8th Grade Investigative Journalism

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 1 Teaching Point: Journalists notice life’s drama and try to capture the who, what, where, when, why and how of those dramas so they can turn them into articles or newscasts. Active Engagement: We are going to look at multiple components of the U.S. Civil War. You will each be researching a different topic and presenting it as a news story. Watch this documentary on the Stamp Act of the Revolutionary War to see an example. Jot down the Five W’s + H that are mentioned in this segment. Independent Practice: Look at the list of choices on the project sheet. Choose a topic and report it to your teacher. Then, start researching on your phone. Homework: Do some more research tonight on your Civil War topic. Use the organizer to guide your research. Copies of Organizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9JJuVxtNOc

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 2 Teaching Point: Journalists notice potential news stories all around them. They are alert to moments of drama, looking for the out-of-the-ordinary, heightened emotions, or the storyline that occurs underneath the main sequence of events. They use their observations along with information about the event as the basis for their newscast. Active Engagement: Look for drama in this documentary. In your notebooks, write the 5 W’s + How. What was the underlying drama? Independent Practice: Look at the information you found during your research. Do you have the 5 W’s and the H? If not, keep looking. Is there a story behind the story- some drama other than the fact that there was a Civil War going on? INCLUDE QUOTES!! Homework: Continue conducting research Documentary on Cold War https://youtu.be/XCjNz_jQGzM

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 3 Teaching Point: Journalists work to make their stories engaging. They write leads to grab the reader’s attention and string scenes together in a meaningful way. Active Engagement: Using one of the mentor texts, record in your notebook how the author works in more than one scene. Record the effect that the “stringing of events” has on the text. Independent Practice: Come up with at least three good leads for your story. Trade journals with your elbow partner and discuss each other’s potential leads. Which one is best? Is there a way to make it better? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-11429439 http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/boston-bus-driver-treats-everyone-on-board-stops-at-kids-lemonade-stand/

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 4 Teaching Point: Journalists know that non-fiction writing can be short and pack a punch. They use specific techniques to make certain words, phrases, and lines lift the level of the whole piece. One way they learn this technique is from acknowledged masters. Active Engagement: Look at the mentor texts. In your journal, jot down what you notice about the techniques that the journalist used. Independent Practice: Today you will begin your draft. Include the most relevant information early in your piece Be mindful of point of view and word choice Include specific and vivid physical details End the passage with a delightful jolt or clever ending Homework: Have one draft of your story ready for Day 5. http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/teen-saved-lives-fellow-refugees-may-soon-represent-2016-olympics/ http://www.businessinsider.com/malala-nobel-peace-prize-acceptance-speech-2014-12 http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35084374

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 5 Teaching Point: Good journalists elaborate to deepen readers’ connections and shuttle them toward the bigger truth. One way they do this is to craft allusions and analogies, which invite the reader, with just a few words, to make profound associations. Active Engagement: Let’s look at the allusions on the following slides. Do you understand them? You need to know what the speaker is alluding to in order to “get” an allusion. Independent Practice: With your partner, come up with several allusions. Now go back to your writing and find places where you could add an allusion to your piece.

An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to a place, person, or something that happened. This can be real or imaginary and may refer to anything, including paintings, opera, folk lore, mythical figures, or religious manuscripts. The reference can be direct or may be inferred, and can broaden the reader’s understanding. There are several ways that an allusion can help a writer: Allusions engage the reader and will often help the reader remember the message or theme of the passage. Allusions allow the writer to give an example or get a point across without going into a lengthy discourse. Allusions are contingent on the reader knowing about the story or event that is referenced.

Examples of Allusions in Literature  “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s.” This refers to the story of Pinocchio, where his nose grew whenever he told a lie. It is from The Adventures of Pinocchio, written by Carlo Collodi.  “When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refused to buy anything that wasn’t necessary.” Scrooge was an extremely stingy character from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  “I thought the software would be useful, but it was a Trojan Horse.” This refers to the horse that the Greeks built that contained all the soldiers. It was given as a gift to the enemy during the Trojan War and, once inside the enemy's walls, the soldiers broke out. By using trickery, the Greeks won the war. “He was a real Romeo with the ladies.” Romeo was a character in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, and was very romantic in expressing his love for Juliet.   “Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.” This means that her weakness was her love of chocolate. Achilles is a character in Greek mythology who was invincible. His mother dipped him in magical water when he was a baby, and she held him by the heel. The magic protected him all over, except for his heel. 

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 6 Teaching Point: Journalists develop the drama, action, dialogue, and setting. They do this to enliven their stories, but also to highlight what they want to convey about the lesson or issue they are advancing. They especially harness these techniques to reveal their central ideas and to inspire their readers to feel compassion. Active Engagement: Looking at the mentor texts, do these journalists use underlying drama, action, dialogue, and setting? Independent Practice: Open your journal to your rough draft of your article/documentary script. Do you use action, dialogue, and setting? If not, add them. Underline these parts in your rough draft. Trade journals with your elbow partner. Do they include these important parts of journalistic writing? Discuss changes to each other’s work. Homework: Continue working on your journalism piece.

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 7 Teaching Point: Journalists use the ending to drive home a bigger truth for readers, often by making an explicit plea for change with the hope that the readers will transition from simply reading about an issue to taking action on an issue. Active Engagement: Let’s look back at some of our mentor texts. What do you notice about the endings? Independent Practice: Work with your partner to revise your conclusion, making it a powerful ending and inspiring a call to action. This action could be preventing another Civil War. What were the key issues of the war you are reporting? Do these issues have the potential to arise in modern day? What can we do?

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 8 Teaching point: Journalists know that their work needs revision. They first evaluate their work themselves and then look for partners to advise them on what they can do to improve their piece. Active Engagement: Using the checklist, re-read and evaluate your own work. Next, meet with your partner. Exchange papers and evaluate your partner’s work, offering thoughtful, detailed advice. On a post-it, write at least one compliment, one question, and offer one suggestion. Independent Practice: Make any changes that you and your partner discussed. Write another draft of your news article/documentary script.

Writer’s Workshop Journalism Day 9 Teaching Point: Writers know they need to acknowledge their sources in their writing. Active Engagement: Review how to cite sources. Independent Practice: Go through your piece and cite any sources referenced. Make a Works Cited in MLA format.