It's Been Too Long

Since I've been working on photogging and my website, it's been a while since I've done a dayturn reporting shift. I'm pretty sure it's been about a month. With that said, I feel like my other work at the station is allowing me to become a better reporter. Yesterday I was able to plan out my story and visualize the finished product.

When I first made it to the station at 8 a.m., I knew the story I wanted to do. The night before, the Columbia Board of Education officially cut 33 math and literacy coaches. I knew I wanted to talk to one of the affected former coaches. Even though the writing was on the wall, now it was official.

To get video, I visited summer schools. It was also a fail-safe plan. If I didn't find my ex-coach, I could do a story on the increased summer school numbers.

I spent about an hour making calls, waiting for callbacks, and writing a preliminary script. After the principal from Parkade called me back, I was good to go.

After an interview with Principal Amy Watkins, she let me into Stephanie Maddox's first grade class. As soon as I was done filming, the principal mentioned Mrs. Maddox was a literacy coach. Jackpot! Mrs. Watkins planned this, but I didn't know. Good thing I was paying attention.

I accomplished all of my goals of the day:
- Shoot and use 2 sequences
- Shoot and use a standup
- Find a Compelling Central Character
- Use Twitter (I did twice!)

Here's the finished product:

Balanced Budget Equals Cuts