Writing has been one of my main areas of focus through the development of my whole career. Teaching helped me develop instructional and technical writing skills, while content creation has helped me make a big impact with minimal words. The two together have helped me know how to navigate different demands, and be flexible in needs for each purpose and audience. Below are examples of instructional writing, press kits, outlines, and promotional writing.
Instructional Writing
As an educator, it's important to reach all learning styles and levels in one document, but be able to tailor how that looks for each different course. Below is an example of a major information delivery in the form of a syllabus for two distinctly different levels. The left is a syllabus for a Dual Credit (grade 11) Composition Course, and the right is a syllabus for an Inclusion (up to 50% Special Education students) English I (grade 9) course.
Press Kits
Creating a press kit for myself as well as my podcasts has been an excellent exercise in streamlining information to fit on a one-page overview of a whole brand. The "About" sections focus on being informational as well as engaging, and showing how the work stands out from other content in the same genre. The Adventure Incorporated and Protest too Much press kits were meant to fit into a network portfolio, using similar organization and design elements to create consistency.
Episode Outlines
When recording content for podcasts or streams, outlines are a key way to organize information and make sure the episode is staying on track. In the case of the Audition Infinity Gauntlet outline, I had to have pieces of Shakespearean text to reference while explaining each potential audition monologue, as well as overarching information that I wanted to reinforce throughout the video. For the Swoontower notes, they are a bit more general, focusing on topic headlines as the episode is built more on rapport between hosts and improv.
Show Notes
Show notes are an effective way to make the content of an episode clear to a listener, and also link relevant sites/social links while maintaining a consistent brand voice. For Protest too Much, notes are more straightforward with topic and guest information, while Swoontower plays off of the silliness in the show to add a bit of engaging flair for what's to come in the episode.
Promotional Writing
In order to stand out amidst hundreds of panels at DragonCon, panel promotions have to be clear and engaging, and include all relevant information for someone to attend without having to ask questions. For the Sketching Shakespeare panel, since it's an original style of show, I worked to hook the audience with a pun while making the genres of art and literature the clear focus. Then, I worked to make the panel format as clear and efficiently worded as possible. For the Princess Bride Panel, the name is almost enough alone to draw audiences. In order to make the improvisation and role play elements clear as well, I drew from the movie script list of story genres and built upon that to show that this is something new within the established world.