WEEK 8 and 9 SUMMARY

CONTENT
– We discussed coverage of meetings, press conferences, speakers and similar events. These are not hard news in the same way a fire, an election, an act of crime, an accident, a natural disaster, a war, or a major political event or announcement would be.
They are, however, written as news stories – rather than features -- because the event, meeting or speech which you are covering, took place at a specific point in time that brings the issue onto the public agenda. Inverted pyramid is still the way to go.

- In week 8 we did an in-class practice assignment by watching U-Tube clips of the case of Corey Delaney, an Australian party boy. This was followed by a mock press conference of the Ventura County Police alerting parents in our area to their degree of legal liability, should their minor children hold parties where alcohol is served.

- In week 9 we did an in-class practice assignment by covering a 1998 Commencement speech at M.I.T. by the unconventional author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. We learned that the speech was never written, nor delivered by Vonnegut, but was written by a columnist at the Chicago Tribune. Then it took on a new life over the Internet.

- We discussed the importance of the pitch, which is a proposal to interest an editor in a story you wish to write.

- We moved from meetings, speeches and press conferences to feature stories.

QUIZ – There was an open book quiz on Tues. March 4, 2008. If you missed the quiz, you may make it up at home and sent it by email. This offer expires on Tues. March 11.

READING – Chapter 18 was previously assigned and Chapter 9 (story telling and narrative writing) was assigned on Thursday, to be read by this Tuesday. Please also see the writing tips I have posted on mcreporters.blogspot.com.

ASSIGNMENTS
- Your speaker or meeting coverage assignment, of which you received notification on Feb. 19th and which was formally assigned on Feb. 26th, was due last Tuesday March 5th. The final day for acceptance of this assignment is this Tuesday, March 11.

- The story pitch assignment is due on Tuesday, March 11. It is short. It should be easy to write, since you may do it on the meeting or speaker story you have just completed. If you did not receive a copy of the pitch assignment, contact me and I will email it to you.

BONUS POINTS – It was announced that anyone who submits additional stories by covering additional events at school or in the community, will receive addition points out of 10. I highly encourage everybody to make use of this offer if you have missed quizzes and assignments to date.

GRADING – All students are doing well or very well on the work completed. Some students have missed assignments or quizzes, which is dragging your overall grade down slightly. Please contact me for a review of your grade and a plan of how to best raise it.
Showing up at each class is absolutely the best way to keep your grade up.

HELPFUL HINTS
– When writing your assignments at home, keep the AP stylebook beside you and don’t hesitate to look things up.

- Before you begin writing, take some time to go over all your notes, circle good quotes and points you want to cover, then make a brief, point-form outline of your story. The writing will go more smoothly if you know where you are going with it.

- If you find yourself searching for the right word, don’t hesitate to use the thesaurus on your word processing program. The best writers often struggle for the right words.