Make Headlines with the quality of your writing

What most students know:

Journalistic Writing is different from “English Class Writing”

The paragraphing for journalism is “weird”

Journalism uses quotes from people

Journalism, like English, has a focus in the writing

What most students don’t know:

How to find an angle for a journalism piece (where’s the prompt?)

How and where to gather information for a story

How to organize the story (wait, I have to figure out the best order?)

How to write the story

So, how do we teach them?

Unfortunately, many students are not consistent consumers of news

Or, if they are, they are getting their news from non-traditional sources

We need to make them critical consumers of news

If the want to learn how to write, they need to learn how to read

How do we make them critical ?

Based off of AVID’s Critical Reading Strategies

Students need to learn how to read

The process is simple, but it means that we need to give them the opportunities to help them become better readers

What the strategy looks like:

They need to be marking the texts you read and keeping their marked texts in a binder or folder or bin where they can go to for help

Make the margins of the text a little wider so there is plenty of room to write

Before they do this, you should “chunk” the text by grouping paragraphs that go together (e.g. paragraphs 1 - 3 introduce the topic, paragraph 4 - 5 provide background information)

What the students do:

In the left margin, they need to paraphrase what is being said

In the right margin, they need to identify what the author is doing

In the text, they need to circle every time a source is used

They need to underline key lines (lines that show the reader what the focus/angle of the story is)

What the writer does:Sets up the story (the lead)

Provides background information

Adds detail

Provides clarification

Makes connections

Transitions the reader

Quotes a source

Paraphrases a source

Wraps up the story (concludes)

Let’s look at an example

I use this story when students have to write a story about a difficult situation where they need to bring in a lot of description to tell the story

The story, “The Girl in the Window,” is about a young girl out of Florida

Warning...the story is tough to read

Remember

You want to mark the text as you go:

I’ll give you the chunks to work with

In the left margin, paraphrase

In the right margin, identify what the author is doing

Circle sources, underline lines that point to the angle

Here are the chunks:(in paragraphs)

1 - 5

6 - 9

10 - 14

15 - 17

18 - 20

21 - 22

47 - 49

50 - 54

55 - 57

58 - 60

61 - 63

64 - 65

66 - 70

23 - 27

28 - 30

31 - 34

35 - 39

40 - 43

44 - 46

What did you notice?

What does the author do most often?

What ways does the author transition from different sections?

How is the story organized?

How many different sources were used?

What can you infer?

What did the writer have to do to get this story?

Who/what is the story about?

Why is the writer telling this story?

How many people do you think the writer had to talk to in order to get this story?

Significance:

All of the questions you just answered are the same questions you and the writers on your staff should be answering BEFORE you sit down to write

By studying what the pros do, students can better learn the style they need to follow AND make it their own at the same time

What now?

Don’t just read stories

Read stories every day

Interact with them to gain perspective

Organize the stories by type of journalistic writing (feature, sports, news, review, editorial, commentary, etc.)

Star the stories you like and start to emulate those writers

Anything else?

If you are an editor or adviser, give your writers this assignment...over and over

Pick a sample of good writing that relates to what your writers are going to have to cover

Converse with students about the readings before they begin work on a writing assignment

Questions?

Again, this was developed using the methods of AVID Critical Reading

If you would like more ideas on how to incorporate this strategy, or if you would like this presentation, please email me at kwags4@gmail.com