At my school we use MLA style, but after listening to Jennifer Johnson of the Arizona Republic yesterday, June 19, 2009, I have decided to learn AP Style and teach it in my one journalism class. I think it will work well because it saves space in most cases. It may confuse some students at first. It will confuse me, too. Johnson said the AP Stylebook (pictured) has been around since 1953. So have I. It was a good year.
Johnson said that many newspapers and schools require students to pass a test on grammar and style before being hired or accepted into a journalism program. Johnson said that recently, out of 300 students 50 tested out. "They have to get 80 or higher," she said.
"I'm seeing a lot of holes in the basics," Johnson said. Too many students depend upon their hearing to determine what is grammatically correct. "If they follow their ears they're doomed," she said. We have to get students in the habit of checking their grammar and style.
Johnson talked about the most abused areas she sees. Numbers top the list, followed by proper nouns, time references, directions and regions and abbreviations and acronyms. She recommended using sources from http://www.newsroom101.com/ and http://www.newsus.org/ for activities to use in teaching and learning grammar and style.
Mark Salvatore
Saint Joseph Academy
Brownsville, Texas
Posts
Mark:
ReplyDeleteThis might win the award for best Hot Topics headline.
One thing I'd to add to Jennifer's great presentation: Make reporters check every proper noun as part of their self-editing. While big corrections get the most attention, little things like spelling names incorrectly will undercut your publication's credibility. And they will hurt a student's chances of succeeding in journalism.
Here's an example of how inattention to proper nouns can be a career-limiting mistake: When I hired for AP, I'd simply throw out any resume with a cover letter misspelling my name (Elliot or Eliot rather than Elliott). If an applicant called to ask if I'd received the resume, I'd tell them what I did and why. I'm fortunate to have a last name that can double as a weed-out tool for job applicants.
Anything you can do to make students to pay attention to proper nouns will pay dividends later for your publication and for their careers. At the Cronkite School, our news writing classes give a failing grade for any assignment that has a proper noun error.
Steve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix
Ask not for whom the AP Stylebook applies. It applies to you.
ReplyDeleteI take points off my student's papers when they misspell my last name. Stricklan can work the same as Elliott in that way. But my students actually have it worser (just kidding, I know it should be more worse)(ha). Anyway, back to the handicap my poor darlings face: there's a sign in the front of my room that says "welcome to Stricklandia," which is my imaginary queendom. Students tend to think the "d" belongs there because of the sign. But if they were paying attention, they'd know the difference! That's what I tell them when they complain about losing points.
Juli Stricklan
Rigby High School
Rigby Idaho
I want to thank Johnson and the institute for forcing me to use the AP Stylebook in a meaningful way. Although I have known of the stylebook's existence, my rudimentary efforts at using it have been frustrating.
ReplyDeleteNot having any previous experience with it, I have been flummoxed by the structure and organization of the book. For instance, why is the entry "caliber" in the "W" section? Why can't I find the proper way to punctuate titles under the "T" section?
My classroom policy has been, when in doubt, revert to MLA, but I have learned that this is an injustice to my students. Will all of them become working journalists? Definitely not. Will any of them? Maybe. But, it doesn't matter. The issue, according to Johnson, is a matter of teaching, first, that the different styles exist and, second, that there is a guide to each style's use.
I have had a stylebook race assignment in my files for the past few years, always intending to engage my students in it, but never actually doing so. It was created by Laura Hardman, a 2003 graduate of the ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute, Kent State University.
It is basically a scavenger hunt through the stylebook that covers the most frequently missed items. I do not know how to create a hot link in a reply to a comment, but the URL is: http://new.jmc.kent.edu/asne/2003/lessonplans/12StylebookRace.doc
Kye Haina
Kamehameha Schools Maui
Pukalani, Hawaii
P.S. I also return papers on which students have written either Mrs. Haina or Miss Haina since my preferred form, Ms. Haina, is posted on the board.
ReplyDeleteHot link to Kye's link: http://new.jmc.kent.edu/asne/2003/lessonplans/12StylebookRace.doc. (Kye, it takes some HTML coding. I don't know why Blogger doesn't allow links in comments any other way).
ReplyDeleteAlso, you can follow the AP Stylebook on Twitter. It has regular tips for free. And you can get an education discount on the online stylebook, which offers a very handy word search.
And here's the link to the AP Stylebook on Twitter.
ReplyDelete