Whoopsies...

Oh my gosh...shame on me. Shame on me. Tut tut Lauren.

Yes yes...I do realize that I have not blogged on this blog for an inexcusable amount of time. Dave five was the last day I blogged?? Oh my...
Well, it has been five more work days since then, and my time at the Liffey Champion Newspaper has come to an end. I really was very sad to be leaving, as I found that I was becoming the most confident nearing the end of my time there. While there I learned new skills, as well as improving on the skills of writing I already had. I met some amazing people, and got a closer look into the world of newspaper writing, editing and journalism.
My last five days (which I shamefully did not document) were just as brilliant as I was hoping, getting to write interesting stories, have them published, and getting to call up people and find out information for myself.

I have loved my time at the Liffey Champion, and I will never forget the wonderful experience I had.

Fifth Day :)

Today was a really fantastic day at my work placement, I had loads of work and research to do so I was kept busy all day right up until leaving time. I was initially sent out to get a copy of the newspapers main competitor "The Leinster Leader". I had no idea where the shop was but luckily I ran into another TY doing her work experience at the paper and we found the shop together.

I read through the paper to see if there were any of Liffey Champions leads after being printed by them. Also to find out if there were any of their stories that we, as a paper, needed to cover. After finding a few that needed coverage, I got researching and writing them up. Along with this I had other stories being sent in to my folder on the server, so along with having to do research for my own stories, I had to do up some of the press releases into stories.

I made a good few phone calls on this day, which is unusual because I don't often get to use the phone. I rang up a new SVP Shop in Maynooth, I rang up the CSO (Central Statistics Office), along with one of the papers photographers to find out about an event he had been attending at a local primary school. My final phone call was actually to my own school, requesting any photographs from the mini-company competition be sent to me at the paper for publication.

Unfortunately the school never got back to me, and I had spent so long on the article all about our schools success in terms of the competition, I was worried that it wouldn't be put forward for print due to the lack of images. However, I did get printed in today's (7th Feb) edition of the paper, along with four other articles. I would probably say that this has been my favourite day so far, simply because I overcame my anxieties about having to do phone research, and also was alot more comfortable in what I was doing, and I no longer felt like the TY in for work experience I felt like one of the news team. 

Finally Settling In :)

On my fourth day at the Liffey Champion Newspaper, I was finally beginning to fully settle in. This was definitely my best and busiest day of my work experience so far.
Including myself there were three people on work experience, one girl from college and one from another school who was in T.Y. she was lovely and it was nice knowing there was someone there in the same situation as me.
The day started as it was to continue, with loads of press and media releases. I had to read through them and  write them up into stories, which I really really love :)
I was doing this pretty much for the whole day, along with some research and also a phone call or two. I did give myself a few little breaks to get a cup of tea despite being super busy...
Final duties of the day were to proofread some stories that were to be printed and then hand them into the editor with any corrections underlined. They were then sent on upstairs to be corrected for printing.
I got a few things published again this week and I super pleased with that :)

Love this placement.

Second and third day :)

My second and third day of my work experience in The Liffey Champion Newspaper, I have decided to write about together as many of the duties I had are pretty much the same each week. (And I also forgot to write about week two earlier...apologies)
So, on both the second and third day, I got in some press releases, and some media releases, and wrote them up into stories.
I also got to make a few phone calls which was a good experience, ringing up people to find out what you need to know is a useful skill.
I am continuing to get more comfortable in my placement there, and I also continuing to  have my writing published so I'm really glad I secured the placement when I did :)

Liffey Champion :D

My second work experience placement is at the Liffey Champion Newspaper in Leixlip. I was so so glad of securing this placement as journalism is something I have a huge interest in. When initially turned down, I persisted, and got the place!! :D I was over the moon.
My first day was really very nerve wrecking, as I going to be way out of my comfort zone. However, when I got there and I met my supervisor, I was instantly put at ease, she was lovely. I was given press releases, and even Facebook Statuses and I had to make them into stories or articles.
As Wednesdays are the day that the paper goes to press, it is a super busy day so I have plenty of things to write to keep me busy.
The experience was fantastic and I also had my own articles published, so overall it was fantastic !! :D

9th day...only one week left?? :O

On this day of my work experience, reality set in. It was my second last day. I realised just how much I would love to do all my placements in the school.

Today was...simply fantastic. I absolutely loved this day. I spent the morning with a great third class group. I really had a great time in there as I got to play several maths games with the class, and they were so lovely and allowed me to join in to play myself. Then I got to hear some of the children reading me extracts from their favourite school library books. I even got to have some Stone Age projects presented to me by the students with the best ones. After all this "show and tell" I got to do some real maths helping work. Teaching them how to multiply by ten and helping with their four times tables. Really rewarding experience working with the class.

Again I was with the junior infants, (little balls of energy). They can be really hard to keep track of, and really hard to tame, but with praise and patience, they can be really fantastic to work with. I didnt stay there long so I havent much to say about my time in that class. After, I looked down at my timetable, and was absolutely delighted to see that I was in with the same fourth class as the week before :)

I love love love this class, the teacher is amazingly friendly and really allows me to get straight in to the teaching and throws me right in at the deep end, which I love! The class itself, as in the children, are also incredibly friendly, all polite, they like to laugh and joke with me but also will take my instruction without any moans and groans. They are so welcoming and enthusiastic, and, for helping them, the teacher and students presented me with a Christmas Candy Cane as a thanks. I left the school and walked home in the single best mood I have been in, in ages. :)

Work Experience 8 :)

This day at work experience was really a funny one, with lots of laughs had by all.

In the morning, the vice principal who usually sets us out what we are to do, was absent. Myself and the other girl doing the placement with me, had no idea what to do and where to go. We went in search of tasks, and another teacher informed us that there would be a DVD launch about the history of Celbridge the next evening. What does this have to do with us you ask? Well....for this event, the school wanted to decorate the hall will some balloons. Us girls got the task of blowing them up.

There was just one minor issue with this. Neither of us were any good at blowing up balloons, or tying them for that matter. We were kindly provided with a pump but it broke halfway through it was being used so vigorously. It should probably have only taken two average balloon blowers a couple of minutes, it took us...well...lets say, quite a but longer than that.

After this I was able to go and work with some actual classes, this was great because again, I got to be really interactive with the children. I was in with a class of junior infants (which are very lively to say the least) and then I was in with fourth class. This fourth class, I absolutely love working with. The teacher was so kind, so welcoming and incredibly friendly. The class were enthusiastic, and totally willing to work properly with me in the lesson I was teaching them.

This class has left a lasting impression on me, and I really hope I get to work with them again before the end of my work experience at the school :)