Tag: student journalism

KS2 writing workshop for Overleigh St Mary’s Primary School, Chester

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Just time to fit in another workshop for schools before Christmas.

It was, in fact, a return trip to Overleigh St Marys Primary School in Chester to run another media writing workshop for Key Stage 2 (KS2).

The focus this year was news (factual writing) vs. blogs (persuasive writing) and we based our stories around a space theme with the hook of Major Time Peake blasting off to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15.

Amongst the topics we discussed:

  • What is news?
  • How to structure of news writing
  • How to use quotes
  • What is a blog post?
  • How to structure a blog post
  • How to research, not rant

By the end of the morning we had a Newsround-style opportunity to read out our stories with the final versions to go live on the school website shortly — check back for details.

What did you think of this story? Post your comments below.

Liked this? Try also BBC School report Day at Horns Mill Primary School.

BBC School Report Day: Media Literacy at Horns Mill Primary School, Helsby

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I went back to school last week.

Well, sort of. Last Thursday marked BBC School Report Day, the day designed by BBC Learning to help schoolchildren make their own news reports.

The project is aimed mainly at secondary schools but I joined a colleague at Horn’s Mill Primary School in Helsby to run a news-writing and media-literacy workshop for year six pupils [pictured above].

The day-long project took a cross-curriculum approach and was based around the class’ set text, King Kong.

The class worked in pairs to research, structure and write a series of news reports about New York City.

After the morning editorial conference, we draw up a news list [pictured below].

Here are some of things we talked about:

  • What do journalists do all day?
  • What makes news? How do we find news?
  • Why is direct speech important for writing articles?
  • How is it different to write stories in a media style?
  • What reflections and learning points did we get from the day?

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Here are a selection of the comments from the learners on the day:

  • “I really enjoyed it. We discovered there are a lot of stages to writing a good story” – Oscar & Nathan
  • “It was fun. We found out how to use the who, what, where, when, why, how.” – Jess & Izzy
  • “I learnt about writing stories and that research is as important as writing.” – Billy & Amy
  • “It was interesting to meet a reporter and learn how to write a news report.” – Zak & Keira

* Do you have any tips for leading KS2 workshops? Share your views below.

Liked this? Try also A media-writing workshop for Overleigh St Marys Primary School

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BBC School Report 2015

Horn’s Mill Primary School, Helsby

Overleigh St Marys Primary School: a media-writing workshop for KS2

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I like a challenge.

It’s one thing lecturing a group of student journalists in a university lecture theatre but how about inspiring a primary school class to develop their news sense as part of KS2 literacy?

Well, that’s exactly what I tried to do this week, delivering two media-writing workshops to year-five learners at my local primary school.

The classes had just done a school trip to Spaceport on The Wirral and I used their try as basis to write some simple articles.

Some of things I talked about included:

  • What is news? How do we identify news?
  • How do we structure a news story?
  • What are interviews? What makes a good interview?
  • Why is direct speech import for writing articles?
  • What’s the difference between news and feature stories?
  • Why are intros so important in a feature?

Here are a selection of the comments from the learners on the day:

  • “It was s fun. I would like to be a journalist now. I love it!” – Charlie
  • “It was fun, interesting and constructive. It made me learn about writing news.” – Emi
  • “I thought it was real interesting. It was very descriptive. I liked it a lot.” – Amy
  • “I liked learning more about newspapers and features. Give even more examples. It was inspiring.” – Will
  • “It was constructive with lots of complicated words and sentences to make me think.” – Lily

* Do you have any tips for leading KS2 workshops? Share your views below.

Liked this? Try also Teachers: do you want to enhance the quality of writing in your class this term?

 

National Freelancers Day: A talk for Leeds University journalism students

 

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* Images by Vicente Schulz

It was National Freelancers Day this week.

I marked the day with a return trip to my old alma mater, Leeds University, to talk to the media students [pictured above] about going freelance and travel writing as part of the #LeedsMediaFutures series.

It was a sparky session, comprising both post- and undergraduates, with lots of good questions.

I’ve got a real soft spot for Leeds. My first ever published article was a review of a Mudhoney gig at Leeds University in 1992 and my time working for the Leeds Student newspaper helped me to build my portfolio of cuttings.

This in turn helped to secure me a place on a postgraduate journalism course in London back in 1994.

I’ll save the whole lecture for the Leeds group but here’s a glimpse of what I discussed, looking specifically at how to get started as a freelancer journalist:

  • The onus is on you, so do a good job. Stick to deadlines, word counts and follow the brief
  • Look for fresh angles and new ideas. Stand out as editors get some 50 pitches per day
  • Journalism is moving online, so build digital skills – leverage the strengths of the medium and build community
  • Start with what you know. Pick a publication you read regularly and look for regular sections to fill
  • Spin off angles on the same story for different publication
  • When you file your copy, follow up with a fresh new idea

And here are some of the comments from the group when I asked them to jot down some feedback after the lecture:

  • “I found that going freelance is being a jack of all trades; not just climbing the ladder but spreading your wings. It stretches your mind and challenges you to think differently.” – Evelyn Robinson (puravidastudent.com)
  • “Interesting points on how to pitch an idea and how to come up with a story if you are struggling. Would like to know if the blogosphere is already saturated?” – Rory Dormer (sunburntabroad.blogspot.co.uk)
  • “In freelancing, the scariest thing is, and perhaps always will be, the uncertainty.” – Jenson Deokiesingh (trinitraveller.wordpress.com)
  • “You were very honest and didn’t pretend you haven’t struggled at times with freelance work. I liked the way you shared tips or ideas that could help but that we hadn’t necessarily thought of ourselves.” – Lily Connagher

Gazetteer

Leeds University School of Media and Communication

National Freelancers Day 2014

What tips would you offer a student journalist looking to go freelance? Share your comments below.