You've spent some time examining a hard news story, now it's time to go through the process of reporting and writing one. This involves asking good questions, taking detailed notes, and writing in journalistic style. We will discuss what you'll need to get from the interview before we begin the news conference.

Homework: Post five direct quotes from the news conference. Click here for the statment that the vice principal read at the beginning.
Bookmark five news articles to the J1 News group(in diigo) by the time you come in on Friday.
Post the notes from your reporting on a hard news story by the end of the block on Wednesday, February 17.
Complete another story idea sheet by the time you come in on Tuesday, February 16.

Objectives:Students will be able to gather material through the interview process for a hard news story.
Students will be able to listen attentively and critically and take thorough notes.
Students will be able to differentiate between essential and non-essential information and identify material that should be directly quoted.
NJLALCCS - 3.4 Listening
B. Listening Comprehension
1. Listen to summarize, make judgments, and evaluate.
2. Evaluate the credibility of a speaker.
3.3 Speaking
B. Questioning (Inquiry) and Contributing
1. Ask prepared and follow-up questions in interviews and other discussions.
Assessments: Discussion, Blog post, Hard News Story

First, I will collect your story idea sheets and show you how to post your hard news analysis. We'll also review some of your answers.
After this, I will set you up with one more internet tool. Diigo is a social bookmarking tool. You will use it to bookmark news stories on a weekly basis and save research for group projects. I will provide you with your login and password. Please write them down in a place where you can find them easily.

This week we will be focusing on writing hard news. To practice doing this, we will be holding a news conference on a mock hostage crisis here at the school. Please read this scenario and develop ten questions for tomorrow's news conference.

You will be reporting on and writing a hard news story of your own next week. You can get started on the reporting process as soon as you like, or you can attend the next Board of Education meeting (Tuesday, February 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the IMC) where you'll find the material for at least one hard news story. We'll discuss some other options if you can't make this meeting.

Homework: Prepare for tomorrow's news conference.
Bookmark five news articles to the J1 News group(in diigo) by the time you come in on Thursday.
Post the notes from your reporting on a hard news story by the end of the block Wednesday, February 17.
Complete another story idea sheet by the time you come in on Tuesday, February 16.

Objective: Students will be able to identify the structure and function of a hard news story.
NJLALCCS 3.2 Writing
D. Writing Forms, Purposes, and Audience
1. Analyzing characteristics, structures, tone, and features of language of selected genres and apply this knowledge to own writing.
3. Evaluate the impact of an author's decisions regarding tone, word choice, style, content, point of view, literary elements, and literary merit, and produce an interpretation of overall effectiveness.
Assessments: Blog Post, class discussion, quiz

We will finish up our discussion of story ideas by looking at other sources you (or any journalists) might use to generate ideas. After discussing this, we'll move on to setting up your new weblogs.
Next, we will become familiar with the structure of a hard news story (inverted pyramid style). This is a very structured way of writing which you will begin to employ next week.
Please use the material from the handout "The Elements of the Basic News Story" to analyze the structure of the following hard news story by answering the questions in red. Be sure to use information from the handout to support your answers (don't just tell me what you think). You can either do this in a post on your weblog, or in MS Word. If you do it in Word, I'll show you how to upload it and post it on Monday.
You can copy and paste the whole story into your post or document or just copy and paste the questions (in red) and answer them. It's up to you.
Whatever you don't finish is homework.

Bloomsbury Woman Killed In Her Home
BLOOMSBURY - A 38-year-old woman was found murdered in her Main Street duplex after an employee of a neighboring business called police. What questions does this lead answer(5 W and H)? How many words is it? What questions do you still have?

Monica Massaro was found stabbed to death at 79 Main St. on Monday. Her killer remained at large yesterday; police haven't said if they have any suspects in mind. What element of the basic news story does this fulfill (lead,backup,nut graph,lead quote, impact, attribution,background, elaboration)? What is the most important question left unanswered?

Residents believe Ms. Massaro, who was single, lived alone in her half of the duplex and ran a home cleaning business. She had formerly worked as a mortgage broker. But, according to her MySpace Web page, her life centered upon Rock 'n' Roll and attending concerts.

Mayor Mark Peck said that although he's been advised that borough residents "are not in any danger," he recommends that they lock doors and windows, anyway. "Unfortunately, in this day and age, even peaceful rural villages are not immune to the (dangers of) society at large," he said. What element of the basic news story does this paragraph fulfill (lead,backup,nut graph,lead quote, impact, attribution,background, elaboration)?

He said he had no previous indication of any trouble at the house. He last saw Ms. Massaro a few weeks ago as he was shuttling papers along Main Street from his home to the borough's offices. He saw her on her porch and "we had a chat," he said. "She seemed happy." He described residents as "pretty shaken up" in the wake of the murder.

As of yesterday morning, State Police would give only the victim's name, age, address and that it was murder.

Employees of European Country Kitchens on North Street said they found materials identifying the victim behind their building at about 9 a.m. Monday and took the papers inside. An office employee made seven calls to her residence during the day, but no one answered.

Then late in the day, an employee knocked on both doors of the duplex. When again there was no response, the worker called the State Police at about 5:30 p.m. That led to the grisly discovery. European Country Kitchens is across the street from a large parking lot that connects to the victim's back yard. Her identification was found behind the North Street building that also houses Peer and Picone Woodworking and Gotahaus. Railroad tracks run behind the property. What basic question (5W and H) do the previous two paragraphs answer?

On Tuesday morning, state troopers and vehicles were stationed at both ends of the Main Street block between East and Gardner streets, refusing to let non-residents enter. The entire lot around the victim's residence was cordoned off in yellow crime-scene tape.

The back of the kitchen firm's building was also taped off. An employee reported that police were behind the building most of the day. In the early afternoon, a police helicopter circled the neighborhood for a short time.

Cornel Plebani, a retired state trooper, has lived on North Street for six years, about 100 yards from the victim's home. His residence also borders the parking lot. Police asked him if he had seen or heard anything unusual, but he knew nothing.

When they told him that his neighbor was brutally murdered with her throat cut, he was shocked. "It surprised the hell out of me," said Mr. Plebani. "This is the quietest neighborhood you've ever seen." Why was this quote included? What does it add to the story? He did not know the woman, but heard from neighbors that "she was a nice lady."

Many in the neighborhood were anxious as they waited to hear more information. "This kind of stuff doesn't happen here," said Diane Crisman-Race of Brunswick Avenue, a former Borough Council member. She said that after learning of the murder a couple of her neighbors reported hearing their doorknobs jiggled on Saturday night, but that she didn't hear anything.

Investigators went all over town looking for clues to the murderer. A manager for TravelCenters of America, a truck stop just off Route 78 on the edge of town, said there was a lot of police activity there Tuesday. "We are cooperating fully with the State Police," he said.

The murder was the topic of discussion at Mark Koppe's General Store on Church Street as area residents and workers came in for lunch. Employees and customers alike speculated about whether the victim was a cleaning woman who was a frequent customer. They didn't know the customer's name.

They also worried about the safety of the small town where many residents don't lock their doors. They wondered why they hadn't heard anything on the news or from police as they stood in line ordering sandwiches. The previous four paragraphs are all examples of what element of the basic news story? What effect do they have on the reader?

Bob Warner has lived in the borough since 1939. The only violent crime he remembers is a murder "at the truck stop years ago." In 1991, serial killer John Fautenberry shot to death a Tennessee truck driver at the Pilot truck stop on Route 173. He was given a life sentence for the murder. What element of the basic news story does this paragraph fulfill (lead,backup,nut graph,lead quote, impact, attribution,background, elaboration)?

Sgt. Jeanne Hengemuhl, a spokeswoman for the State Police, said the victim's body was taken to the regional medical examiner's office in Newark for an autopsy on Tuesday. The results were not immediately released. Is this an effective ending (according to the textbook)? Why or why not?

Whatever you don't get finished will become homework. You will be writing a hard news story very soon, so it's important that you become familiar with this style.
Other Homework: A completed story idea sheet with four original ideas, and five sources and five questions for each is due when you come in on Monday.

Objective: Students will be able to identify the structure and function of a hard news story.
NJLALCCS 3.2 Writing
D. Writing Forms, Purposes, and Audience
1. Analyzing characteristics, structures, tone, and features of language of selected genres and apply this knowledge to own writing.
3. Evaluate the impact of an author's decisions regarding tone, word choice, style, content, point of view, literary elements, and literary merit, and produce an interpretation of overall effectiveness.
Assessments: Blog Post, class discussion, quiz

Yesterday, we worked with how editors decide what is most newsworthy for their audience, but they are not the only ones who determine the news. Good reporters are constantly in search of their next story. As I mentioned yesterday, this will be an ongoing requirement for this class. Each week, you will be responsible for coming up with four story ideas. For each of these ideas, you need to list five sources, and five questions the story will answer for the reader. The first set of these will be due on Monday.

To demonstrate how you can find stories all around you, we will take a brief tour of the campus and complete a story idea scavenger hunt.

Homework:
A completed story idea sheet with four original ideas, and five sources and five questions for each is due when you come in on Monday.

Objectives: Students will be able to respond to the needs of an audience by applying news qualities in their choice of story topics.
Assessments: Class discussion, story idea sheet

We will spend part of the block today getting you set up for an internet based tool called a news aggregator. These gather news articles for you from a particular site, section, or even on a chosen topic. They will be particular useful for generating story ideas, but also for following top stories posted to sites like CNN, MSNBC, and The Hunterdon County Democrat and the Star Ledger for news quizzes.
Once everything is set up we will discuss what makes a story newsworthy. What are some of the guidelines and terminology editors use to help them decide what goes in the paper and what goes on the front page?
After this, we will talk about why certain publications contain different "top stories."
Why you chose the story that you did, and how you would determine what would be the top stories for The Lamp (our school community's newspaper)?

If we have time, we will complete an online simulation that requires you to use the qualites of news as a guideline to make the decisions editors make everyday.

Homework: Keep up with the news there will be a quiz soon!

Objectives: Students will be able to identify the editorial process that determines what is newsworthy.
NJLALCCS:3.5 VIEWING AND MEDIA LITERACY,
B. Visual and Verbal Messages
2. Compare and contrast three or more media sources
C. Living with Media
2. Determine influences on news media based on existing political, historical, economical, and social contexts (e.g., importance of audience feedback).
3. Recognize that creators of media and performances use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.
Assessment: Quiz on news and qualities of news. Discussion of the Be an Editor Game.

"The universe is made up of stories not atoms." - Muriel Rukeyser
"Journalism is the first rough draft of history" - unknown
"The smarter the journalists are the better off society is. [For] to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves - and the better the teacher, the better the student body." - Warren Buffett

Today, we will get to know one another and go over the course syllabus. We'll also review the differences between your typical English class and this one.

I hope that by the end of this block you have a clear idea about what to expect, and what will be expected of you, in this class.

Assignment: Find a newspaper article (either in print or online) that you find newsworthy.
Next, click here to see a list of Qualities of News.
Briefly summarize the article you chose and copy and paste the web address into a Word document. Next discuss (in writing) why you thought it was newsworthy and which qualities of news it contains. List as many as you can along with brief explanations of support. This is worth 7 points!
Homework: Get the last page of the syllabus signed and any internet premission forms required. Finish the class assignment if you didn't complete it in class.

Objectives: Students will be able to identify the editorial process that determines what is newsworthy.
NJLALCCS:3.5 VIEWING AND MEDIA LITERACY, B. Visual and Verbal Messages
2. Compare and contrast three or more media sources
C. Living with Media
2. Determine influences on news media based on existing political, historical, economical, and social contexts (e.g., importance of audience feedback).
3. Recognize that creators of media and performances use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.

Assessment: Class discussion. Qualities of news HW.