News Article with a Featured Interview

Class Exercise

With a partner, find five examples of each of the following techniques in your newspaper. Circle and label each with a marker.

1. Lead -- Usually one sentence that tells who, what where, when, why and how. It is found at the beginning of the story.
2. Headline -- The title of the story
3. Byline -- The author of the story
4. Quote -- Exactly what someone said and is in quotation marks

Find and identify two of each of the following:

1. News story -- A story that is timely and describes an event of interest
2. Editorial -- A writer tells his or her opinion about a subject
3. Advertisement -- An article or ad that is paid for by the company

Your job as a reporter is to report facts and the opinions of others and to leave your own opinions out of the story. The term for introducing your own opinion into a story is called editorializing – try not to do this!

Multiple Sources: The more people you talk to, the better the article. You can use direct quotes or paraphrase what someone says, but always remember to identify who says what.

Homework Tuesday 31st

1. Choose a news-worthy topic. Example topics: school lunches, sports, clubs, after school activities, new course offerings, teachers, Purim, Sukkot, recycling programs, Passover,etc.
2. Choose two to three people to interview to find out information about the topic. Here some interview tips.
3. Write questions for these people to make the interview organized and efficient. Ask the following type questions: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY AND HOW.

On Tuesday we will go over the topics and questions you selected

Homework for Thursday 2nd

1. Schedule and conduct interviews.
2. Take notes on what each person says. If the person has a strong opinion about a topic, ask him or her if you can include a quote in your story. Make sure your write down exactly what he or she says when it is opinion or an unusual fact.
3. Have an outline for your story

Homework for Tuesday 7th

1. Organize this information into a story. The most important information goes at the top of the story. The least important information goes at the end. This is called the inverted pyramid. Here's some tips for organizing your article.
2. The first line of your story is called the lead. The lead should include as much of the following: who, what, where, when, why and how information. The lead should not be more than 30 words. It should grab the reader’s attention and make a reader want to finish reading your story.
3. Do not put your opinion in this story. You must only give facts about the topic. If you want opinion in your story, it must be from a quote (something that someone said.) The information should be in quotation marks with the student’s name after the quote.
4. Paragraphs must be short in length. Remember to put the most important information first and the least important last. Look at the newspaper for examples of this.

Your grade will be based on how well your article meets the following points:

• clearly states the topic or question
• demonstrate a clear understanding of topic covered
• summarizes what you’ve learned
• progresses well from one point to another
• uses technology appropriately
• uses and cites a variety of sources

Product Comparison

Being able to compare and contrast information can help you in many areas of your life.

Have you ever done comparison shopping? Why do people comparison shop?

Usually, people comparison shop because they need to make a decision about which product is the best buy. This same process can also be used while reading to compare and contrast two or more sources. Mastering these skills will also help you with questions about information on tests like the SATs and the ACTS that you will take in the future. Let's compare and contrast two similar products.

Class Activity

1. Select a product
2. Focus on the price, quality, durability, and user-friendliness
3. Develop a basic spreadsheet that allows for comparing the different qualities of the products.
4. In groups, discuss the positive and negatives of each other.

Homework Assignment

Analyze the data and write a conclusion based on your assessment of which brand you would recommend. This assignmet builds off of your previous assignments. You are basically selecting features that decide what makes an item worth buying, and then you apply them to similar products to see which one meets most of those qualities, and is therefore the recommended product.

There are two resource links provided for this assignment to help you get started: Compare and Contrast Form and Tips for product comparison.

Your grade will be based on how well your article meets the following points:

1. clearly states the topic or question
2. demonstrate a clear understanding of topic covered
3. summarizes what you’ve learned
4. progresses well from one point to another
5. uses technology appropriately
6. uses and cites a variety of sources

Review

Each student has been assigned a topic to review. Develop a spreadsheet that organizes themes, people, conflicts, author, genre, plot, title and other important details of interest concerning the selected music, book, food, or movie.

1. After each student has determined which details should be used for the reviews this information can be used in your article to support your opinion.
2. Look at a sample book review from scholastic, a sample music review from NYTimes, or a sample movie review form NYTimes. Here is a fun sample food review done by a dynamic duo at York News Times, and here's a pretty standard one from Bonappetit. Most reviews name the title and author, include a brief summary without "spoiling" it for the consumer, comment on strengths and weaknesses, and include a personal response.
3. Reviewers express their opinions. It is not enough, however, to say that it is good or bad. They have to support their opinion with explanations and specific references, including quotations, rather than just give a synopsis.
4. Remember that reviewers comment on the important parts but do not give away too much. Here is a link to a great resource for writing reviews.
5. When we meet next, the drafts will be peer reviewed, and final versions will be turned in on Thursday.

Your grade will be based on how well your article meets the following points:

1. clearly states the topic or question
2. demonstrate a clear understanding of topic covered
3. summarizes what you’ve learned
4. progresses well from one point to another
5. uses technology appropriately
6. uses and cites a variety of sources