On a test-passing roll!!

Yesterday I passed my 160 Jury Charge. The first of three tests that are needed to pass out of this 160 class. Now I need to get my 160 Lit and my 160 4-Voice.

Ever since looking at Lady Steno's site, it has truly motivated me and amazed me at how much she did during her practice routines, and how many hours she would practice. That was a big wake up call for me to step it up, and I truly have! I'm already seeing results!

Normally, I would just get home from school and not even touch my machine until the next day at school. NOT a good thing. Now my goal is to practice at least 1-2 hours every day after school. Spend about 30 minutes typing 160,180, 200 dictations. Then I go back down to 160.

I feel the need to practice some literary material though, and this is what I found on Lady Steno's site that I am going to try which sounds like a great idea:


Practicing from the Hard Copy



I was on e-bay all last month ordering back copies of the JCR. I came across an article about practicing from a hard copy in the May 2001 issue. This seems like the best thing for me. It will help me add build my dictionary, focus more on accuracy, build my vocabulary.

So here is the daily recipe for me:

1. Pick an editorial from the New York Times.
2. Identify preview words.
a. Words that might cause hesitation
b. Proper names
c. New words I have never heard of
d. Words with difficult strokes
e. Phrases that I want to incorporate
3. Practice the preview words by pyramid sentences, reading back, and finger spelling them.
4. Write from the straight copy as perfect as I can, and defining any untranslates.
5. Read back. Evaluate. Make notes.
6. Practice the weak spots I evaluated in my read back.
7. Write from the straight copy again, and time myself.
8. Write from the straight copy for the third time, and trying to beat my time by one minute.
9. Read back
10. Redo, until the hour is over!

I know if I continue to practice like this I will see great results, and get over this “plateau.”

Well, I'm off to find a newspaper or magazine article to write up! :)



-Alyson