Today we will read/listen to the first chapter of The Other Wes Moore. Before we crack open the book (you should have already done that by reading the introduction to the book for last class's homework...) let's take 2 minutes to hear from Wes himself.
At its core this book is definitely a human interest story. You may not think it, but people like to read about real people in real adverse situations. It confirms the survival of our species and is hard-wired into us. Perhaps the bigger tragedy in our society is that we often forget that books and reading help us become civilized human beings. TV, the Media, and Film can sometimes help, but its not a substitute to the kinds of things we read. People who don't read or don't like to read or don't have the skills to read are generally seen as inferior human beings.
Human interest stories are also called "soft news". Human Interest features feature the following parts:
A note about the construction of the book:
Writers need to consider the FORM and STRUCTURE of a book, play, story, poem, or feature article. It doesn't just happen. Good writers think about how many scenes, parts, chapters are needed to tell their story effectively.
Moore divides his book into 3 distinct parts, representing the three phases in our coming of age. Interspersed between the 8 chapters (the # of years that had significant impact on the two Wesses) are the interview notes between Wes Moore and Wes Moore.
Wes Moore's official website can be found here. If you like his book stay in touch with him by tweeting, facebook, or email. He is very open to working with youth and would probably love to hear from you.
In the lab: Please complete the following pre-writing work:
Goal: You will write a human interest feature article. This article will be longer than the ones you've been writing. Follow the steps below to prepare your writing and get an idea for your subject:
1. Find good source material! Brainstorm, mind-map, list, sketch, outline some possible people in your life who might make good source material for this project.
2. After you have a list of potentials, consider if the person you want to feature in your article is newsworthy. Is there something about this subject that will draw your readers in? Will you be excited writing and researching topics connected to this subject? Think and plan before you decide.
3. Determine who your audience is. This will help you ask the right kind of questions and to find out the right kind of information that your READER will most likely be curious about. Remember the golden rule: why should your reader care about your subject?
4. You will need to find source material for your subject. This might be (and most typically is) conducting an interview, writing letters, getting to know your subject, taking pictures of your subject's living space, emailing, looking at photographs, internet research, talking to people who know your subject, following your subject around for a bit and taking notes, etc.
5. Before you rush off to interview your subject, write down some notes about what you already know about the subject and/or your own connection to this person (if possible). If you know a person lived through a particular time period in history or important event, research this so you know what questions to ask your subject. Hit the internet and gather some background information about your subject. Most people can find out about each other by typing a subject's name into Google. Try it. Jot down important notes/info that might be used for your feature.
HOMEWORK: Please read Chapter 2 & 3 (complete Part 1) of the book (pages 3-62) The Other Wes Moore. We left off in class on page 25!) Make a final decision about your subject for your Human Interest Feature. You may even start researching, outlining, and communicating with your subject. Take accurate notes--you are a journalist!
At its core this book is definitely a human interest story. You may not think it, but people like to read about real people in real adverse situations. It confirms the survival of our species and is hard-wired into us. Perhaps the bigger tragedy in our society is that we often forget that books and reading help us become civilized human beings. TV, the Media, and Film can sometimes help, but its not a substitute to the kinds of things we read. People who don't read or don't like to read or don't have the skills to read are generally seen as inferior human beings.
Human interest stories are also called "soft news". Human Interest features feature the following parts:
- The focus of the book or article or feature is on a human subject
- Typically, human interest features report on a person or people's success at overcoming great odds (local human interest stories do not always have to be big issues...just human ones)
- There is often a historical or political element to these stories, but that is not a requirement. One needs to explain the terrible setting, controversy, or problems that the human subject is overcoming, but may or may not go into depth
- Often these human interest stories do not wrap up nicely. The situation causing conflict may not be resolved, but the writing outlines or stresses the "hope" of its subject that things will get better
- Human interest stories often have similarities to the PERSONALITY feature or the PAST EVENTS feature as they often deal with a person or his/her past history and the historical or political events in the subject's life
A note about the construction of the book:
Writers need to consider the FORM and STRUCTURE of a book, play, story, poem, or feature article. It doesn't just happen. Good writers think about how many scenes, parts, chapters are needed to tell their story effectively.
Moore divides his book into 3 distinct parts, representing the three phases in our coming of age. Interspersed between the 8 chapters (the # of years that had significant impact on the two Wesses) are the interview notes between Wes Moore and Wes Moore.
Wes Moore's official website can be found here. If you like his book stay in touch with him by tweeting, facebook, or email. He is very open to working with youth and would probably love to hear from you.
In the lab: Please complete the following pre-writing work:
Goal: You will write a human interest feature article. This article will be longer than the ones you've been writing. Follow the steps below to prepare your writing and get an idea for your subject:
1. Find good source material! Brainstorm, mind-map, list, sketch, outline some possible people in your life who might make good source material for this project.
2. After you have a list of potentials, consider if the person you want to feature in your article is newsworthy. Is there something about this subject that will draw your readers in? Will you be excited writing and researching topics connected to this subject? Think and plan before you decide.
3. Determine who your audience is. This will help you ask the right kind of questions and to find out the right kind of information that your READER will most likely be curious about. Remember the golden rule: why should your reader care about your subject?
4. You will need to find source material for your subject. This might be (and most typically is) conducting an interview, writing letters, getting to know your subject, taking pictures of your subject's living space, emailing, looking at photographs, internet research, talking to people who know your subject, following your subject around for a bit and taking notes, etc.
5. Before you rush off to interview your subject, write down some notes about what you already know about the subject and/or your own connection to this person (if possible). If you know a person lived through a particular time period in history or important event, research this so you know what questions to ask your subject. Hit the internet and gather some background information about your subject. Most people can find out about each other by typing a subject's name into Google. Try it. Jot down important notes/info that might be used for your feature.
HOMEWORK: Please read Chapter 2 & 3 (complete Part 1) of the book (pages 3-62) The Other Wes Moore. We left off in class on page 25!) Make a final decision about your subject for your Human Interest Feature. You may even start researching, outlining, and communicating with your subject. Take accurate notes--you are a journalist!
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