Drumming up News
Module 1, Activity 1.8 - Types of Reporters
Teacher Page
(student page for this lesson)

Activities:

Task One - Learning the Types
First students watch a video to understand what a beat is. Students read the handout on types of reporters, and complete the accompanying chart. Traits of the three types of reporters are grouped into a chart to allow students to compare and contrast key characteristics. Students repeat the grouping process in the task, where they assign certain stories to particular types of reporters.

As you correct as a group, you should highlight why some stories may be suited to more than one type of reporter.

Task Two - Finding the Source
As a class, students will brainstorm a list of potential stories in their community. As you write the list on the board, refrain from eliminating things that are not stories. When the brainstorming is done, put the criteria for newsworthiness on the board (see the previous student lesson for a refresher). Have students eliminate or modify things that do not meet the criteria, until everything on the board is a story.

Break students into small groups, and assign each group a story. The students should use the small groups to discuss who they might talk to to find out information about the story. As teacher, circulate and help the groups focus on creating a balance of viewpoints and types of sources as suggested in the student version of this task.

Task Three - Adding the Live Perspective
In order to do this task, students are asked to contact a nearby paper that employs professional journalists. Before undertaking this project with your students, contact your local paper to be sure that visits from your class would be appropriate. Let newspaper staff know what the focus of the interview will be. Keep in mind that a large class may overwhelm a small paper. Students might work in groups, or you may choose the alternative activity

Before sending students out into the community, review conduct expectations and ask to see a finalized list of questions.

The student version of this task contains a number of pre-selected questions. The purpose of the assignment is for students to understand the types of print journalists and the types of sources they use. As a result, the pre-selected questions target this information.

Students will use the transcripts they create when they study interviewing, so you will need to ensure they keep their transcripts if you intend to do those activities.

Assessment and Evaluation:
This lesson is an introduction to key concept that provides early practice. The concept of finding and interviewing sources should not be formally graded.

However, you may wish to assess the accuracy of the transcript so students can see how effectively they are creating transcripts. To do this, you would need to require students to record their interviews or use the alternate activity for Task 3.