Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Midwestern African American Genealogy Institute 2013 Day #2

After a good nights sleep, and a hearty breakfast in the school cafeteria, I was ready for day #2 of MAAGI. There were four different Tracks offered, and I was taking Track #4.  There was such a wealth of information given at all the other Tracks that I felt compelled to be a part of the other workshops.  However, I made the commitment to follow the "Genealogy As A Profession" track all the way through.

The classes offered on Day two were, Using Blogtalkradio as A Platform to Promote Your Genealogy Business; taught by non other than Bernice Alexander Bennett, the Host of Research at the National Archives and Beyond!  

Bernice Bennett
Lecturing on BlockTalkRadio

Bernice charged our group to produce a blocktalkradio program.  We all had a part in planning and producing the program, even though it was clear who our leaders were. This course was to challenge us in our Genealogy Profession by giving us exposure to what we are doing in the field.  What I took away from this class, is that we all have a unique niche and that we can share it with a public audience.  We don't have to be concerned that we are competing with anyone because we have our own way of presenting.

Angela Y Walton-Raji then did a presentation on Blogging.  I had a preconceived notion that this was going to be a class of review, as I have been blogging for quite awhile...However!  Here I am sitting in class watching Ms.Walton-Raji in motion!  It clicked!  She was teaching me how to do a Professional Presentation to a group of people that wanted to learn about "Telling their Family Story!"  I have a Presentation on Blogging, and I have presented a few times, however, I realized that I needed to make much improvements for it to be professional.  I enjoyed the way Angela incorporated Stories into her presentation.  It was done beautifully!

Angela Y. Walton-Raji
Blogging
So the key element of this class was not only to introduce one to blogging but to Write Your Story!  Write Your Family Story!  Whatever you do, Tell The Journey of the Story!  Sometimes individuals will do so much research and then fail to tell the story...It is important that one tells it so it will be interesting for the next generation.  Don't let your story get lost in documents.

The other classes were Memberships in Benevolent Societies, Resources for Beginners & Professionals taught by Angela Y. Walton-Raji and Creating the African American Genealogy Curriculum by Dr. Shelley Murphy.

Both of these classes opened up new ways to research and think about taking one's profession to the next level by teaching.

I enjoyed some of the tag teaching that occurred in the classes.  Dr. Murphy's teaching style was supreme and she came with a wealth of information.  



Dr. Shelley Murphy

Angela Walton-Raji

Dr. Shelley Murphy
Writing Curriculum

Now you know I can't let you go without sharing some of my daily exploratory adventures around campus....so...Catch me on my next post.

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