GRAMMAR, AAVE, ETHICS, & HUMOR

Session 1

Title: "The Game of Court Reporting Life" - (Ethics) 1.0 Hour - Instructor: Pam Coder

Learning objectives include employing various methods of solving issues that happen to us each and every day in the “game of court reporting life.” We each have our own methods of solving problems. We will have a game and lively discussion on how to handle those common and uncommon situations.

Session 2

Title: "Subbing in Court" 2.0 Hours - Instructors: Pam Coder & Kathy McDaniel

Learning Outcomes:

     Learning objectives include knowing ahead what is necessary to sub in the various different types of courts from juvenile to probate to civil to criminal, et al.   

 Content Outline:

     This session will introduce the various documents that are necessary to sub in court, the questions to ask when you are subbing, the equipment necessary to sub, what to ask the judge, and the court of appeals process.

 The participants will discover:

     How to feel confident subbing in court 

     How to fill out the necessary forms

     Getting sworn in 

     Questions to ask ahead  

Session 3

Title: Which Rules Govern? (Ethics) 1.5 Hours - Instructor: Pam Coder

 Learning Outcomes:

     Learning objectives include learning the rules and regulations that govern court reporters in all the different types of litigation.  What rules apply to which situation?  Is it State?  Is it Federal? 

 Content Outline:

     This session will include a list of situations and the rule that applies to that situation.  Is it TRCP?  Is it Government Code?  Is it Court Reporting Ethics?  Is it TRAP?  Which rule governs?  

 The participants will discover:

     How to search and where to search to find the appropriate rule(s).  

    Which rule governs which circumstance. 

Session 4

Title: "The Power of Words" 1.5 Hours - Instructor: Pam Coder

Learning Outcomes:

     Learning objectives include learning the power of positive words.  What you say and how you say it on a daily basis affects how attorneys, paralegals, judges, basically every person, reacts to you.  Words matter.   Social media matters.

 Content Outline:

     This session will include positive phrases and key words and the tone in which we use them to aid in helping our business’s run smoothly and profitably.

 The participants will discover:

     How to speak positively to gain more business. 

     How to more positively interact with firms and staff or courts and staff and others in our industry.

Session 5

Title: "What is AAVE"? 2.0 Hours - Instructor: Kathy McDaniel

Learning Outcomes:  The familiarization of different forms of speech within the urban African-American community.

Content Outline: 

1. Video presentation – “Reviewing Black American Slang Words” –   Discussion

2. Short Article – “What is Ebonics?”

1. What does AAVE sound like?
2. What does it look like; how is it written? 
3. What do people think of it? 
4. Where did it originate?

 The participants will learn:

1. How “code switching” is used. 
2. Urban slang

Session 6

Title: "Simple Solutions" 2.0 Hours - Instructors: Pam Coder & Jeff Justice

 Learning Outcomes:

• Include learning the correct punctuation, use of numbers, when to capitalize, whether a word is one word or two, homonyms and will cover the areas of research, sic, phonetic and verbatim.

 Content Outline:

This session will cover some of the problems court reporters face with

• Punctuation
• Comma, virgule, hyphen, or nothing?
• Numbers and capitalization
• One word or two?
• Homonyms
• Research, sic, phonetic, verbatim