue reading. Kickers end off the article providing a punch or idea for the readers to think about. However, I believe the most important thing I have learned from this class was how to properly condense my articles to make it flow and read better. In my writing, I tend to state things twice or put words into sentences that don’t need to be there, but Mr Turner along with my peers have taught me how to avoid that problem. Overall, everything that I have learned will help provide structure to my writing pieces no matter the subject.

I am extremely proud of my work for the 8forty media company. I have written two articles and have published a total of 2100 words. My first article was something I am immensely passionate about and the second was about a topic that wasn’t familiar with, but they both turned out amazing. I have learned various strategies and tools to use in the future and accomplished a lot of work. This has been my favourite English class, and I look forward to taking this class next year.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton