News Story Essay

News Story

Definition

            In a News Story, you learn as much as you can about a subject and present your findings in a way that makes sense and holds your reader attention.  Your story can be a report of an event, an interview, or a compiled report on an issue.

Gathering Information

You can consult a variety of sources about a timely, interesting topic.  Your sources may include books, articles, internet sources, interviews, etc.  Your goal is to bring together this information into a unified report that informs and/or entertains your readers.

Two steps:

• Collecting – Consult a number of sources, taking careful notes about your subject.  Be careful to be accurate with facts, figures, and quotations.
• Assessing – Come to some conclusion about the significance of the information you collected.  Let that conclusions be the thesis of your paper.  Then plan your report, selecting and arranging the facts to support this focus.     

Thesis Development

            Your thesis will be the ideas you’ve formed after collecting material.  The thesis may be about the value of the subject, the impact it has on society, the causes and effects related to it, the significance to others, etc. 

Organization

            A News Story can be organized in a number of ways.  If it is of an event, a chronological format can be used.  If this plan is used, the writer should continue to draw the reader’s attention not only to the progression of events, but also to the manner in which they support the thesis.  Sometimes a News Story is about various people, and separate paragraphs can be devoted to each person.  If an issue is discussed, the writer will need to break it into its primary components.         

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due April 3; Rough Draft due April 10; Final Draft due April 24.

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Writing 1 Class Notes -- March 20 (Week 9)

Greetings!

We had a good week of classes this week.  We started the class with a more active Quick Write.  Using the adjective cards from my game, Funglish, the students were assigned to write sentences using the adjectives.  When the first round of sentences were written, we passed our cards down the table and wrote new sentences using the new set of adjectives.    Some students wrote sentences that told stories (albeit very unusual) and some wrote individual sentences for each adjective.

The students handed in their final drafts of their Theme or Character Essays along with the worksheets for the book, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, that they had been working on.  These essays have been very thoughtful and I look forward to reading over them during the Spring Break. 

Our next essay will be a News Story.  We took a good amount of time to discuss this. The essays are to be concerned with a topic that is current, interesting and news-worthy.  For the sake of comparison, they should consider an article that might be appropriate for a magazine rather than a newspaper.  They will need to do a little research for this essay.

In class, we worked through a review of commas.  The rules and guidelines are beginning to stick.  We will go over some more punctuation and end the semester with an exam.

Our remaining class time was spent discussing the two O. Henry stories assigned for this week, "A Retrieved Reformation," and "The Pimienta Pancake."  These stories, like the previous ones, are humorous and have quirky endings.  Next week we will read one of my favorites, "The Ransom of Red Chief."

I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but we don't have classes next week.

Assignments for April 3 (Week 10)
-- Read "The Ransom of Red Chief" (p. 17) and another story from the book of your choosing.
-- Fill out both sides of the 2 worksheets that were handed out.
-- News Story Essay Pre-writing.  This will include some research along with an outline or mind-map.

This week's blog
Class Notes
News Story worksheet


Have a great Spring Break!!
Mrs. Prichard

News Story Essay

News Story

Definition

            In a News Story, you learn as much as you can about a subject and present your findings in a way that makes sense and holds your reader attention.  Your story can be a report of an event, an interview, or a compiled report on an issue.

Gathering Information

You can consult a variety of sources about a timely, interesting topic.  Your sources may include books, articles, internet sources, interviews, etc.  Your goal is to bring together this information into a unified report that informs and/or entertains your readers.

Two steps:

• Collecting – Consult a number of sources, taking careful notes about your subject.  Be careful to be accurate with facts, figures, and quotations.
• Assessing – Come to some conclusion about the significance of the information you collected.  Let that conclusions be the thesis of your paper.  Then plan your report, selecting and arranging the facts to support this focus.     

Thesis Development

            Your thesis will be the ideas you've formed after collecting material.  The thesis may be about the value of the subject, the impact it has on society, the causes and effects related to it, the significance to others, etc. 

Organization

            A News Story can be organized in a number of ways.  If it is of an event, a chronological format can be used.  If this plan is used, the writer should continue to draw the reader’s attention not only to the progression of events, but also to the manner in which they support the thesis.  Sometimes a News Story is about various people, and separate paragraphs can be devoted to each person.  If an issue is discussed, the writer will need to break it into its primary components.         

Essay Guidelines

– Due dates:  Pre-Write due April 3; Rough Draft due April 10; Final Draft due April 24.

– Essay length:  500 – 700 words (between 2 and 4 pages)

– Rough drafts can be typed or hand-written, but must be double-spaced.

– Final draft format:

– Typed (if this is not possible, please let me know)

– 1 inch margins

– Name and date on the upper right hand corner

– Number the pages on the lower right hand corner

– Title centered above the text of the essay

Characters: The Actors in a Story

CHARACTERS:  THE ACTORS IN A STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Types of Characters	Examples from the Story
Round characters are complex and multidimensional, like real people.
Flat characters are one dimensional and superficial; they can be described in a single sentence.
Dynamic characters change in an important way because of the story’s action
Static characters do not change much or at all during a story.
Stock characters are predictable stereotypes of people.
Motivation of Round Characters	Examples from the Story
Motivation is the underlying force(s) that causes a character to act a certain way.

The Short Story

THE SHORT STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Elements of a Short Story	Elements of This Story
Characters:  the people or animals who are in the story
Setting:  the time and place in which a story occurs
Plot:  the action and problems that occur in a story
Conflict:  struggle(s) the character faces
Theme:  the story’s statement about life of the human condition
Point of view:  the vantage point from which a story is told.

Analyzing Setting in a Story

ANALYZING SETTING IN A STORY

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Questions to Ask About Setting	Responses from the Story
1.  What is the setting?  Historical period?  Country or locale?  Season of the year?  Weather?  Time of day?  What are the sights?  Sounds?  Tastes?  Smells?  What other details establish a sense of place?
2. Are the characters in conflict with the setting?  What do the characters want?  Does the setting keep them from getting what they want?
3. What does the setting tell us about the characters?  What feelings or attitudes do the characters reveal toward the setting?  Fear?  Pleasure?  Challenge?  Dislike?  Respect?  Other feelings or attitudes?
4. How would you describe the atmosphere or mood created by the setting?  Is it gloomy?  Cheerful?  Mysterious?  Threatening?  Other descriptions?

Analyzing a Story's Theme

ANALYZING A STORY’S THEME

Title of Selection:  _________________________________________________________________

Author:  _________________________________________________________________________

Questions to Help Clarify Theme	Responses & Examples from the Story
1.  Does the title signify something about the story?  Does it point to truth the story reveals about life?
2. Does the main character change during the course of the story?  Does the main character realize something he or she did not know before?
3. Are any important statements about life or people made in the story, either by the narrator or characters in the story?
4. Is the theme ever directly stated?  If so, where is it stated?
5. In one sentence, state the story’s theme.  Do you agree with the theme?  Is the writer presenting a truth about life or forcing us to accept a false view?

Infomercial Videos

The class was assigned to write short scripts for their Quick Writes.  These scripts were to explain various grammatical, literary, or writing terms.

March 13 Quick Write Video

Below is the video that I used to start class. I gave the students instructions for their Quick Writes.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- March 13

Greetings!

We had a great class this week. I left a video for them to use to start the class.  In part, it was an experiment to see if they can follow instructions when I'm not in the room -- which they did wonderfully.  The Quick Write instructions on the video told them to write a short "infomercial" for a grammatical, literary, or writing terms.  After these were written, I recorded them.  They were both informational and creative.

We discussed the rough drafts of the writing assignments that I had handed back.  They've written great essays about the book we read. I was impressed with how thoughtfully and carefully they put together their insights about the characters and the themes.  The Final Copies are due next week.

We also discussed our literature selections for this week.  O. Henry's short stories are clever and witty.  His endings are often unexpected and humorous.  I'm looking forward to working through the rest of this book with them.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Retrieved Reformation (p. 49); The Pimenta Pancake (p. 29)

-- One story worksheet per story

-- Final copy of the Themes/Character essay

Have a great week! 

Mrs. Prichard

Why Latin?

This semester I'm including Latin phrases into our beginning-of-class activities.  My reasons for doing this are varied:

1.  I love words, and Latin vocabulary expands our personal word banks, qualitatively and quantitatively.
2.  Writing is the art of using words well. (see #1).
3.  While some may complain that the Latin phrases used are archaic and therefore not useful, I disagree.  Neither are they little bits that might help you in a trivia contest.  Most of the phrases we discuss have connections to culture, history, the legal world, art, science, etc.  While we don't go into any great depth with these topics, I hope I'm salting their curiosity.
4.  Students are beginning to make connections with other topics they've studied and are communicating their knowledge with the rest of the class.  For example, when we looked at the phrase ars moriendi (the art of dying), one student shared what he had learned about the Roman military culture.
5.  Though I'm teaching writing, one of my primary goals is to encourage critical, creative, and analytical thinking.  When students learn to think broadly and diversely, they also grow as writers.  I feel that these Latin expressions help to generally expand their thinking skills.

Some interesting articles:
Teaching Latin in Primary schools in the UK
10 Reasons to NOT teach Latin  (for those who don't like Latin)
Latin Makes a Comeback
Why Teach Latin

As with any of the content of my classes, feel free to contact me.

Writing 1 Class Notes -- March 6 (Week 6)

Greetings!

How many of you know that today is the 101st birthday of the Oreo cookie?  I had no idea that this well-known treat was that old!  We started the class with that bit of trivia before doing our Quick Write.  For today, I asked the students if they could start or run any business what would it be.  I like to encourage students to "dream big" because if often opens their thinking to possibilities and opportunities that the Lord has for them.  They shared some great ideas!

Our Latin Phrases for today were:

ars gratia artis -- art for the sake of art (art for art's sake) which is the motto for MGM films

ars longa, vita brevis -- art is long, life is short

ars moriendi -- the art of dying (Romans valued dying a noble death)

artes, scientia, veritas -- art, knowledge, truth (the motto for the University of Michigan)

We've started the next book for this semester which is a compilation of short stories by O. Henry.  Many of the students had read or heard the first story, "The Gift of the Magi" in which a young couple sacrifices their most treasured possessions in order to buy Christmas gifts.  The second story, "After Twenty Years," has some great characterization and a twist in the plot.  We looked specifically at some of the vocabulary and talked about the importance of word choices.  I've attached a revised syllabus for the class.  I had miscalculated the number of weeks that it would take to read the Jekyll/Hyde book.  For next week, they are to read two stories and fill in a full worksheet (both sides) for each story.

Rough drafts of their Theme or Character essays were handed in today.  For any students who were absent or not yet finished, please get your rough drafts to me by the weekend.  We've had some great discussions about the book, and I'm looking forward to reading their analyses.

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Read "Makes the Whole World Kin" and "The Furnished Room"

-- Fill out one worksheet (both sides) for each story.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Prichard