Wednesday afternoon brought Michael Roberts from The Arizona Republic to the ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute. Roberts, who is the Deputy Managing Editor--Staff Development for the Republic, pointed out that the success of an assignment is directly related to the assignment instructions. This is one of the features of the professional world that is directly analogous to the high school teaching world. As Roberts spoke, I could see all the ways I could help my students succeed by giving them clear instructions to start with.Roberts pointed out that in the journalism writing process--idea, reporting, organization, draft, revision--the first three steps are the key to whether or not the last two steps turn out well. Once again, we were reminded of the power of Story Mapping in the "idea refining" process.
I am going to sit down (right after finalizing my Institute project) (okay, maybe a little later than that) and write down a format for each of the types of stories my students typically write. I'm really excited to see how that will strengthen our stories.
BTW, and this is an important point, Michael is not blue on my picture, nor is he blue in real life. But every time I upload that picture into Blogger, he shows up blue. I don't know why.
Juli Stricklan
Rigby High School
Rigby, Idaho
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I also enjoyed Mr. Robert's presentation today. He suggested a solution to what I have repeatedly struggled with, that being, the writing process specificall getting my students started. I have been looking for a simple plan to focus student projects, and this has given me some solid direction.
ReplyDeleteThese five steps, idea, reporting, organization, draft and revision apply to video production as well as writing.
Thanks!
Denice Westover
Snowflake High School
Snowflake, Arizona