Oct. 31 - Writing A Lede

This is from an interview with Nora Ephron, the writer who could make me laugh out loud. What she says here is important for our writing and for the intros to our stories.

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Interviewer: What about teachers? Were there teachers who were pretty important to you?

Nora Ephron: Yes. I had a couple of great, great teachers. The teacher who changed my life was my journalism teacher, whose name was Charles Simms. I always tell this story. I love it. I had already decided that I was going to be a journalist. I didn't know why exactly, except that I had seen a lot of Superman comics. Lois Lane and all of those major literary characters like that, but Mr. Simms got up the first day of class, and he went to the blackboard, and he wrote "Who, what, where, why, when, and how," which are the six things that have to be in the lead of any newspaper story. Then he did what most journalism teachers do, which is that he dictated a set of facts to us, and then we were all meant to write the lead that was supposed to have "who, what, where, why, when, and how" in it.

He dictated a set of facts that went something like, "The principal of Beverly Hills High School announced today that the faculty of the high school will travel to Sacramento, Thursday, for a colloquium in new teaching methods. Speaking there will be Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, and two other people." So we all sat down at our typewriters, and we all kind of inverted that and wrote, "Margaret Mead and X and Y will address the faculty in Sacramento, Thursday, at a colloquium on new teaching methods, the principal announced today." Something like that. We were very proud of ourselves, and we gave it to Mr. Simms, and he just riffled through them and tore them into tiny bits and threw them in the trash, and he said, "The lead to this story is: There will be no school Thursday!" and it was this great epiphany moment for me. It was this, "Oh my God, it is about the point! It is about figuring out what the point is." And I just fell in love with journalism at that moment.

So, now my question is this. What was the major point of our story with Kate Stephansky?

Go over your notes and rewrite the first paragraph with a strong lede now.

Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md.

Look at this story for a great lede.

October 23 -- To do

I will be back tomorrow. Please work on your videos and start your story for this week. Please share with me what you plan to write this week when we meet tomorrow. We need some sports coverage as we go into playoffs.

Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md.

October 11 -- Assignment for today at News U

Click here for the Be A Reporter Game.

The Poynter Institute teaches reporters how to report or to get better at their game. You will need to sign up with them. Please do that. This game is worth the time. Print off your score so that I know you did this.

Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md.

October 8 -- Assignment (Greer returns tomorrow)

Read first article on school lunches. Write a response in a couple paragraphs comparing what you know of the JFK school lunch to the article. Use your personal knowledge right now. Do you know students who take lunch every day? Are our lunches any healthier? See the following article.

No Appetite for Good-for-You School Lunches (a prime opportunity for a localized story, and one that you can enhance with observations and interviews in neighborhood schools) Click here for article.

THEN READ ONE OTHER ARTICLE OF YOUR CHOICE. JUST READ AND NOTE WHICH ONE YOU READ ON YOUR PAPER. I WILL TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT LATER.

Four of Five Red Pencils to The Times on Fact-Checking the Debate (the NYT public editor on how The Times did) Click here for article.

Marijuana Only for the Sick? A Farce, Some Angelenos Say. Click here for article.

Emory Confronts a Legacy of Bias Against Jews. Click here for article.

Student IDs That Track the Students (in Texas) Click here for article.

Helping a Child to Come Out. Click here for article

Tributes From Times Readers Mattered Most (about Arthur Sulzberger). Click here for article.

Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md

October 5, 2012 - Current Event Quiz

This is not a typical current events quiz.

Look at CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and one other press outlet. Look at their coverage of the debate and write a synopsis (with links to the site) of what you think they said. Small paragraph from each outlet with your impression of the coverage. Remember to show YOUR analysis. This will make you a better reporter because you need to know the news but also look at how others are covering it.

5 pts for each news outlet analysis. 20 pts total. Hand in to sub.

Ms. Greer Silver Spring, Md.

October 3 - Short exercise warm-up

Click here for more on MacArthur Genius Awards. This is particularly well-developed site that explains the work of the awardees. Note that videos follow the five-shot rule. We want to do that, too. You will be interviewing different people for your pieces and you need to know this rule like the back of your hand.

Watch at least two of the videos and describe the way they use this five-shot rule while telling about the awardee. This is not just an exercise in tedium. By observing and writing down how you see this done, you are also making it stick in your mind. You are on your way to video muscle memory, so to speak. 10 pts.

Stories are still due for the paper at the end of the period.

Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md.

October 2 - Classwork

In addition to the stories/work you need to turn in, you need to keep abreast of breaking news. Yesterday, they released the names of the MacArthur Genius Awards. Click here for the news on this. Do you know what that is? What happens to the winners? Who they are? What their work is about? Write answers to these questions. 8 pts.

Now, pretend we gave Genius Awards here. Pick five students you believe would be considered a genius in some fashion. They could be artists, scientists, musicians, designers, etc. Something that makes them stand above the rest. Write up a small paragraph about each of them that explains why they were chosen. (15 pts.)

Lastly, make a genius profile of yourself. Why should you be considered a winner of a genius award? 2 pts.

This is a good assignment for several reasons. There is no road map. You have to make a decision about why you chose this person which correlates with picking stories to cover. It is localizing a national story to our Kennedy landscape. These are all things good reporters do.

Total points: 25
Due on Wednesday, October 3
Hand in on paper.
No lates will be accepted
Ms. Greer
Silver Spring, Md.