Story Idea: Ms. Simmons the person.
Possible Theme: Freshness and new excitement in the College and Career Center; CCC has a new face.
Interesting way we could write the story for the first issue: I'm going to try to open up with some interesting and unique facts about Ms. Simmons and, throughout the article, put quotes and info about Ms. Simmons that students could really relate to and find interesting. I might also compare her next to Mrs. Oliver, such as differences in both of their personality and counseling focus, as well as comparing students' opinions about both counselors.
Slide 20
This slide suggests that a bad way to write articles is to rely on cliches and statements of the obvious. I can avoid doing this by not thinking about what the person who I'm writing the story about would want to have said about him/her, but what the readers really want to know. I can also try to choose diverse and interesting viewpoint of the story, which will automatically eliminate the problem of writing the story in a cliche and obvious way.
Slide 21-27
The first story picks a very cliche story - football coach used to be smoker; he had a heart attack, he was inspired to quit smoking; he's now cigarette free. The quotes used in the story are also very cliche and unoriginal - absolutely any coach who used to smoke could have said those quotes. The story isn't interesting at all - I wouldn't want to keep on reading this story after a while. On the other hand, the second story isn't cliche at all - it's very rare that a football coach has been coaching at the same school for 63 years, and it isn't something you hear about everyday. It's also interesting to know that he's only missed one day, and that too because he was about to be a father his senior year. His quotes are very original and really show his personality - I can tell what type of person he is and his style of talking just by reading the quotes. It was an interesting article that made me keep on reading. Because of these reasons, the second story is much better than the first one.
Slide 37
A good story is one that doesn't write about something very common and cliche - it should give a fresh viewpoint and style to the issue. A good story should show the personality and ways of thinking of the people being interviewed in the article, of the issue being written about and, if it's an opinions/review article, of the writer himself. It should also explain what something means instead of just leaving the reader confused. I could incorporate this into my writing by writing about a story from a different viewpoint/focus, interviewing a diverse amount of people, and try to leave out as much cliche statements as possible. I'll also get readings from other people, because if the common reader doesn't understand something, that means that I should change some stuff in the article.
Slide 44
To be a good article, it must be written truthfully and accurately, have smooth quote transitions and paragraph transitions, be understandable/not confusing, not have any unnecessary words, & not digress from the story. ACCURATE - I'm going to focus and this and include it in my work by getting better at taking precise notes and quotes from my interviews with people, as well as clarifying something that I don't understand about the story that I'm writing about.
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