Teaching Journalism

I eventually want to be a teacher at the college level. I've got a lot of ideas. For instance, I would hold a press conference in my first class or two of a beginning Journalism course. The students would be "reporters" for competing newspapers. I'd make a speech, allow time for questions and then give them all time for one or two questions individually. They'd have to have the story by the next class, at the least.

That would give them a little taste of what they're in for, teach them a little about me and, more importantly, give me a good idea of their talent, potential and weaknesses.

 

Could you have a bunch of TV people elbowing them out of the way, demanding for you to "talk about the game?" Because that would be great. And realistic.

 

The PR students would hold a news conference, we had to write about it.

But Can, what type of class is this? How many students? One of the best things that I had in journalism is my prof would give us very good stories to read as homework and the next class we'd talk about why they worked, try to imagine the type of questions he asked, look at all the reporting that went into the little details that made the story. It was a huge help.

 

That would be Journalism 102

 

Don't forget about the TV people getting you tangled in their mic cords.

 

And swinging the camera around, when backing out of the media scrum, and almost hitting you in the head.

 

almost?

 

I've never been hit, but it's been really close sometimes.

 

Sorry, I was in a rush to post this. I was supposed to teach these two sets of students in mid November, but it had to be moved up to next week for unspecified reasons.

I am teaching one set of 10 students at a community college journalism class about getting the story and also about how to craft a successful story for use in a publication. I do have to talk about feature stories (what makes a great feature story) because most of my writing revolves around that in the sports realm.
Also, they do want me to talk a bit about the sports angle and draw on my work of previews of for instance, soccer, basketball and hockey leagues. I have to talk a bit about my role as an assignment editor and how we decide what is newsworthy and what is not.

The second session I am teaching is to about 17 copy editing students. The course will involve examples from other newspapers and what sorts of things to look for when editing a story for print. Kind of like having "double vision" in print. I have to draw on common mistakes and and errors that we find in our stories that are submitted in by other writers that I oversee throughout the year.

I hope this is enough information for all of you. Also, these students are working towards certification in journalism. They are not in high school.

Thanks everyone.

 

Wow. You have 17 students for a copy editing course?
That amazes me.

 

Or pronounce OHfense or organEYEzation correctly!

 

nicely done.