Classroom bulletin: Story 5

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE LEADS?

Here are the leads from your stories last week. Read them through and think about which ones are entertaining? Solid with the basic information? Which make you want to read more? Which just confuse you? How would you do things differently?

• The Anoka Ramsey Community College men's soccer team captured their 3rd consecutive Region XIII championship by defeating local rival, Century Community College this past Sunday on the Anoka-Ramsey campus soccer field.

• Every step further into the Haunted Corn Maze of Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd, Minn., brought excitement and thrill, Saturday, Oct 22nd. “It was really scary. I heard the chainsaw and ran,” said Logan Lene, 13, of St. Francis, Minn., a visitor to the attraction. 

• Cordelia Anderson, a prominent speaker and advocate for the prevention of sexual violence, spoke at Anoka Ramsey Community College's Mental Health and Wellness event yesterday afternoon.

• The Jack-o-Lantern is an essential part of Halloween. For many families that means a trip to the pumpkin patch. Choosing a patch can be tricky, but a good one will keep families coming back year after year. 

• Rebecca Bowers, manager of a small business shop called Crystal House, arranges an annual fashion show. This public event took place on Saturday, October 15th in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

• Approximately 180 State of Minnesota employees attended an open enrollment meeting at a local state office to learn about any upcoming changes to their state benefits. 

• Each Tuesday afternoon, Tina Perpich leads a free yoga class offered to the students and faculty at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids. 

• Wednesday, October 19th, heading into their last regular season game with a record of 9-6-1 Anoka-Ramsey Women's soccer pulls out with another win.

• As world-renowned designers, noted fashion photographers, socialites, media, and the rest of the fashion community gather to descend on fashion weeks worldwide, DHL Global Forwarding continues to support the fashion industry.

• Currently only 3 out of every 100 people in America donate blood. 

• Diversity and tolerance is a very hot topic in the modern world that attracts all kinds of people with differing views.  That could at least been implied from the people in attendance to a showing of the PBS documentary about the Stonewall uprising. 

GENERAL COMMENTS

• I am delighted to see so many of you taking advantage of the extra credit by submitting a photo with your story. Not only does it benefit you right now (with the extra credit), but it makes your story stronger. If you think back to what folks noticed in newspapers, the image that accompanied the story made an impact and pulled readers into the story. It’s great to use a combination of words and images to get your point across.

• Please remember to submit photos as jpg attachments to the dropbox. Images in Word docs are just screen images and can't be used for publication.

• Remember that when writing a news story off an event, you don’t have to write about things in the order that they happened. Instead, pick what was most important. Then write about what was second most important. Then third, etc. You also don’t have to include everything that happened if you run short on space or it just wasn’t that important.

• I am not able to comment on whether you spelled all the names correctly in your stories. I recommend getting in the habit of doublechecking the spelling of all names after you've written the story.

NOT YOUR JOB TO BE A CHEERLEADER

When you interview people and develop a relationship with them, it can be very tempting to turn into a cheerleader. You like them, so you want their play or concert to be successful. You want to praise what they’ve done. You want to let them know you think they were great. 

But that’s not your job. (Unless you’re writing a review, anyway, and then it’s still not your job, but you get to state your opinion.)

Your job is to remain an unbiased reporter who gives the facts. Then the readers can decide for themselves.

PUNCTUATE QUOTES CORRECTLY

Many of you are punctuating quotes incorrectly. I recommend that you brush up on your knowledge of quotes by viewing a video I have created.

View video here:

http://iteachjournalism.blogspot.com/search/label/quotations