Story Ideas Lesson Plans

ASNE lessons created for use with the Story Ideas Training Module

Day 1
Story Ideas lesson
Story Ideas PowerPoint – Day 1

Day 2
Story Ideas lesson
Story Ideas PowerPoint – Day 2
Funnel Graphic Organizer

Day 3
Story Ideas lesson
Maestro Graphic Organizer
Beyond Maestro Question Sheet

Other ASNE Lessons

• Story Generators
  A two-day lesson to get students to think of original and interesting story ideas. First by relating news events to the school, second by asking them to develop questions prior to interviews.
• Thinking Like a Reporter
  How can story ideas be generated? By training students to think like a reporter — by seeing the potential of stories everywhere and then choosing the most immediate and interesting one.
• Effective Reporting: What Is It and How Do You Do It?
  A plan to take young reporters to the next level by helping them to identify who to talk to and how to talk to them.
• Finding Local Story Ideas
  Students will gather story ideas in a five-minute walk around school and analyze those ideas to be sure they have the qualities of good news writing.
• Basic Writing and Beat Reporting
  A unit with four individual lesson plans exploring writing style, newspaper beats, coverage and minimum standards of a staffer, and the importance of editing.
• Story Idea Treasure Hunt
  This series of lessons helps students use accessible resources to find and develop good story ideas. Students discover how readily-available resources on campus become story ideas with a little attention and teamwork.
• Localizing News for School News Media
  Students will study the local newspaper for stories to be localized and then present their ideas for doing so.
• News: Researching, Interviewing, Reporting and Writing
  A lesson that gets at the heart of reporting and writing an article and goes through all the steps of doing so. Includes two excellent handouts.
• Developing Story Ideas
  Teaching students how to develop specific and feasible story ideas.
• Story Ideas: In-Depth Reporting
  Reporting is a basic skill of journalism. This lesson explores story ideas and sources used by reporters in developing their stories.