Who, What, Where, When, Why, How
Module 1, Activity 2.3 - Elements of a News Story
Teacher Page
(student page for this lesson)

Introduction:

One of the most difficult things to decide as a reporter is "what is news". In order to write the news a reporter must first decide what stories need to be told and then she must decide how to tell them. Creativity in journalism comes in the form of these decisions. As jounalists, the students will attempt to narrate a story in a new and interesting way for their audience. In this lesson, they will have a chance to consider different story angles through the creation of questions, understand the elements of a news story and write two different types of lead

Resources:

- internet access
- the handout (.doc) or .rtf

Activities:

Task One - Generate Ideas
As you may have done in other lessons, have students brainstorm a list of potential stories in the community. Come up with a list of 3-5 potential ideas for a story. For this assignment, have the students assume that their audience is a group of students similar to themselves. Tell them to try to choose story ideas that they would be interested in reading.

Once the class has come up with a substantial list, it is time for the students to consider story angles. In order for the students to see that a story has many different sides, have them each choose one of the listed topics.

Give the students two minutes to write down as many questions as they can about their story idea. Let them know that at this point they don't need to judge their questions; they just need to keep writing and come up with as many as possible. or

If the students are having trouble getting started, you can either choose one of the topics and come up with questions as a class.

You may also want your students to view the example on the student page of this lesson.

In order to begin writing, the students will need to know the key elements in any news story. Have them read the information on news stories provided by the Media Awareness Network. The information covers types of news stories, leads, the body of a news story and tips for writing.

When they are done reading the information, have them try this quiz to test their knowledge! The quiz is timed so the students will need to have done a careful reading of the information. Encourage the students to answer the questions without using the clues. If they check their answers and find that they have some incorrect, then they should use the clue buttons to help find the correct information.

Task Three - Leads
After a journalist does research, it is time to begin writing the article. One of the most important jobs is writing the lead to a story. In writing a lead, the students must decide if their story is hard news or soft news (review these terms if they are having trouble remembering).

Assessment and Evaluation:

In Task One, there should be no evaluation of ideas. While brainstorming, it is important that the students feel confident and comfortable enough to generate as many ideas as possible.

Task Two allows the students to assess their own knowledge through the completion of the quiz.

As Task Three is the first time that students are attempting to write leads, the students could self-assess by looking at each lead and checking to see that they have included all the necessary elements (ie. 5Ws in the hard news lead). Alternatively, you may want to have the students share with a peer. A partner could read the leads and make comments.