Writing Activity: Feature Writing

Teachers, feel free to use this activity for your classes. You may need to alter certain parts of the activity to meet the needs of your particular classroom situation.

Writing Activity: Feature Writing (Part 4)

Part One |

Part Two |

Part Three |

Part Four

Activity submitted by DWP teacher Jason Lueth

HELP ME!
Other resources that make this activity work, including an introduction to the author and a power point presentation he used to sell this activity at the 1999 Dakota Writing Project

ABOUT THE AUTHOR!
I am an eight-year veteran of teaching journalism at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, SD. I have used a version of this activity each semester in my journalism classes and adopted it for presentation at the 1999 Dakota Writing Project. Interested persons are invited to contact me:

Jason Lueth

Washington High School

501 N. Sycamore Ave.

Sioux Falls, SD 57110

(605) 367-4245

jason.lueth@yebb.com

RESOURCES CONSULTED!
The following resources were consulted by me in the preparation of this activity and may prove useful to you as well.

Dvorak, Jack. “Journalists Continue to Outscore AP Students.” National Scholastic Press Association's Adviser Update. Fall 1995: 13A.

English, Earl, Clarence Hach and Tom Rolnicki. Scholastic Journalism. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1996.

Ferguson, Donald and Jim Patten. Journalism Today! Lincolnwood, Ill: National Textbook Company, 1995.

Goldstein, Norm. Editor. The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1994.

Lueth, Jason. The Orange and Black Style Manual and Class Handbook. Sioux Falls: Washington High School, 1995.

Weaver, Constance. Teaching Grammar in Context. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1996.

Willis, Meredith Sue. Deep Revision: A Guide for Teachers, Students and Other Writers. New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1993.

REACTION TO PRESENTATION!

I felt my presentation, entitled “Writing the Feature Story,” went well as presented at the Dakota Writing Project 1999. The group members seemed to be interested in what I was presenting and seemed to have fun during the interviewing section of the activity.

This is a lesson I do with my classes, with a few modifications. The differences center around the time available for the activity. In my classes the introductory material takes most of a quarter and the students are familiar with the news writing rules through their exposure to writing news stories. I used the feature story in this forum because of the greater degree of flexibility and creativity it allows.

I was encouraged by the presentation of this lesson and the feedback that followed. If I were to change the presentation of this lesson as a result of the experience, I might move it to a more significant place in the semester, using it as an introductory activity as we did. Usually the feature is the longest and last of the stories my journalism students write. Using a short feature on another student at the beginning of the semester might make a good introduction to the class and to the class members. This would not preclude having the students write a longer feature story at the end of the semester on another topic after they learn the style and convention rules needed.

Thank you to all the members of the 1999 Dakota Writing Project who participated in my demonstration. It was an enjoyable experience because of your cooperation and help.