Writing

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Beyond the snore: Covering annual events

Students will use a brainstorming technique to analyze eight ways to look at a routine story such as homecoming, prom or Valentines Day.

Writing news briefs

This is a lesson on how to write effective briefs and short news stories.

News writing tips and tricks

This is a multi-part lesson on how to write high-quality news articles that attract readers.

Revising and editing news stories

Students will practice writing and editing their work in addition to editing other students’ work.

News defined: What is news?

This is a basic lesson to teach students to recognize that news must be informative, interesting and factual, or it is not news.

Establishing a beat system

Students will define what a beat is and determine what beats their media should cover in their school.

News values: What makes it news?

Students will define and provide an example for eight elements of news and four other considerations.

Writing sports news

This is a lesson for advanced journalism students on the particulars of covering sports.

The basic news lead: The 5W’s and H

This is a multi-part lesson introducing students to the basic information required for news with a four-step process for writing basic news leads.

Alternative formats and polls to enhance the news

This is a lesson introducing students to alternative ways of presenting news using a variety of text features.

Analyze the pros: Reading news from a news writer’s perspective

Students will evaluate examples of news stories from disasters to see how the facts are presented in order of importance (using inverted pyramid style).

Peer revision on reviews

This lesson is an opportunity for students to discuss what they like best in reviews and decide which one to run.

The A&E section

Students will learn the basics of how to plan and design an A&E section, including vocabulary and visual considerations.

Top 10 reasons to write a list review

In this lesson on writing with bite-sized information for the A&E section, students will study examples and learn what makes a good list.

Introduction to satire

In this lesson on using satire responsibly (and possibly with humor), students will learn elements of satire.

Ethics and satire

A lesson on ethical considerations when writing satire for a student publication.

Avoiding libel in satire

This is a lesson reviewing libel and how to avoid it in writing satire.

What are editorial cartoons?

This is a lesson about the reasons for editorial cartoons, their parts and how to read and create them.

Descriptive writing and expertise

This is a lesson on using descriptive language to back up opinions and the importance of writing about things you are an expert in.

Parts of a review

Students will learn about key features of a review.

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