STENO IS FUN!!
The answers that you seek are easy to understand and easy to employ. But they are not the answers that you expect. Let me show you the simple technique of The Shastay Way.
THIS BLOG HELPS ME WRITE. WHEN THE BOOK, THE SHASTAY WAY, IS FINISHED, THIS BLOG WILL DISAPPEAR.
Due to your requests, I will replace this blog with a new one. It will have the same name, and it will located in the same place. The only change you will notice is that the old messages will disappear. You won't have to submit your e-mail address again to continue to receive notification of new blogs.
And yup, I'll continue to talk about the Shastay Way, but maybe not as much.
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Wednesday, June 01, 2005
how to save our free weekly drills
P>QUESTION: Hi. I would like to save your free weekly
drills to my computer, but do not know how to.
Can you advise me? Thanks.
ANSWER: Go up to our site. Find the page that contains the free drills.
To start a drill, you left click on it. But you don't want to start the drill.
You want to save the drill to your computer.
To save the drill, right click on it. A menu will pop up.
Choose "Save target as." That will bring up the normal window that
Windows uses to allow you to save files. Pick the folder you want,
or create a new one.
Once you save, you have the drills for good. Yay!!
Steve Shastay
CourtReportingHelp.com
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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
QUESTION: Do you think that voice writing using speech recognition software
will replace machine writers?
ANSWER: Technology is wonderful, but unpredictable. New items come on the market every
day. Life becomes simpler, better, easier.
But they can only invent things that are within the scope of the present
technology. I don't think they can touch us. I don't see how they can come up with anything
to replace us.
They will continue to have serious problems with voice recognition
for the foreseeable future. Right now, they concentrate on training the operator because the
computer refuses to go along with their game plan.
Mask writers will always be plagued with head colds, sore throats, dry
lips, etc. And there are stories about what an extra chili dog at lunch can do to the
afternoon's translation rate. Plus growling stomachs, toothaches, lip sores, swollen glands,
choice of clothing (tight fitting or not), room temperature, humidity. All these things can and
do affect them. On our bad days, we can slow down to achieve a better translation rate.
They can't. If they can't pronounce the words so that the computer can understand them,
then the computer is not going to translate them.
I don't have anything against mask writers. There is plenty of
room for them in my world. But I believe that their future is no brighter than before.
If they are wrong about being able to compete with machine reporters,
then they will always remain the second, third, or fourth choice. Machine reporters,
naturally, would remain the top choice.
If they are right about being able to compete with machine reporters,
then they will ensure the doom of all skilled reporters, including themselves. If their
technology works, they won't need skilled mask writers at all. They will only need a few
more microphones.
I don't believe that they are right. I don't think that they can climb the
same mountain (realtime) that we climbed many years ago. Even if they can do it, there is a
great upside to all of this.
If they figure out all of the problems, the present mask writers (and you
and me) will face our collective doom and will be replaced by computers. Each computer will
still need an operator to set out the little microphones and say "Testing, testing."
And the operator is well paid to do that. You know why? Because
only a human can ensure that the proceedings occur according to law and that a proper
transcipt is being produced. They will always need us to do that.
; So I don't mind if they could entirely replace us. We'd still
have jobs. Maybe they would call us court operators. Nah, I don't think that will happen. I
think the mask writers will remain a small minority. We will have pen writers forever, but I
don't believe mask writers will last another ten years. Their technology was flawed in the
60s when they began, and it is flawed today. Eventually, the software companies will fold or
move on to more lucrative areas. That will kill realtime for mask writers.
But here is something to think about. Our profession is blossoming. I
say that we shouldn't worry about the mask writers. Any mask writer out there should be
given a chance to compete without any hostility from us. We have more than enough work.
There will be a shortage of reporters for many years. Captioning and
CART will expand at ever-increasing rates. This is where the big money is. This is where the
future lies. It is our future. We are the only viable option.
We will always be around. The technology will change. It won't make a
difference. Captioning, CART, law, reality TV -- they are clamoring for us and they are
creating new jobs for us. We have the skills. They need us. They will always need us.
It is good to be a reporter.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Three Strikes and You're Out
I have created a steno game -- Three Strikes and You're Out. It is very simple, and there is an awful lot of good readback.
First, deal everybody five cards. No, no, no, just kidding. Pick any drill. Drill for a minute. Start the readback.
Each student reads a sentence. The student finishes her turn if she can read the sentence without having three consecutive errors. If she makes three consecutive errors, then her turn is over. The next student must finish her sentence.
So each student reads one full sentence or finishes up the sentence if the previous person had three consecutive errors before finishing the sentence.
"Three consecutive errors" is defined as:
1 three dropped words (words that the student did not write)
2 three words that are too sloppy to be read
3 three words that are mistranslated in any way (this definitely includes endings)
4 any combination of the above
I suggest that you include one more rule. The student is automatically out if she has to search for the proper sentence. This rule will really speed up the readback. Students quickly learn how to beat this rule. And there is only one way to do that. They learn to stay up with the readback. And hey, all teachers struggle to keep their students focused on the readback. This is almost an automatic fix for those "lost sheep" who are never in the right place.
Don't keep score. Start a new game on each and every drill. The purpose is not to see who is the best student. The purpose is to get all of the students writing a little bit better. So make sure that students do not remain "out." They take their regular turn at readback every time.
You will find that none of your students are "out" all of the time. And you will find that none of your students can successfully read the sentence each time. Everybody will stumble at times and shine at other times. And since no one is keeping score, you will not have to worry about the class polarizing into winners and losers. This is very important. No one is a loser. We are just at different skill levels. And we are all moving forward, right? Who cares who is a little faster today as long as everybody improves? We will all reach the goal.
I find this to be very popular with the students. Every time a student finishes a sentence successfully, the student receives positive feedback. Everyone in the room knows that that student rose to the challenge. Our students can't pass a test every day. But they can succeed at this game every day. They can win at it every day. They can get that all important attaboy every day.
The real kicker is that every student can win at this game every time. All a student must do to win is to write every third word. That will ensure that the student does not drop three consecutive words. Even on tough dictation, a student who does not fall behind will be able to write at least one out of every three words.
I don't have time to explain the full benefit of this game. Perhaps another time. Suffice it to say that I have found that all students succeed if they can write clearly and avoid any drop over three words.
Conversely,I have also found that writing 260 will not ensure that you pass your 225s if your 260 cannot be read or if your 260 has holes in it from large quantities of dropped words. I may have said this before, but it stands repeating. Those speed champions may be pushing their own brand of speed on you, but even they do not believe in it. All you have to do is ask them if they would lose their job because they were too slow and had to ask the witness to slow down (no, they wouldn't) or if they would lose their job because they wrote too sloppy and couldn't produce a transcript (yes, they would).
Steve Shastay
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
I started this quarter with 40 students who were preparing for their first 60 wpm tests. I test the students at the 60 and 80 wpm level. After that, they are free to move on.
I have less than half that original number now. Of those who remain in the class, a few of them need their 60 wpm tests, most of them are working on their 80s, and some of them have passed their tests and have elected to stay in the class to solidfy their writing.
The rest of the students have moved on to the 100 and 120 classes.
Of those students who have completed their 80 wpm tests:
1 All of them write with a high degree of clarity
2 Most of them do not drop 5 words in any section of the drill. (Dropping words refers to what happens when the student cannot write all of the drill and therefore must "drop."
3 Those who do suffer from large drops are able to pass their tests on the basis of pure speed. In other words, they pass some tests with flying colors, but they may perform poorly the next day on similar material. Their scores swing between near perfection and disaster.
Of those students who have not completed their 80 wpm tests:
1 Some of them fluctuate between clarity and sloppiness from day to day.
2 Most of them are afflicted with large drops.
Of those students who maintain their clarity at all times and keep their drops to three words or less:
1 Some are in the 120 class
2 Most are in the 100 class
3 The rest have completed their 60s and 80s and have elected to stay in my class until the end of the quarter.
4 100% of them are making fine progress.
I cannot find any other group that has a 100% success rate. That is why I only teach clarity and how to drop correctly.
This isn't theory. The evidence is clear. If you write clean and keep your drops small, you will succeed.
This has been integral to the message of CourtReportingHelp.com since it first hit the Internet in 1999.
Just remember that you heard it here first -- for the gazillionth time.
Steve Shastay
Steno Rebel
"What makes one indignant about suffering isn't the thing itself, but the senselessness of it." Nietzsche
Monday, May 09, 2005
Question: I am having problems with accuracy. The speed is there but the accuracy is not. Any suggestions?
ANSWER: There are several things that you can do. All of them require low-speed drill. All of them cure problems with clarity. All of them require that you either (A) write accurately, or (B) slow down until you can write accurately.
Finger Drills: Can’t say enough about them. Anna Mae Tedley loves them, and she should know. The theory behind Finger Drills is that you cannot stroke the words unless you can stroke the individual letters. Great drill for clarity.
Hard Copy Drills: Hard Copy Drills are done by reading from a newspaper, a magazine, a book, etc. When you do these drills, you are not on a clock. You can go at any speed you want. I want you to ignore the speed. Instead, work on moving smoothly from one stroke to the next.
Do not rush. Allow your hands to slow down, if they must. DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO STOP. You should, at all times, be able to stroke the next brief, phrase, word, syllable without stopping to think about the stroke. By the time you get to the word, you should have your stroke ready.
This drill, if done as I outlined it, is great for clarity and for hesitation.
Speed Teacher Drills: If you use the Speed Teacher, you want to use the drills that we call Step One, Step Two, and Step Three.
They are methods of drill. You can find them by going to CourtReportingHelp.com. Click on Speed Teacher. Click on “Please use these drills with the Speed Teacher.”
Step One is for Clarity. Step Two is for Hesitation. Step Three helps to put it all together.
When you can write accurately, you will find that you can return to your regular speed, and the accuracy will be there.
At first, it will only be there for a short time. You will fall back into bad habits. Each day, you must reinforce your clarity.
As time goes on, accuracy will become second nature. When you reach such a point, you will only need to do maintenance on your clarity.
Right now, you are not doing maintenance. You are rebuilding. You must expect periods when your clarity disappears. You must expect that you will feel “out of sync” with some of the drills because you are beginning to focus on clarity.
Stick with it. We need good stenographers out there. It will come together for you in time.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
The Legend of SlowHand Lucy
She just appeared one day. She was returning to stenography after a long absence. She had once made it to her 100s, but we placed her in the 60s class when she returned.
I told her that she would experience times when she would not remember the correct outline or stroke. At those times, she must stroke phonetically correct strokes -- and avoid the hesitation.
I told her that she would experience an odd phenomenon. There would be times when she would remember that a certain word was a brief, but she would not remember the brief. When that happened, her brain would insist on using the brief, even though it could not remember the brief.
In that situation, her job was still the same. She must stroke phonetically correct strokes -- and avoid the hesitation. Truthfully, it is harder to avoid this kind of hesitation. The brain is in conflict. It wants to use the brief, but it can't remember it.
This lady started slow, picked up speed, and maintained steady progress through school without ever getting stuck at any level. She did not zoom through each speed, but she always moved through every class at a constant rate.
Every time she entered a new class, the students would begin to talk about her. It did not seem possible that she could be in their class. Her hands moved so slowly.
They found out on the first readback that she did belong there. She could always read her notes in every class from Day One forward.
But it was the slow hands. That was what they would talk about. How could she write so slow and still keep up with them.
Many, many students watched that lady enter their class, sit with them for a few months, and then move on down the hall to the next speed.
They didn't learn her secret.
She wrote clear readable strokes at all times.
She wrote as fast as she could each day, but only as fast as she could write clear readable strokes.
She allowed her hands to stroke naturally and normally without forcing the strokes.
No wasted time. No wasted effort.
The students still talk about her. She is gainfully employed as a reporter. She has about a year of experience. She has come back to my classes once or twice to talk to my students. Today, she was at the school to visit some of her friends in the 225 class. I saw her and dragged her into my class for a short introduction.
Was she a "natural?" I don't think so. I think she was an average student.
She had one advantage.
She believed that controlled writing would produce readable strokes.
She was correct.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Mea culpa (or j'ac·cuse little ol' me)
Knowledge is power. Part of the problem of writing the words is simply being familiar with them. I don't really care if you use briefs or not. That is your choice. I think that it is critical that you know what outlines you intend to use. Take a look at what happened to me in school.
I never had a brief for the word "malicious." I always wrote it out. It was two strokes. When I was in school, that word caused a lot of trouble. I always wanted to change the outine. I didn't like that it was two strokes, and I didn't like the fingering pattern of the second stroke.
So it gave me trouble. Every time I would encounter it on a drill, I would hesitate and search for a way around this doggone word. I never found one. I always ended up writing it out as the same two strokes.
But every time, I would still hesitate and search for a better way. That cost me time. It was a two-stroke word, but if you factor in the hesitation, it easily cost me three strokes worth of time to stroke it.
One day, I stopped looking for a better way. I accepted that "malicious" was always going to be a two-stroke word for me. From that time forward, "malicious" became one of my better words.
I have other similar stories.
I hesitated on the words "consequent" and "subsequent" because of their similar outlines. My solution was to write out both words. I think that I can write them out almost as fast as using the brief, and I never have conflicts or slop.
The words "jury," "juror," "injury," and "injure" all have similar briefs in my Theory. Only the vowels are different. I hesitated on those words for about a year after graduation. One day, I sat down and compared their respective outlines. It took just five minutes to straighten out those strokes. From then on, all hesitation was gone.
I could go on and on. I would confuse the words "constitute" and "institute." I tried to write "retire" and "require" the same way. I knew that a certain brief meant either "preponderance of all the evidence" or preponderance of all of the evidence," but I did not know which one was the brief.
It was my fault. I knew that I had trouble with those words, briefs, and phrases. I should have looked them up. Instead, I stumbled over them time and again.
It was my fault. I could have had a net gain in speed if I would have worked out the strokes for each word. I didn't have that gain. I hesitated on them for a long time.
Think about this: If I would have learned the words, I would have removed the hesitation.
And if I had removed the hesitation, I would have had time to write more words.
And if I would have had time to write more words, then in effect, I would have increased the number of words that I could write per minute.
That translates into a speed gain without having to move my hands any faster.
Too bad I didn't do that.
It was my fault.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Today is the end of the first week of the semester. My job is to finish the final handful of chapters in the Theory book, and then prepare the students to test. My goal is to have everyone pass at least their 60 wpm test. Many of them will pass their 80s. A growing percentage will pass 100s and above.
Here is a brief review of the week.
The first two days were spent with very simple drill. These students were new to me. I had to find out who I was dealing with. The drill was slow and easy, but it was not a waste. Heck, every drill should be done with a specific purpose. I told them that they should learn to pop out the strokes as fast as they could on the easy drill. If they form the habit with easy drill, they will be able to apply it at high speed. This is the root of carrying. Students who insist on carrying will carry words even when it should be easy for them to catch up. So this type of drill taught them to stay up with the dictation.
I handed out a form that I am developing. The working title is the Shastay Way Ten-Week Course. The name will be changed. It doesn't describe the purpose of the forms. The purpose is to prepare the students for speed classes. Students get one page each day. Each day's page will have a section with 20 words on it from the Top 1000 Briefs. No definitions; just the words. Another section may have a drill, a tip on how to drill, advice on assorted topics. There is also a tip on how to stroke, a tip on grammar/English, and an inspirational quote.
The forms for this week recommended various finger drills and review of contractions, diphthongs, Top 100 words, etc. I want them to concentrate on the basics. Above all, they need to write strong clear strokes.
On the second day of class, we were still writing slowly and concentrating on the basics, but I gave them a very hard technical dictation. On other drills, I would build up the speed and then read back at a low speed to check their accuracy. On this hard technical drill, I told them that it would be extremely tough, but I would dictate very very slow. Oh, and they had to read back every drill.
It went great. They could read their notes on words that nobody in the room had ever heard of before. Two good reasons to read back everything on tough material. 1) You must ensure that accuracy remains high even on tough material. 2) The students need a break from the intensity of the drill. Tough material is, by definition, tough. (Like, duh) If the students don't get a chance to regain their composure, they won't perform at their top level.
The third day's technical drill was much harder. It dealt with tectonic plates, lithospheres, asthenospheres, oceanic trenches, and so on. They read back every drill. I always do readback on technical.
Their homework on the third day consisted of three things:
1 Write down the three Theory chapters that give them the most trouble.
2 Write down the three chapters that give them the least trouble.
3 Write down 15 words that they want to learn. They must also have the definitions.
I was going to collect the papers and review them on Friday, but I ran out of time. I will do it on Monday. Here is what I do with them.
First, I go through and call out the different chapters that students put down as causing trouble. I add my comments as to how to drill. At this level, the students are apt to forget chapters that gave them trouble. All they have is short-term memory for the most part. They need to be reminded constantly. The discussion opens up their eyes.
Then, I go through the chapters that give them the least trouble. I warn them to ensure that they have really conquered the chapters that they wrote down. And I point out that a lot of the chapters appear on both lists. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses. And everybody should know what their weaknesses are so that they can focus on them and correct them. Their problems are not the same. The solutions are not the same.
Finally, I go through their lists of 15 words. Everybody learns a ton of new strokes.
Friday was the fourth day.
On every day of the week, the students were drilled, drilled, drilled on the Magic Drill that I published in an earlier blog. The first couple of times through the drill, I gave them no special instructions. I wanted them to become familiar with it. After that, they were told to always drop the last word of each sentence. It felt funny to them at first, but by the end of the week, they were writing and dropping very fast.
On several days this week, the students had drills of 5 or more minutes. Nothing was longer than 8 minutes. They were cautioned to pay particular attention to the end of the drill. That is when they would be most likely to break down, lose concentration or become tired. They will get increasing amounts of this drill each week. By the third week, they should be doing 15 or 20 minutes with no problems.
On several drills, I told them that I would do one-minute drills at 60, 80 and 100. Before the 60, I told them to write clean strong strokes. Before the 80, I told them to write clean, and either stay up with the dictation or drop the extra so that they stay up with the dictation.
Before the 100, I taught them how to recognize if they were doing speed drills the wrong way. I said that if the speed causes them to write sloppy, then they are doing the drill wrong, and it will corrupt their writing. I said that there is an easy way to find out if they did the speed drill incorrectly. All you have to do is read back easy stuff immediately after the speed drill. So what I did was dictate at 100 and then at 60. I gave the students two seconds to mark the spot between the drills. So they virtually went straight from 100 down to 60. If the 100 caused them to write sloppy, it would show up on the 60.
On two days this week, the students typed up a practice one-minute test. The first day was a simple test at 60 wpm. The second day, I dictated at 60, 80, and 100. They had to type up two of them. The students had to grade their work, and then show it to me for analysis. The 80 and 100 tests started to reveal problems. Most of the advice concerned large drops.
On the final day of the week, the hard technical drill was common jury charge. Since they are Theory students, they do not know all of the neato shortcuts that make jury charge a piece of cake. I treated the drill just like other technical material. Every drill was read back. I did add a twist that is designed to force students to face their test nerves. I picked a student for readback. That student chose the speed of the drill. Talk about test nerves. As each student was picked, that student knew that the next drill was going to be read to the whole class. They did fine. This drill ties in with their homework.
Friday's homework was a page of jury charge drill. I chose a special one that is full of common briefs and phrases. The students do not have to use the briefs and phrases. That is their choice. Their homework was to figure out what strokes they were going to use. On Monday, we will be reviewing that in class. It will be helpful. They know what it was like to struggle through "hard" jury charge. They can't wait to learn those briefs so that they turn the hard JC into easy JC>
The students are only several weeks from testing. They are writing strong. They are learning briefs, phrases, words, by the shovelful. They have learned to drop, but not how to choose the correct words to drop. They are becoming aware of their tendencies. It is a good start.
There are a million other little things that I covered. I reviewed the Theory book twice. The first time through was a review of lessons. When that was done, we reviewed the briefs, phrases, tips, advice, etc., from those lessons. We did a lot of Finger drills. We did a few StairStepper drills. Next week, we will learn the basics of how to drop correctly. It should be fun.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
QUESTION: I think too much
QUESTION: I have a question. I can't seem to pass my 80 testimony. ALL of my teachers have told me the same thing. I think too much. I am going to do your hesitation drill - but I also really want to find a rhythm. Is there a way to learn or establish rhythm?
ANSWER: If you had said the problem was with Literary material, I would advise hesitation drills. But you say that it is a Testimony problem, and I think you are exactly right about the rhythm. Testimony presents its own particular problems. The words tend to be small and easy, but unless you keep up a good pace, you will get lost. This is especially true of short Questions and Answers.
I can't say for sure if you are experiencing a problem with concentration (Gee, how long will this test go on?) or what I call "editing" (Did I do that last stroke correct? What is the correct outline for the next word?)
If it is concentration, I have a couple of tricks. Drill at home with any of the following things as a distraction: radio, television, dryer, kids, relatives, etc. The dryer is a really good one. Every dryer is built with a really annoying buzzer. I really hate that sound. If I can drill through that, I can drill through anything.
I have another excellent aid to build concentration. Reduce the volume of your drills. Any decrease in volume will force you to listen more attentively. This technique works with minimum effort. You will be surprised at the results. Before you know it, you will find yourself totally immersed in the drill.
But I think you are doing something closer to "editing." I would guess that you are either checking the strokes as you are writing or you are thinking too hard about what kind of stroke to use on the next word. Of the two choices, I think it is the second one.
If you are checking the strokes as you are writing, you should
1 focus entirely on the next word
2 ignore the words as soon as you have stroked them
3 learn to stroke clear enough so that you do not feel the need to check your work as you write
4 realize that if you write a word incorrectly, use the asterisk to delete that stroke, and then write the word again, you have turned that word into a three-stroke word. Write it correctly the first time and save time.
5 read your notes after the drill. This is the time to evaluate your work.
6 remember your priorities. Job One on a test is always the next word. Keep your attention where it should be.
7 trust yourself. Check your work later. Right now, trust yourself to write up to your abilities and get the job done.
But if I was guessing, I'd be guessing that you fall into this next category.
If you are thinking too hard about the correct stroke to use, you should
1 resolve to keep your hands moving at all times.
2 ignore the speed. That just may be what got you into trouble. If you are spending time thinking about briefs and phrases, then you are wasting time. Briefs and phrases must save you time. The definition of a good brief or phrase is always the same: It must be easily remembered and easily stroked. You should not use them if you have to pause to think of them or if they lead to misstrokes.
3 force yourself to write the word or drop the word. If your hands aren't moving, you are not producing. Keep them moving.
4 ignore the speed. I know I already covered this, but it is important; so here's another angle. You are thinking about what stroke to use because you don't like any of your choices. You don't want to write out the word and you can't remember the brief. I am telling you to write out the word. You don't want to do that. Writing out the average word does not take too long. Do it.
5 write down the words, briefs, and phrases that stumped you on the drill or test. Look them up at home. Practice them.
6 learn your Theory after the test. It is possible that you are hesitating because you insist on writing absolutely perfect notes. Nobody can remember all of the strokes. Sometimes the best you can do is to write a good phonetically correct stroke.
7 remember that you are in a race. You will only pass the test if you can translate enough strokes. You can only translate them if you write them. Therefore, you must continue to write at all times. No other choice is acceptable.
8 recognize that the problem is that you are not making your choices in time. All you have to do is choose how to write the stroke a little bit faster. Easy way to tell: if your hands ain't moving, you aren't choosing fast enough.
9 leave your hands alone when they are moving. Some strokes are slower than others. If you try to force your hands to write faster than they can, they will overload. You will end up with herky-jerky writing and maybe a total shutdown of the hands for a second or two.
10 use the skills that you have at the present time. School is a learning situation. You aren't perfect yet. When you are in the test, you must make split-second decisions. Choose the best stroke or outline that comes to mind immediately. If you want a better way to stroke the word, practice it after the test.
11 chill out. Unleash your natural abilities by relaxing. Stress and nerves are debilitating. They can impede your success. It is a very common observation by students that the tests become much easier as soon as they have passed the ones that they need. They don't really become easier. When the students pass and are no longer stressed, they stop fighting themselves and consequently they begin producing better work.
12 remember that school is relatively unimportant in your life. Your family is important. Your health is important. Your retirement is important. School gives you what you need (a great education and job) so that you can take care of what is important. Each test is not a life-or-death situation.
13 have fun in school. Life is too short.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
This is the drill that I use to teach students how to drop. Even though it is not really magic, it does the trick.
This drill was originally designed to teach phrases. Each sentence has three strokes if you use the simple phrases. Not only that, there is a definite rhythm to the sentences. Phrase, word, word. Phrase, word, word.
Since this drill is so easy, it is also the perfect drill to teach "speed." I prefer to tell the students that I am teaching them not to hesitate. They are more likely to end up with the "speed" that they want if they concentrate on the hesitation.
But back to learning how to drop.
This drill is excellent to teach students how to drop. The drill is so easy that they can concentrate entirely on the new technique.
All right, we are almost ready. But first, I want to go over the reasons that I want you to learn to drop.
People who fall behind the speaker tend to drop disastrously large amounts of words at one time. In our school, a 200 student needs to have 20 errors or less on a test. One drop can use up 1/3 or more of the total errors that a student can have on a test.
People who fall behind the speaker believe that they would pass their tests if they were just a little bit faster. When they fall behind, they are able to catch up in most cases. They feel that if they had a little more speed they would be able to catch up all of the time and that would remove their drops.
Sadly, that strategy usually does not work. First of all, if you can catch up most of the time when you fall behind, then you are consistently demonstrating the ability to write above the speed that you need. Simply put, you can't catch up unless you write faster than the speed of the test. So if you can catch up, then you have enough speed to pass. It ain't the speed.
What you need to do is to learn how to stay up. Here's the whole Magilla in one neat little package.
Think about how many words you can fall behind the dictation before your brain goes into overload and you drop. Everyone has a different number. For my example, I will pick 10 words.
That is many more words than I ever want anybody to carry. That is a ton of words. But just for the example, if you fall ten words behind, you will drop a lot of words.
If you normally carry six words, then you are only four words away from dropping. If you are carrying six words and a hard section comes up, you are in big trouble.
What would happen if you reduced the number of words that you carry? If you carry three words, then you won't necessarily drop on a hard section. You can fall seven more words behind before you reach your breaking point.
So if you can learn to stay up a little bit more, then you will pass more tests because you won't have big drops. You don't have to write faster. You just have to learn to stay up.
I don't recommend that you wait until you reach your breaking point before you drop. Just like the relief valve on a pressure cooker, I want you to drop now and then so that you do not overload. I am not teaching you to drop more words. I am teaching you to drop fewer words. When you learn how to drop before you reach total meltdown, then you will avoid the huge drops. You drop the occasional word instead of dropping a whole sentence.
It's cool. It works. And it makes steno fun.
Here is the Magic Drill. It isn't long since I only use it in Theory. I have a longer version that I will give you when it is ready. The Magic Drill is marked in ten-word increments. When I finally get the book done, I will have a series of Magic Drills on CD that I will include with the book. There may be additional drills written and recorded separately by somebody else at Court Reporting Help. For now, you can take this drill to your teacher and have her run through it a couple of times at different speeds. Record the drill. Then use it at home.
The Magic Drill
That would be fine. Who can be sure? So far, / so good. They have a car. What is the time? / That is the end. They should make it. No sir, / not us. We could do it. No, ma’am, you win. / Park it out there. She was a nurse. This would / go well. You are the best. They could take two. / Yes, sir, he won. She would work hard. I can / do it. They were on top.
This is the one. / I want to win. He is bad news. Will the / snow come? I have the note. She is the girl. / We can wash it. There are a lot. Who could / tell me? We had it last. He should walk up. / It was put there. Who can make room? They would / look there. Where is it at? There would be more. / I want to act. When is the song? Where is / your home? I have to paint. There is much more. / They were the worst. Will the class start? They were / near home. He is too slow. I have a pet. / I should take it. So much for that. That is / the row. He said to go. I have a chance. / Is the horse gone? That was my cake. Too much / was said. Which are the same? Yes, ma’am, drive up. / She was the best. They had a stall. No, sir, / wait here. That is the fruit. We can make it. /
This week is the start of a new semester for us. I have a new class of students. They are on the final leg of Theory. They will be testing soon. I am using this drill to teach them. So far, they have done two things with the drill. The first thing is that they have practiced it just like any other drill. I did this so that they would be very familiar with the drill.
The second thing is more interesting. It is their first step toward learning to stay up with the speaker and to drop when necessary.
What I do is I announce that I want them to drop the last word of every sentence. Each sentence is four words long. That means that they are only writing three out of every four words.
I tell them that the drill is at 60 wpm. In other words, I will dictate at 60. They are not to write at 60 wpm. They are supposed to drop the last word in each sentence; therefore, they are really writing at 45 wpm.
It is hard for them to do at first. But after a few times through, they have little trouble. We have already moved the speed up to 80 wpm. I dictate at 80. They drop the last word in each sentence; so they are writing at 60. In a week, I should be able to dictate at 100 for short bursts.
The students are learning to drop without hesitation. That is a good thing. But it is not enough. They must learn to choose which words to drop. When they are comfortable with this drill, I will modify to help them learn to choose.
Since I have a new class, I will show you the type of drills that I use from the first week to the last week. Along the way, I will show you how to modify the Magic Drill to create more advanced drills. It's not hard.
I have one other goal for this quarter. After graduating from Theory, many students are shocked at the pace of a normal speed class. It can be overwhelming. This quarter, I will take selected class hours and drill the Theory students just like the speed classes. I have always done that at the end of the quarter, but now I will be doing it each and every week for an hour here and there. I'll write about that soon.
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