Famous sports announcer Rod Black was on campus as part of a month-long guest lecture series for broadcast journalism students.
During his first visit, he spoke to the students about his career at TSN and CTV and taught the boys the importance of the “hook, the punch, and the giftwrap.” At the end of the first lesson, he charged the boys with writing a 30-second piece on another student in the class – the key was that they needed to identify and include the three elements.
When Mr. Black returned to the class on Monday, each student shared their 30-second assignment. He timed the students because “hitting the count is the most important thing,” he told them. He also advised them to brush aside their nerves, “…compared to all the things you’re going to do in life, speaking in front of people is really easy.”
He encouraged the boys to be themselves, “Don’t get up and try to be an anchorman or someone you aren’t.” After each presentation he deconstructed what was good and what could be improved upon. He helped them further develop their points and talked about their structure. He encouraged them to take their assignments to the next level – get more creative, more vibrant, use more powerful words, and befriend the thesaurus.
Mr. Black, father of grade 10 student Tyler, passed on a few tips for remembering their speech and shared his trade secrets in interviewing, writing, and reporting. One of his biggest tips was to listen, because “if you are listening during an interview, you will never run out of questions.”
The students are now working on a one-minute segment on “The Magic of SAC.” Mr. Black will return to the class next week to evaluate the work the boys have done and provide some constructive criticism to improve their next assignment.
And just maybe, the Andrean community will have an opportunity to see some of these assignments on the next segment of SAC Today.
Story by Nicolette Fleming
