My number one question, both for myself and for the rest of you, is how can you bring investigative journalism into your classrooms? I think I'd like to try assigning my students an investigative project this fall. It'd be a great way for them to have to create a multimedia package, much like we are doing right now. In my head, they would get in teams and create a video, take photos, and write an accompanying article.
However, I'm stuck on what they would actually investigate. Dave said, "We're here to inform the public, and I want people to know what's going on." I loved that, but how does that apply to my teenagers living in a small town? I can already see my students hitting roadblocks, and I can already hear the town gossips leaving me passive-aggressive messages, asking what exactly it is I'm trying to do sending these darn kids around town with all these questions.
Perhaps I need to focus less on what my students could report on and hone in more on the learning experiences they will inevitably have. I know I've learned the most this past week from the moments that I've felt challenged or frustrated, so my students could probably benefit from working through those obstacles themselves.
What do you think? How do you, or have you, incorporated investigative journalism into your own curriculum? I'd love to hear from you.
Oh, fine, I'll close with one more meme. But this one will at least show I was listening:
Lisa Biber
Brodhead High School
Brodhead, Wis.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThe closest my students came this year was when one group wanted to look into bullying and another group wanted to figure out what happened to a bunch of seniors who were dropped from school after the first semester, apparently because of bad grades. Both started with students getting irked by something that didn't seem right, yet was an undercurrent, not really out in the open. They wanted to learn more and inform people about what was going on. The bullying package turned into an advocacy piece and the other one fizzled out when the reporters didn't follow through with interviews of the principal and AP (who, to their credit, supported the story and made themselves available for interviews). As I look back I think those were some of the more genuine efforts made in my class last year because they grew out of an investigative impulse.
David Strom
North-Grand High School
Chicago, Illinois
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThe previous adviser at my school relayed a story that had been researched and written by one his his students about 5 years ago.
One of the reporters went undercover and visited a rival college prep school. He spent the day shadowing and recorded his observations. Our school focuses on arts integration in the classroom and they have rigid study habits. The student also noticed that there was not as much interaction between the races and the other school. It all made for a very interesting article contrasting the schools. That may be an idea for a brave soul!
Jillian Singletary
Harding Fine Arts Academy
OKC, OK
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking about this at the high school level. Right away I was thinking about athletics, custodial, dual departments (two music departments, two drama departments) and why they exist.
As I think about how I would implement it, I would first start by defining and modeling for the students what investigative reporting is, use clips of D.B. to show what is expected, questions to pose, the need for it.
Then I would have them read different investigative stories that have been written about local colleges, high schools, projects, various departments connected to either the state, or local government as well as government officials.
As I write this out I'm going to reflect more on it and just run it through my mind.
Great question and blog Lisa!
Thank you for the fantastic idea,
L. Gabriel Senteno
San Diego High School
San Diego, Ca.