Essential Questions

ADDITIONAL JOURNALISM QUESTIONS

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS (Outdated slightly)

 

WEEK ONE

 

1.1 What are the first three step for publishing articles?

  1. Interview person: Use the questions on one page in the interview booklet so the article is focused on one aspect of the subject’s life.  Record answers on the Cornell Note adjacent to the questions.
  2. Write one-sentence summary.  At the bottom of Cornell Note, write a summary that answers the Essential Question, calls out the first and last name of the subject, and summarizes all the information from the interview in one sentence.
  3. Type article.  Organize information from interview so your article flows naturally.  Add transitional words, phrases or sentences.  Use one-sentence summary from step two to create a topic sentence.  Add concluding sentence.  Make sure you have at least seven sentences.

 

1.2 What are the last fours steps for publishing articles.

  1. Edit article.  Have a peer proofread.  Review grading rubric.
  2. Share with Mr. Winch.
  3. After Mr. Winch scores article, review Mr. Winch’s comments and create final draft.
  4. Copy and paste final draft into final project template before doing the next interview.

 

1.3 How do I conduct effective interviews? (For answer, see poster on wall and first page in Interview Booklet, and remember this is different than being interviewed for a job.  For this question, imagine that you are the person giving the interview)

• Ask open-ended questions.

• Ask follow-up questions.

• Offering encouraging comments.

• Let them talk.  Allow silence.

• The only words you should speak are ones to encourage the person to talk.

 

1.4.  How do I begin my typed paragraphs?

  1. write a 1 sentence summary at the bottom of the interview form (Cornell Note).  (This can be confusing to students because they are writing in one booklet about the other booklet.)  Usually the summary will be an answer to the Essential Question.

  2. Make sure the first sentence of your summary begins with the first and last name of the subject.

  3. Use the first sentence of your summary as the topic sentence (first sentence) in your paragraph.

1.5.  What is your final grade based on in journalism?

FIVE things:

  1. PARAGRAPH Articles: 40% final grade.  The average of the best 7 out of 10___.
  2. ESSAY(s).  The best score of all essays.
  3. ____Deadlines___________: 15% final grade.  The average of first five deadlines.
  4. __Final Exam____________: 15% final grade.  Final exam/Cornell Notes
  5. ____Zine___________: 15% final grade.  Zine and/or website.

 

WEEK 2

2.1  How is the deadline grade determined in Mr. Winch’s journalism class?

 

  1. Deadline grade is separate from the article grade.  (In other words, for the frist 4 weeks, you get two grades for each article.)

 

2) If you finish an article on Tuesday (and post a final draft on final project by Wednesday), you get an A (4) for the deadline grade.   If you finish an article on Wednesday (and post a final draft by Thursday), you get a B (3) for the deadline grade. If you finish an article on Thursday (and post a final draft by Friday), you get a C (2) for the deadline grade.

 

3) After 4 weeks, the average of the four deadline grades become your final DEADLINE grade, and this DEADLINE grade is 20% of your final grade.

 

2.2

What’s the policy for doing interviews outside of class?

 

  1. Must have these notes in your Cornell Notes booklet.
  2. Must be wearing your own handmade professional-looking media pass.
  3. Let Mr. Winch know of your plans
  4. Check out on clipboard with time (and back in with time when you return).
  5. Must go straight to one of the following places: Snyders, Scarpino’s or Smith’s.  (If a student is returning to our class to be interviewed, they must have pass.)
  6. Do not do interviews if Smith, Snyder or Scarpino has a sub.
  7. Must wait until after Icebreaker and Cornell Note time, and must be in this room the last ten minutes of class.
  8. Must complete article before leaving again.

2.2 POSTER

 

2.3

What is a comma splice?

  1. A mistake.
  2. When you put two complete statements together with just a comma.

 

2.4  How do we fix a comma splice?

 

  1. A) Change into two sentences.

 

  1. B) Add a conjunction.  (And keep the comma)

Joe went to the store, he bought pizza.

Joe went to the store.  He bought pizza.

Joe went to the store, and he bought pizza.

 

2.5  What are the consequences for plagiarism?

 

  1. Assignment is not accepted (even if you change the wording).

 

  1. Referral.

 

  1. Plagiarism interferes with the entire structure of journalism.  It makes Mr. Winch more limiting about what type of articles he will accept.

 

WEEK 3

 

3.1 What is the role of the journalist–the ideology of journalism?

3.2

If you are going to turn in articles based on anything different than your own interviews, what are the requirements?

  1. Finish an article by this Friday.
  2. Pick a focus by the end of the third week and stick with it for the rest of the trimester (or switch back to interviewing.)

3.3 What does it mean to go from general to specific.

EXAMPLE 1):

Mr. Winch enjoys the simple things in life.  For example, he loves food.  He likes to start his day with a big breakfast.  He likes bacon, eggs, and coffee.  

example: winch

EXAMPLE 2): your example

 

3.4 What does it mean to go from specific to more specific.

EXAMPLE 1):

Mr. Winch likes breakfast.  He likes bacon, eggs, and coffee.  He likes his bacon crispy, his eggs scrambled, and his coffee black.  Mr. Winch gets up every Saturday and has a big breakfast with his wife at Larry’s Cafe. They also have breakfast together at home on Sunday night.  Breakfast is a small part of life, but the small things can mean a lot.

 

3.5  How do we write reviews for journalism class?

  1. Start with a claim.  The Terminator (1984) by director James Cameron is a sci-fi classic.
  2. Back up claim with 5 or more sentences: evidence, examples, and explanations (specific details, usually going from specific to more specific  When using different types of evidence, use transitional words.)
  3. End with a concluding sentence (not a detail).

 

WEEK 4

4.1  What does C-E-E-E stand for?

CLAIM-EXAMPLES-EVIDENCE-EXPLANATIONS

This not only helps reviews but will help create better topic sentences and focus to articles based on interviews.  [Play hangman for each of the four words.]

C_ _ _ _ _

Ex_ _ _ _ _ s

Ev_ _ _ _ _ s

Exp_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s

circa: a4, c1,d1,e3,i2,l3,m1,n3,o1,p1,v1

4.2: How can using C-E-E-E correctly improve your articles.

  1. Topic sentences will be focused.
  2. Topic sentences will be engaging.
  3. Other sentences will be focused on the topic sentence.
  4. Paragraph will be focused.

 

4.3 What are the eight aspects of a newsworthy story?

4.4: What are some transitional words and phrases we can use in our articles? 

First of all, secondly, lastly.  However.  On the other hand.  For example.  Also,

4.5  Essential Question:  What words do we capitalize?

1) Words at the beginning of sentences; 2) Proper nouns: Titles (publications, people, chapters) and Specific names (months, days of the week, people, place and products)

Notes for Winch (this is not part of the answer):  One student records all answers as teacher asks each student.  Keep going around until nobody has an answer.  Separate answers for final draft poster.)

5.1

 

WEEK 5

5.2  What is the active voice?

  1. The opposite of the passive voice.

  2. A way to improve your writing.

  3. Writing direct statements with only the necessary words, making the topic of a statement, the subject of your sentence.

5.3 What can we do in journalism class?  (Brainstorm with class.)

 

5.4 Why is the active voice important?

  1. It makes your writing more convincing.
  2. It makes your writing easier to read.
  3. Mistakes are easier to find.

5.5 How do I identify the passive voice?

  1. Look for sentences that begin with “There are” or There is.

  2. Look for the word I.

  3. Look for sentences that seem wordy or indirect.

  4. Look for the word not.

Week 6

6.1 Monday:

Essential Question:  Why are writing skills important?  (record student answers on board)

6.2 Essential Question:  How can writing skills help you obtain employment?

Good writing skills: make you look professional, help you look intelligent, help you create effective resumes and cover letters.  These skills also help you finish school so you can get the good jobs.

6.3 Wednesday

6.4 Essential Question: How can writing skills help you in other classes?

Thursday

Icebreaker: If you had the money to start your own business, what would it be?

Essential Question: How can writing skills help you run a business?

6.5 FRIDAY:

Essential Question: When editing your writing, what are some important things to look for?

 

WEEK 7

7.1 What is solutions journalism?

7.2 When do we use apostrophes? a) To represent and replace letters.  b) To show possessive.

7.3 Other than using transitional words and phrases, what are some other ways we can create natural transition between sentences?  a) Cause and effect.  b) Chronological order; c) Add transitional sentences.

7.4 How do we add whole sentences to create transition between sentences (or paragraphs)?

  1. Add a sentence that bridges the two sentences (or paragraphs) , a sentence that begins with something from the previous sentence and ends with something the following sentence. (Joe loves to begin his day with a big breakfast.  He likes eggs, coffee and bacon.  He likes his eggs scrambled, his coffee black, and his bacon crispy.  He likes to eat a breakfast that fills him up until noon.  In the middle of the day, He likes a huge lunch.)

 

What’s another type of sentence we can add to create transition between sentences (or paragraphs)?

Add a sentence that points out what the two sentences have in common or how they differ, or how they relate to each other.  

Joe plays basketball on the weekend.  Of course, that’s not the only thing he enjoys doing.  He also likes eating pizza pie.

Joe plays basketball on the weekend.  After working out on the court, he likes to go home and fill his belly with his favorite food.  He loves pizza pie.

 

7.5 What are two main types of writing in journalism?

  1. New Articles: fact-based articles based on interviews, events,…  (For example
  2. Editorials: Opinion-based articles to argue and/or persuade.

(Remember that editorials used facts to support their arguments.)

 

 

 

WEEKS 8 – 9

8.1  What does it mean to go universal in the conclusion?

  1. Where you identify a theme (a lesson or statement about life or a section of life) that is illustrated by the story in the article.
  2. The only way to get a 4 on item 10 on the rubric.
    “4: Excellent (naturally comes out of previous sentences; universal theme explored while still connected with the topic sentence and focus of paragraph.)”

 illustrative writing

 

Student examples of Illustrative Writing

 

8.2 How do we credit sources when noting facts, statistics and dates.

  1. Call out the author’s last name in the sentence.  Smothers points out that James Brown was born in 1933.  James Brown was born in 1933 (Smothers).
  2. Include full citation at the bottom of the article.  Smothers, Susan.  Soul Music.  “The Godfather of Soul.”  1989.
  3. If the author is not noted, the organization is the author.

 

8.3 When do we credit sources?

  1. When you read an article or view a video about a person, place or event and include that information in your article.
  2. You don’t need to note the sources when your article is only about the person you interviewed.
  3. When you include dates and other facts in your reviews.

 

8.4 How is the final project graded?

  1. Ten-item rubric.
  2. See rubric sheet for details
  3. Somewhat like the article rubric because the final-project rubric has 10 items, but the final-project rubric focuses the appearance, originality and focus of the publication, and of course the quality of the writing.

 

8.5 What are the procedures for the final exam?

  1. Final exam must be completed in this classroom and can not leave the room.
  2. Student can use their own Cornell Notes.
  3. Student can use their zine for examples if they print a copy of zine beforehand.
  4. Technology must remain away or face down.
  5. If time permits, student can take the final more than once.  We’ll take it every
  6. Only the information presented with these 30 or so Essential Questions.

 

 

9.1 How is the final exam graded?

 

Just like every assignment (except deadlines) in this class, each of the ten questions are given a score of 0, 2, 3, or 4.

Incomplete = 1.  Definition is incomplete or not completely accurate.  OR the definition is simply word-for-word what Winch put on board.

Meets = 2 = C: Answer(s) show understanding but most of the definitions, explanations and examples come straight from Mr. Winch’s notes on the board, or from online or textbooks.  Or definitions obviously come from student but student doesn’t provide specific examples or thorough explanations.

Advanced Proficiency = 3 = B: Answer provides definitions, explanations AND examples that clearly come from the student’s own thoughts and/or work.

 

Mastery = 4 = A: In addition to the requirements for ADVANCED PROFICIENCY, answer(s) clearly applies concept to multiple original examples and/or comparisons and includes the complete answer into a focused paragraph.

 

The final grade for exam is an average of the ten scores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer: see handout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reliable sources

theme

Correlation and Causation

.How do I change the passive voice to the active voice?

  1. Restate sentences without “There are” or There is.
  2. Restate sentences that begin with I.
  3. Restate sentences that use not.

What the attendance policy in Winch’s class?

  1. If tardy (not in room when bell rings) go to _________________ and get ___________.

  2. If out of room for A TOTAL of more than 10 minutes (or 20 if following instructions for out-of-class interviews), marked ____________. (If you have an excuse, bring it to the main office).

  3. If not in room at the very end of class (when bell rings), marked ____________.

     

What’s difference between primary and secondary sources?

  1. You are a primary sources if you witnessed the event directly; for example, you interviewed a person and they talked about themselves, watched a movie, read a book, or witnessed an event firsthand.  (If don’t note sources, the reader assumes you are a primary source.)

2. You’re a secondary source if you were not directly involved in the event; for example, you read an article or viewed a video about the person, place or event.   (You use are a secondary source, you must note your sources.)

 

 

 

What’s one effective way to determine if you’re a primary or secondary source?

If your source is the subject of your article, your article likely becomes a primary source.

For example, if your article is about Susan Miller and your source an interview with Susan Miller, you’re article is a primary source.

If you interviewed Susan Miller about an event she saw and your article is about that event, Susan is a primary source (because she was there), but your article becomes a secondary source.