In the case of the blown up defendant, it didn't matter "who dun it." What mattered was gathering as much information possible before the deadline.
The group exercise in which the participants at the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute at ASU interviewed different sources and had to "ask the right questions" was interesting in that it was an opportunity to learn a lot about our own styles and that of our peers. Who would take charge? Who would ask the tough questions? Who would defer to others and meticulously take notes?
This is also a great exercise to use with our journalism and newspaper students in that it allows them to start finding their own style. I will train my editors this summer in being the sources, and this is something I will do in the first few weeks of school. Not only will it force my more timid students to jump right into their roles as journalists, it will empower some of my stronger students to be leaders and feel confident asking difficult questions in front of others.
Jeff Fencl
Del Norte High School
Albuquerque, N.M.
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I'm glad you made that point that in this exercise, it didn't really matter who did it, rather gathering as much factual information as possible. I found that my group and I would occasionally get side tracked by irrelevant information (what color was Suzanne Samuelson's jumpsuit?), causing us to waste time on finding more information about what really mattered. This activity is a great one to give to students to not only help timid and strong students jump right into the difficult interviewing process, but also to learn how to differentiate between important and irrelevant information.
ReplyDeleteAnna Horton, Highland High School, Gilbert, Ariz.