I need some creative ideas from you wonderfully creative people! Please, read on...
So this summer for school, (I teach year round), I've been doing a big unit on Journalism. Each class period is going to be publishing their own paper at the end of the summer. Each week I've focused on one aspect of journalism.
week 1: freedom of the press, and censorship
week 2: interviewing skills and writing about it
week 3: advertising and cartooning
week 4: EDITORIALS (here we are...and I need help!
It's been pretty fun because I have been doing a lot more discussions and have given the girls more freedom in choosing what they want to do. This is good and bad. Some girls love the freedom; some girls take advantage of the freedom.
Tomorrow, (Monday), I am going to hand out a sheet with the format of editorials and also an example that I found from the New York Times. I plan on assigning the girls each to write an editorial and I am giving them the option of choosing what they want to write on or selecting from a list of ideas that I have. I DON'T HAVE A LIST OF IDEAS YET!!! That's where y'all come in. What are some great topics that would make for a good editorial? I know the basics like political issues, but I am trying to get a mix of serious world issue stuff and fun light hearted stuff. These girls have a lot of 'heavy' things in their life so I don't want to force them to write about other 'heavy' things. Does that make sense?
10 comments:
* Who should be VP for each candidate
* Something local in Cedar
* Going Green -- Do little things really matter?
* Pop culture and promoting a healthy view of sexuality (How old are these girls? Maybe that's not the best idea . . . ).
* Women's rights (that'd be excellent for them!)
* For fun ones, I love the questions that ask you to recast a movie. Like if George Lucas were to update the old Star Wars movies, who should he cast in the main roles, etc.
I found various lesson plans online for similar classes and yours sounds MUCH more interesting! I bet you're a great teacher!! They're very lucky to have you!
I was thinking along celebrity lines...like opinions on Jamie Lynn Spears' teen pregnancy (is that too heavy?), is she too young...I got nothing. I would be a terrible teacher.
How about alternative history? For example, suppose the south had won the civil war; how might society be different?
You sound like an awesome teacher!
Wow you guys are great! Those are things that I wouldn't have thought of. Alternate history?! Great. Thanks for the tips!
It may not be an editorial, but my favorite essays in high school (assigned by my favorite English teacher) were these--they totally stretch your mind:
What is the difference (if any) between opinion and judgment?
What is art?
Is experience necessary in order to understand something?
Stacy- Those really are thought provoking essay topics. I remember I had one where we had to define what truth was. Kind of along the lines of your ideas. Hmm...it does give me something to think about. I'm always up for new ideas for my classes, so keep 'em coming!
Ooooh, I like the truth one! I remember another one--What is a profession? Is it the same as a career? You'd be surprised (well, maybe not) at how deep you can get on topics like that)!
It's funny that it's those really simple questions that can get really existential.
Stacy- I come to you because you are the blogging/google authority, (in my eyes!) I have 2 blogging questions for you:
1) How can I subscribe to someone's blog so that I know when they put up a new post without having to check all the time? Is there a way to do that?
2) How do I look and see who's visiting my blog?
Yay! I'm so excited!
1. BLOGLINES! A lot of people use Google Reader and we used them at first, too, but we like Bloglines SO much more! It's very user friendly, you can use it from anywhere, and it's a handy way to read it right in your reader. And you can subscribe to anything with a feed there!
2. STATCOUNTER! This lets you track who visits you, when, where they come from, etc. And you can label people, too, by name!
I have a link around here for how to use Bloglines--I seriously can't recommend it highly enough, especially since so many jump to Google Reader first. We've tried both and Bloglines really is better! I'll find it and email you. :)
Thanks for the compliment! This is so great! :)
I've found it! The other thing I like about Bloglines is that I've added a little "Subscribe with Bloglines" button to my browser window so when I come upon a blog I want to continue to follow, I simply press that button and voila! It lets me give my preferences and presto! I'm subscribed! Here is the link that explains Bloglines.
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