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Advertising
Advertising in the Multicultural Community
Multicultural advertising is the goal of this ambitious lesson, which asks immigrants from the community to come in to discuss their businesses and advertising needs and later accept -- or reject -- students selling ads for the school newspaper
Advertising sales
Teaching students that advertising is an important community service; explaining that both businesses and customers benefit and that designing and selling ads requires professional knowledge and personal preparation.
Design and Advertising
A simple lesson that asks students to look at advertising design as part of the process of creating ads. It also discusses "weasel words" used in advertising.
Selling Advertising
A short lesson plan to start students off selling advertising for the newspaper, including what to wear, what to say, etc.
Teens Do Spend Money
This lesson asks students to think about where teens shop and what it would take to entice them to go there by requiring them to build a spec ad. It relies heavily on a Web link.
bias
Bias vs. Perspective: An Inevitable Aspect of Journalism?
There's a difference between bias and perspective, isn't there? This lesson explores how the same topic will be perceived and reported differently by different news organizations (and, possibly, the comics of "Saturday Night Live"!)
Coping With Bias
We all have biases, but often students are unable to see them ("I'm not prejudiced!") This lesson and handout asks students to examine their own biases and to hunt them in news stories from the student paper.
copy editing
Caption Writing Activity
Good caption writing does more than repeat the story; it adds depth. Students will learn that it takes creativity and is more difficult than it looks.
Captions: A picture is worth a thousand words
A lesson about what makes a great caption from the ground up. This lesson could be taught concurrent to a layout and design lesson using pictures and other artwork as points of interest on a newspaper page.
Fitting ideas to the space: Writing headlines
A lesson that assigns students actual layouts and asks them to write heads to fit in that space. Drives home the point that you need to read and understand the story as well as understanding that some layouts make headline-writing impossible.
Headline Writing is Hard!
Students will understand that headline writing is a difficult art. Besides space limitations, it is full of pitfalls that can make the newspaper look foolish. In addition, students will learn to write headlines with these pitfalls in mind.
Writing Headlines
Writing good headlines is more than making them fit in Pagemaker. It's using the right words and forcing yourself to think beyond the obvious. This lesson has students write them manually, eliminating the "cheat" factor.
Critical thinking about media
A Tough Sell: Newspapers to Teens
What motivates people to read newspapers? What is the difference between a reliable and an unreliable newspaper? To whom do newspapers appeal? Is telling the truth always justified? Who decides? When might it be better to refrain from "telling all"?
Be a consumer of news
A lesson that has students compare stories in The New York Times, USA Today and the local newspaper, looking at leads, interview technique and the like.
Becoming an Informed Consumer of Print Journalism
A look at different publications - shoppers, weeklies, regional dailies, metro dailies and national newspapers is instructive. How does each differ? What are they motivated by? Who is their audience?
Do Americans Even Care About Hard News?
Will people watch or read pure hard news and commentary? Does the content of a news program, magazine or newspaper affect what we wish to consume or buy? Does the ownership of those outlets matter?
Evaluating News Broadcasts
Asks students -- who could be in high school, middle school or elementary -- to evaluate news broadcasts and work to create their own broadcast.
Getting the Straight Scoop
A unit on what is "important" and what is "interesting" in news. Students are asked to compare and contrast news outlets on the same story. Later, they write a paper on the topic and what they learned.
Media Manipulation: Women and Race
By asking the definitions of myth, stereotype, bias, news and objectivity, the lesson examines the role of women and people of color in the media.
Recognizing Types of Propaganda in Advertising
An extensive unit that explores propaganda used in advertising, politics and more. Identifies and gives examples of seven types and asks students to find examples and create their own. Also useful in helping students to look critically at PR material.
That's Infotainment! (or What is News?)
What information should the news contain? How has the content of political news change since 1960? Why has the content of political news changed since then? Who is responsible?
The Media and Local Government
What role is the role of the media in determining the direction of local government? Who decides what direction local government should go? (The media, elected officials or the citizens? Who should decide?)
To Be or To Buy: That is the Question
What is the function of news -- to create citizens or consumers? An examination of common news outlets, ownership and the role of the reader/viewer in all this.
Wartime, Censorship and American Democracy
A unit that focuses on several tragic World War II events and leaders' efforts to censor news coverage of them. It brings focus to current issues of military action and potential censorship.
Decisionmaking
Decision making in the newsroom
Decision-making is a primary skill of most reporters and editors. In this lesson, students are asked to practice making decisions and explain their thought processes or rationales for them.
Full coverage
A look at the importance of diversity to coverage. Key questions include: What is our community? What does diversity mean in relation to a high school newspaper? What groups get the most coverage in our paper? Etc.
The Editorial Board Process
By making ethical decisions in a group, students will become better at considering others' thoughts and ideas, and they will also better understand the procedure that the student newspaper practices.
design
Circle in a Box
A deceptively simple exercise: Putting a circle in a three-dimensional box in a layout program. Execution, however, can be much harder.
Laying out the high school paper
Modular layout is the standard for most publications. This lesson asks students to identify part of modular page layout and then design their own in groups, comparing and contrasting to a known standard.
Photojournalism and Creating a Layout
This unit explores photography and design, asking students why photos are important, what makes a good photo story and how one approaches it, and looks at examples of award-winning designs and photos. Has gifted and special education components.
Redesigning The Wheel
A good plan to lay the groundwork for redesiging your school paper. From comparing good publications to yours to eliciting comments to good design elements to use as you go forward.
Redesigning Your High School Newspaper
An extensive plan for redesigning the school paper that could be used at the end of the year during slack time and as a final exam grade. Also great for generating new ideas for the paper.
diversity
A Classroom Discourse on Diversity
A unit that explores the depiction of minorities, women and the elderly, among others in modern media and media from 30 years ago. The great differences between the eras allows diversity to be discussed more easily.
Diversity Does Matter
Covering a diverse student community takes work and a conscious decision to cover people who may be different from you. This lesson explores the ASNE Time-Out for Diversity and Maynard Institute audit material in a high school context.
Finding Diversity
Teaching diversity in a homogenous school can be difficult. Carolyn Woodward tackles it by giving students yarn necklaces and "discriminating" against the ones with yellow yarn. Later, she asks students to identify all the groups at their schools -- and to assess which ones are covered poorly in the school paper.
Incorporating diversity into the school newspaper
A unit that challenges students to expand their comfort level with people different from them by challenging them to compare their newspaper's coverage to the school population -- and then take steps to help it reflect that population.
Introducing diversity into media coverage
Garcia, a teacher in Tampa, asks students to ID bias and inequity in reporting that may exist in mainstream media and consider if this is an issue for the students' own paper.
Photojournalism and Diversity
A photography unit on learning to use the camera by using diversity as a subject. Explores the kinds of diversity, what a photo story is, etc. Has gifted and talented as well as special education components.
The Black and White of News Reporting
A unit examining the portrayal of race in the media -- both in advertising and in news reporting. It asks students to identify and assess it critically.
editing
Editing for AP (and Your Newspaper's) Style
A plan that gets to the heart of the matter of newspaper style. A hands-on lesson (with grading sheet!) that asks students to analyze stories for style errors after an explanation of what it is.
Shorter is Better!
Brevity is an important skill to learn as a reporter. This exercise forces students to write who, what, where, why, when and how in one of the briefest forms there is: the comic strip.
editorial cartoons
Editorial writing
Courtroom Drama as a Lead into Editorial Writing
Using the play "12 Angry Men as a backdrop, students are challenged to think critically about a hypothetical situation and write an interpretive editorial examining both sides of the situation. This lesson plan also address critical thinking skills.
Editorial Writing
Students often have opinions, but can't communicate them effectively. This unit plan will help them improve their persuasive writing skills.
Editorial Writing Lesson
A short and sweet lesson that teaches how to write editorials by using a videotape prompt, a simple format, and group work. Separate structure document is integral to this lesson.
Editorial Writing: What’s on your Mind?!
A unit that asks students to express their opinions in editorials. It asks them to interview people, conduct research and to confirm information before writing an editorial in a journalistic form.
Editorials on Ethical Issues
This lesson asks students: What role do you have in shaping – through advocacy and action – a society you deem to be an ethical society? It then asks them to express these thoughts through editorials, critiquing along the way.
Expressing Opinion for Mass Consumption
A specific unit to get at the purpose and qualities of editorial pages and how editorial differ from news stories. Also delves into editorial writing and how to do it.
Finding a Voice in Editorial and Opinion Writing
This lesson addresses these questions (among others): What is an editorial? What are the basic parts of an editorial? What is a column? A review? What is the role of an editorial board? What are logical arguments and fallacies?
Introduction to the Editorial
A well-thought-out unit on editorial writing that covers research, knowing your audience and errors in logic, among other things.
Writing Meaningful Editorials
How do you write gripping editorials? Make sure the topics are current and that the arguments are compelling. This lesson and exercise will give some other ideas, as well.
entertainment journalism
What's a Good Movie Review?
A five-day lesson that explores all reviews with movie reviews as the example. Uses "Absence of Malice" as the movie to review (with the added benefit of teaching about libel). Asks what makes a good review -- it's more than "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down."
features
Feature story hallmarks
Fundamental lesson that teaches what the feature is, what its hallmarks are, what a nut graph is, where good feature writing is found and what "human interest" is, exactly.
Finding a Voice
In this unit, students are taught how to create a feature story and develop individual writing style -- their voice -- giving a voice to subject of story.
First Amendment
All Speech is Created Equal?
Are all forms of speech protected? How is our society shaped by the First Amendment? Have court interpretations of the First Amendment changed over time? How will new technologies effect the First Amendment?
Celebrating Sunshine Week
A 3-day unit in support of Sunshine Week, a project celebrating open government records. Touches on First Amendment rights, FOIA and censorship. Gives ways to connect with the professional press during the week of March 11, 2007. Includes numerous links, including a video link.
Exploring the First Amendment
A two-day plan that looks at the guarantees the First Amendment affords, then asks students to find examples of those guarantees in action.
First Amendment Fridays
A unit focusing on the First Amendment and its five freedoms. It asks students to explore the freedoms, ask others about them, and see how the First Amendment applies to everyone -- even them. A great opportunity to bring outside speakers into class.
Introduction to the First Amendment
Introduces the five freedoms of the First Amendment to students and lets them see the freedoms in action. Asks them to react/create/collaborate to various First Amendment-related topics, compositions, people and events.
Shoud all the news be printed?
A look at student press freedoms that asks students to write editorials about how much freedom they have and should have.
The First Amendment in Action
This lesson asks students to think about the First Amendment in terms of their lives and society as a whole. It uses questions from the First Amendment survey on www.firstamendmentfuture.org.
The First Amendment: Rights and Responsibilities
A look at student free-speech issues, from Tinker onward, focusing on a graduation day speech with a twist, a free-speech black board controversy and various Student Press Law Center bulletins.
Why Can't I Say That?
Darlene Tallman of Syracuse, N.Y., shares this Constitution Day lesson on key First and 14th Amendment points and free speech. It relies very heavily on Web links.
Graphics and design
Introduction to Infographics
short, introductory lesson on what infographics are, how they are used, what they convey and how to create them. Students are asked to created their own as a project.
Interviewing
Car Raid!: Preparing for an Interview
Preparing for interviews involves learning all you can about the subject. This lesson has students investigate a car and then develop questions and a story based on what they find.
Careers in Journalism
A lesson on bringing a guest speaker in journalism into the classroom. It outlines how the students should prepare for the visit, how to prepare the speaker and how to grade students on the visit.
Effective interviewing
After having students watch television interviews, they are asked to come up with interviews of their own using open-ended questions and a conversational style.
Generating open-ended interview questions
Open-ended questions force the interviewee to explain and talk more -- giving reporters more to quote. This lesson asks students to interview inanimate objects to hone their skills at open-ended questioning.
Interview scenario
This plan hones your students' ability to listen and ask the right questions. Seven role-playing scenarios allow them to ask questions about a news event and write stories based on their questions.
Oral Histories of World War II
A unit designed to introduce students to techniques of transcribing and conducting oral interviews. By interviewing people who lived during World War II, students will gain an understanding of this generation.
The Basics of Features and Interviewing
A lesson that asks students to find a story where there appears to be no story, to value their peers and collegues as interesting people with stories to tell and how to prepare for an interview.
journalism ethics
An ethical framework for journalists
Grubaugh gives us five wonderfully problematic ethics problems straight out of high schools in the recent past and gives some great lists for ethical journalists to follow as they make their decisisons.
Case studies in journalistic ethics No. 1
A one- or two-day lesson (part of a five part unit). This one focuses on a journalist's responsibility and ethical concerns in reporting on illegal immigration, but could be adapted to other sticky topics.
Defining a code of ethics
A lesson for a 90-minute block that outlines what a code of ethics is. It then asks students to compare journalistic ethics to their own "community ethics." Finally, it asks them to draft a code to be used in conjunction with the school newspaper.
Everyday ethics as an editor
Ethical decisionmaking can be an everyday exercise. Here are some questions to ask and some scenarios to explore.
Exploring Ethical Issues
Ethics questions often pique students' interest. This unit plan asks them to develop and their own code of ethics.
Forming a code of ethics
Starting up a school paper, Scholz decided to tackle an ethics policy. A great lesson for introducing journalism ethics.
How Do The Media Measure Up?
What essential standards of journalism should the media follow? What motivates the media? Do the media reflect society? How can we become critical readers and viewers of the media?
It's a Question of Ethics
A multi-day unit exploring ethics, how they apply to the news media, what codes of ethics are and how morality applies to media ethics. Has a handout.
Journalistic ethics when tragedy hits
A one- or two-day lesson (part of a five part unit). This one focuses on tragedies and the decision-making process a reporter must address when reporting on them or other sensitive situations.
Teaching Ethical Situations
A lesson plan for discussing journalism ethics. It includes a set of overall goals for discussion and eight theoretical situations for students to ponder.
The Question of Ethical Journalism
What are ethics and are they synonymous with morals? Is it possible to create an objective list of ethics or morals? How does the First Amendment affect -- if at all -- journalists and their sense of ethics? Can journalists abuse the First Amendment?
The Right to Know vs. the Need to Know
A fundamental journalism concept and one that causes lively debate. Evolves from what the students need to know about themselves and their teacher into whether the right to know is equal to the need to know in every case.
To Do or Not to Do…the News?
An extensive unit that builds on "All the President's Men" as an ethical starting-off point for developing a code of conduct for the school newspaper. Very detailed and specific.
When is the News Not News?
When is a story not a story? When should the news not an event? Should some things be considered to the press?
Journalism history
Journalism introduction
5Ws and an H
A beginning-of-the-year lesson for beginning journalism students. Explores the 5Ws and an H with an extensive handout.
An Introduction to the World of News
An introduction to journalism with five accompanying handouts that explore journalism terms, the students' own sources of news and poses the question: What is News?
Fact-finding scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt that asks students to use research materials properly -- from almanacs to the Internet. Can be localized.
Getting to know you
A good lesson plan for the first few weeks. It asks students to interview fellow students and identify the "false fact" through careful listening and cross-checking.
In-depth reporting
Reporting is a basic skill of journalism. As Scholz starts a new paper at his school, he needs to teach how to do it in-depth. This lesson explores reporting is, what sources are, and what different kinds of information reporters generally use.
Journalism Scavenger Hunt
A fun introduction to journalism for students that requires a variety of resources and search techniques.
News Writing and Copy Editing
A brief unit before story assignments are made covering the highlights of reporting, feature-writing, spot news, basic subject-verb-object style, quote attribution. A nuts-and-bolts unit to give a good floor for everyone.
Producing a Campus Newspaper
This unit provides students with a lab experience for practical application of knowledge and skills acquired up to this point in the course, and prepares students for newspaper production.
What Purposes Do Publications Serve?
Students will understand that publications serve to inform, persuade, and to entertain (besides make money) and great editorials often do all three.
libel
Case studies in journalistic ethics No. 2
A one- or two-day lesson (part of a five part unit). This one focuses on the ethics behind the use of hidden cameras to tape alleged wrongdoing. It also touches on libel.
Libel and Ethics
This unit emphasizes the need to provide complete and truthful accounts of events in student publications. It examines of the consequences of providing false, incomplete, or misleading information.
Student press law and ethics
A lesson to be used near the beginning of the year that touches on ethics, press law, diversity and other fundamental topics in journalism.
News values
News values and the front page
This plan helps students recognize traditional news values -- what makes news: timeliness, proximity, consequence, etc., and apply them to stories they find in the newspaper.
Uncovering news values
Why is one idea a news story and another isn't? How do journalists make that determination. Julie Chortanoff of Pennsylvania explains.
Online journalism
Check It Out on the Web
Students need to know how to find accurate information on the Internet. By giving them the goal of learning about online newspapers, they can research a topic (putting their school newspaper online) as well as use Internet research techniques.
Spinning a Web
A plan to introduce students to Web journalism and how it differs both from print journalism and public relations, with the purpose of creating a school journalism Web site.
Organizing a journalism class
Senior newspaper project/Culminating activity
An end-of-year lesson plan for seniors. It asks them to draw together everything they've learned about journalism into a personalized newspaper, including editorials, columns, reviews and news stories.
photography
Effective photojournalism
After having students examine work of professional photographers in newspapers and magazines, basic photographic concepts are explained. Then students are asked to shoot, develop, edit and caption the photos for a portfolio.
Introduction to Photography
An introduction to photography climaxing in a photo contest. Allows intstructor to bring in newspaper or other photographers to share their skills.
Making Photo Essays Easy
A lesson that asks students to look at photos as a storytelling medium by forcing them to lay out or create photo essays. What are they missing? What do they wish they had? These are the questions they remember the next time they shoot.
Moving beyond the mug shot
A short, two-day lesson that asks students to look beyond basic "grip and grins" in their photos. Gives them disposable cameras and demands that they be creative.
Photo Editing and Photo Ethics
Katrina Hester of South Carolina teaches students that just because they CAN do something to a photo in Photoshop doesn't mean it's RIGHT to do it.
Photographing High School Sports
Photographs are crucial to an interesting newspaper, but interesting photos -- or photos that come out at all -- can be difficult in a sports situation.
Photography: Beyond the Snapshot
A plan to take student photography to the next level by examining examples of good photos and learning what a good photo is and how to recognize it, and finally, looking at what a student can do to take more interesting photos.
Photojournalism and composition
A beginning photography lesson that delves into the rules of thirds, framing, etc. They should be able to recognize composition principles and their impact on photography.
The Basics of Photography
A lesson that asks students to look beyond the content of a photo and examine it for its quality. Photos shouldn't be seen as space-filler in the paper. Also looks at daily newspapers that do photography well to see the power of photography.
The Rule of Thirds
This lesson introduces the rule of thirds in photography to students and gives them resources to explore it further. They are then assigned to take photos that they think adhere to this rule.
Through the Viewfinder
A two-three class period lesson that asks students to think about photography: What makes a good photo, the difference between chemical and digital photography and more.
plagiarism
Plagiarism In The Real World
Oklahoma librarian Rae Magby helps students get why plagiarism in journalism is wrong -- by pretending to steal THEIR work.
Print vs. electronic media
Television: Issues vs. Image
How do television and newspapers differ in their handling of events and issues? How can we become more discerning in our viewing so that we elect leaders and not image?
prior restraint
The Legacy of the Pentagon Papers
What is prior restraint? Why is prior restraint dangerous in a democracy? When is it legitimate to keep information from the press? Who makes that decision? Why? Would the Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. United States (1971) be the same today?
Reporting
Balancing Journalism in Wartime
A unit that explores the role of journalists in general by highlighting wartime journalism. Asks students to think of themselves as wartime journalists and ask the tough (and unpopular) questions they sometimes ask.
Basic feature interviewing
Teaching student reporters to develop skills to interview for details, anecdotes and quotes for feature stories.
Basic Interviewing and Reporting
Basic skills are the foundation of journalism. Improving writing and reporting will impact the quality of the student newspaper. With a clear understanding of basic interviewing and reporting skills, students will gain confidence in their abilities.
Basic writing and reporting
A unit with four individual lesson plans exploring writing style, newspaper beats, coverage and minimum standards of a staffer, and the importance of editing.
Classroom Press Conference
This lesson demonstrates how to hold a press conference in the classroom. It asks students to arrange the conference and guest, to do research, to ask good questions and then compete for the honor of having their work appear in the paper.
Covering a presidential election
A multi-day lesson that asks students to look at presidential debates for issues of interest to teens then research and write articles about what they heard.
Creating Hate: The Power of Words
The power of words is considerable; this lesson plan explores that in the context of hate language not only in literature but in everyday culture. Observation is a key activity in this lesson.
Investigative Reporting
What role does the press play in fostering social change? How has investigative journalism changed over time? Who/what helps or hinders the job of the investigative journalist?Has investigative journalism created problems regarding privacy?
Make the Most of Your Story with Research
A lesson with four handouts that explains how research makes a story better by giving it depth. The handouts give story ideas and questions students should be asking.
Mall Trip
A role-playing exercise evolves into a news story. Students play roles of mall denizens and interview each other for individual points of view. A teacher-turned-police chief delivers the press conference.
Observation
How to teach students to use all five senses to gather detail for a feature story.
Point of View: The Three Little Pigs
What does "The Three Little Pigs" have to do with journalism? In this lesson, it's a great example of what it takes to write an objective piece of journalism from people's subjective viewpoint.
Propaganda: You Better Believe It
Propaganda, sometimes in the form of public relations, is common in our lives, used by presidents, corporate executives and government employees alike. It's important for students to understand what it is and how to dechipher and get around it.
School Scavenger Hunt
Good for the beginning of the term, this lesson and worksheet asks students to find out more about the school they'll be writing about.
Searching for Stories
A multi-day unit that asks students to find 10 story ideas that will be reviewed and critiqued by their peers. Students are encouraged to use the Internet as well as classic research techniques to find interesting stories about their town.
Story generators
A two-day lesson to get students to think of original and interesting story ideas. First by relating news events to the school, second by asking them to develop questions prior to interviews.
Straight News
A short lesson that asks students to look at an out-of-order news story and put it back in order. Comes with two worksheets on news judgment.
The Advanced Obit
This lesson teaches young people how to structure and write an obituary by using current celebrities (both national and local) as examples. This teaches students how to research and find out information about subjects.
Thinking Like a Reporter
How can story ideas be generated? By training students to think like a reporter -- by seeing the potential of stories everywhere and then choosing the most immediate and interesting one.
Two Sources of Story Ideas for Our Paper
Two lessons/handouts for getting students to think like journalists. One asks them to write down quotes -- what people are talking about -- in notebooks. The other asks them to read newspapers, magazines, etc. for school-specific story ideas.
Writing Under Pressure
An elegant 90-minute-period lesson plan that forces students to report and write under pressure. First they attend a news conference, then they have to write a story. That's it. They're graded on the quality of the story and its freedom from errors.
Role of the journalist
Story ideas
Finding a Voice
Jimmie Bellah of Victoria, Texas, shows students how to brainstorm story ideas. One method: ideas vs. stories. The war in Iraq is an idea; a profile of an alumna serving there is a story.
Generating Feature Ideas
Recognizing a feature story isn't the same as coming up with one. In this lesson, Elinore Kaplan of New York asks students to brainstorm based on the news.
Why are high school newspapers relevant?
Instead of letting students compalin about the irrelevancy of the school newspaper -- and print journalism in general -- Kim Harris challenges her students to make it relevent.
Writing
Categorizing quotes
How do reporters choose the quotes they use? By choosing the ones that move the story forward and convey the most meaning. This lesson delves into that a bit and asks students to try it themselves.
Developing Ideas for In-Depth Newspaper Stories
To be substantive, school newspapers must have more than light features. This lesson requires each student to develop one in-depth/investigative article as a way to add substance and topical issues to their paper.
Interviewing and Feature Writing
A lesson to encourage students to come up with "good" interview questions -- those that elicit longer, open-ended responses. Also, how to recognize a good feature story and interview.
Introduction to Paragraph Development in News Journalism
A lesson to introduce students to paragraphs and their importance. Asks them to look at stories without paragraphs and with them to analyze the most important material. It reinforces the differences between journalistic writing and essay writing.
Learning how to coach writers
A one-class lesson that asks students to write and listen to others' writing, all the while listening to improve their partner's writing and their own.
Nursery Rhyme News
Students are asked to write leads from well-known nursery rhymes -- both feature and straight news. Designed to teach them the difference.
Precise writing
Teach students how to choose precise and accurate nouns, adjectives and verbs to create vivid writing.
Shouting out the window
This lesson makes an actor out of the teacher -- feigning to see action out a window -- in order to drive home the point of the most important elements of a lead: what, who and why. Then when and where.
The Key to Good Journalism is Storytelling
A journalist must know the audience and capture the attention of the audience. Developing the ability to tell stories and convey them is an important journalistic skill. This lesson explores telling stories about objects.
What Does It Take to Write a Good Story?
By helping to develop and employ good research and interviewing skills, this unit aims at helping students write good stories. Students will be taught some specific journalistic rules for writing -- and that the lesson is ongoing (and perhaps lifelong!)
Writing the lead
Outlining the basic elements of a lead -- prominence, proximity, timeliness, oddity/uniqueness, consequence and human interest -- also helps students gain news judgment. Two related handouts and an exercise sheet.
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