Getting a feel for 225

I have always subscribed to the theory that you should work on your accuracy first and train your fingers to "remember" strokes thereby reducing your hesitation and increasing your speed.

As I struggle to pass my 80s threshold, I've opened my mind to other theories and have found that most, if not all, make sense to me. So I'm going to try other suggestions to see what works best.

I recently read a blog post on a Facebook court reporting group that suggests you listen to audio at 225 words per minute to help with your speedbuilding.

Here is a quote from Jillian Woods Facebook post:

"First things first, at around 100wpm, the realm of 'realtime' and 'speed' will split in two, each moving in separate paths, but heading in the same direction. What the hell does that mean, you ask? Well let me tell you... I am paraphrasing many teachers and students when I say that in order to perfect your realtime output (at speeds above 100), you need to work on SPEED. It feels counter-intuitive. How can you increase your speed without perfecting your accuracy? And yet, to quote the Director of Admissions at a very well-respected school, "you cannot get to realtime at 225 without knowing the speed of 225." The point being, that you need to know what it FEELS like to write 225. You need to get used to HEARING 225 (yes, throw on a dictation at 225 and sit back and listen). The trick to speedbuilding is staying on top of the speaker.

NOW, what I just said really implied so many things. First of all, staying on top of the speaker is a very hard thing to do at a speed that is, currently, out of your reach. What has worked for me is doing two things: 1) begin to shorten your writing, using briefs and phrases ONLY when it comes to words/phrases that are spoken OFTEN and that you feel comfortable writing, and 2) APPROXIMATE the strokes. Let your fingers do the dancing. If you are THINKING about how to write something, you're going to get left behind. To stay on top of the speaker (at your push speeds, 20-25%ish above your control speed) you have to let go and completely trust your fingers. Trust that all the work you've done perfecting your strokes thus far, through finger drills and perfecting your realtime output at the lower speeds, have trained your fingers to do the thinking for you. You CANNOT have a distracted mind when practicing at high speeds. You cannot THINK about what is being said and how to write it. Just let go. DON'T LOOK AT YOUR SCREEN! Believe me, you're not going to be happy with the outcome... LOL!... But when you pull up your paper notes, you might be in for a big surprise."

If you're on Facebook, you may find the complete post here: Jillian's blog post

So I tried this suggestion the other night. I logged on to Realtime Coach and practiced steno to audio at 225 words per minute.

After the initial shock of listening to people speaking at higher speeds, I got into a rhythm of writing. I tried to get down what I could and tried to "let my fingers do the dancing" -- which is tough for a perfectionist like me. It was difficult for me to simply type an outline, any outline, in an effort to keep up with the speaker.

After about an hour and a half of this style of speed practice, I sat down to "read" my tape. It wasn't perfect, but I could actually read it; even with the many, many mistakes that I had made. I considered this a very successful practice session and now understand why this is beneficial to speedbuilding in general. I am adding 225 speedbuilding exercises to my ever-evolving practice routine. It's a great suggestion and I recommend that you try it too!

10 things court reporting students must do - #9

Here is the next in the series of videos that Todd Olivas has completed about what every court reporting student must do in order to graduate. I'll post them here as he completes them.

#9 Do what they tell ya



Previous posts from the series:

#10 Show up

10 things court reporting students must do ~ #10

Todd Olivas has started a series of videos about what every court reporting student must do in order to graduate. I'll post them here as he completes them.

#10 Show up

Adjusting keystroke depth

I've been making adjustments to my Stenura Protege stenograph for several months now. I have adjusted the keystroke tension, the depth of the keystroke, and even adjusted the key contacts. I used the instructions given in the owner's manual that came with my stenograph for all of these adjustments ~ even though I knew that other techniques were available, I remained true to the owner's manual.

I was doing some speedbuilding exercises yesterday and it felt like the depth of my keystroke was still slowing me down as I tried to type faster. It reminded me of the difference between typing on a manual typewriter and an electric typewriter. My mother had an old typewriter and I had an IBM Selectric. (Anyone out there old enough to remember those?) I tried to type on her old typewriter, but I couldn't gather any significant speed because I had to press down each key about an inch before the letter hit the ribbon to print on the paper. After that experience, I thanked God for my IBM Selectric! What a joy it was to press a key down only a quarter of an inch to get the letter you wanted.

So the time had come to break free of my owner's manual and, once again, adjust the depth of the keystroke. I wanted to make them as shallow as possible to eliminate the time wasted pressing long, deep keystrokes. Jenni over at Court Reporter Bound sent me a link from Cheap and Sleazy's website a while back on how to use a credit card to shim the depth of my keystrokes and I thought I'd give it a try. It didn't take me very long to complete this task. The instructions are easy to follow and can be found at this link:

Adjusting Depth of Keystroke

Here's a picture of my stenograph showing where I placed the shim (credit card):

Click image for larger picture

The instructions are courtesy of Kathryn A. "Stenoray" Thomas, another fabulous court reporter you may want to follow on on Twitter at Stenoray.

Today's practice session was a lot of fun. And I absolutely love the way my stenograph writes. My hands didn't tire as quickly as they normally do and I was able to practice a lot longer than usual!

No rest for the weary

Just like a lot of other court reporting students, I'm on my two-week winter break from school. Unlike my last break, however, I am NOT taking a break from practicing my steno! That was a huge mistake which I will not repeat.

I've been doing a lot of hard copy steno practice followed by practicing to the television. This has been my practice routine for the last two weeks, and I can see some real improvement in my accuracy. I haven't gained any speed, mind you, but I'm taking my rewards where I can get them.

Now comes the hard part. Adding speedbuilding to my practice routine. This is not easy for me because I still find it difficult to "let go" and trust my fingers. A fellow student suggested that I stare at one of those "Magic Eye" pictures and try to get the image to appear while I'm practicing. THAT may be too much multitasking for me, but I think I'm going to give it a try!


Well, back to practicing!

Just for Grins

It's time again for Just for Grins. This is from the section of the JCR magazine where court reporters send in their funny transcript excerpts.

GOOD ANSWER!

Q. When is your birthday?
A. December 1st.
Q. What year?
A. Every year.

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER

The witness was an 18-year-old senior in high school. The questioning attorney has an 18-year-old son who was also a senior.

Q. You're not married; are you?
A. No. No way.
Q. You have no children?
A. No. Gosh. No. that would be awful.
ATTORNEY: You don't know the first of it.

Practicing to hard copy

As some of my fellow stenographers suggested, I have been practicing steno to hard copy to pull myself out of the boredom of constantly practicing to audio. I selected a book that I began reading this summer. The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. It's a great book, but unfortunately, I can't write fast enough to comprehend any of the sentences that I'm typing. Yes, I'm that slow.

Nevertheless, I enjoy this type of practice. It gives me the opportunity to work on my accuracy. I feel guilty, however. As I type at my glacially-slow speed, I keep thinking, I should be working on my speed, not accuracy.

So, here I sit torn between speed and accuracy. I'm sure my guilt will get the best of me and I'll be back to practicing to boring audio takes tomorrow. Sign . . .

Pushing through the boredom

I'm in a rut. Everyday is the same thing. Practice on RTC and get bored. Practice by television and get bored. Go to speed class and get bored. I've tried practicing briefs by metronome, practicing phrases, looking for new audio on the internet. Reading steno from my StenEd Reader.

Maybe it's because I don't feel like I'm making much progress in my speed. Maybe it's the holidays and I'd rather be shopping, wrapping gifts or baking cookies. I just haven't wanted to take the time to work on my steno recently.

I need to find something new and different to jazz things up in my practice routine.

Zzzzzzzz