Journalism is kids’ play
For a kid, nonfiction is code for “no fun.”
It’s a blast to mine the imagination for stories of heroes and villains and arrange a compelling work of fiction. But, to the average 10-year-old, the real world appears mundane.
To make its nonfiction unit a little more interesting, the McAlister Intermediate School asks The Suffield Observer to send its best and brightest to make the strongest pitch for nonfiction writing to the fifth grade. For some reason, I am included among those ranks.
So, PowerPoint in hand, we make our case that journalism is fun. There are several portions of the presentation – history, production, etc., and mine focuses on content, otherwise known as “news.”
I start out by describing four kinds of news:
- News you need to know — e.g. the weather.
- News you want to know — sports or celebrities.
- News you should know — politics, economy, etc.
- And, news you didn’t know you wanted to know — that unique story that sparks your curiosity, which is the most fun.
I mention that I’ve written all kinds of stories for the Observer – columns about schools, sidewalks, streets, lawns, lawn mowers, running, walking, friends, stop signs, neighbors, soccer, football and even slime.
The secret to finding a good story, I tell them, is to simply open their eyes and ask questions. The world is filled with untold stories. And, I stress, they are the perfect people to find those stories. Kids are naturally curious and they have one thing of which adults always seem to have too little: Time. Adults, especially parents, are always busy. Who has the time or energy to look for stories?
Well, I tell them, kids do.
Part of McAlister’s nonfiction unit is for the kids to come up with their own news story to report and write. If it’s good enough, we told them, it just might get published. Over the years, the Observer has had tons of stories written by Suffield students.
And, that’s when the questions start.
Yes, a story on a hockey player would be good. Yes, a story about a fad of wearing mismatched Crocs would make a good story. Yes, a story about Taylor Swift would be interesting. We said “yes” to a lot of ideas.
I’m not sure what age people get to when they lose that boundless curiosity that fuels discovery. As adults, we are bound by a host of commitments that seemingly define our purpose. Children, aside from homework and chores, have a lot of free space on their internal hard drives. An unencumbered mind is an open one.
I told the fifth-graders that they’ll know they have a good story when they ask a question and the grown-ups in their lives don’t seem to know the answer. That’s when it’s time to start chasing the story – get the facts and get it on paper. Then, write and keep writing. There’s no such thing as a bad sentence, just one that might need some editing. Read, revise and repeat until it’s ready, and then file it (hand it in.)
It sounds like work, but it’s actually a lot of fun. After getting my first paycheck as a journalist, which wasn’t much, I remember thinking “suckers, I would have done this job for free.”
Today, for the Observer, I do – because it’s a lot of fun.
Author’s note: Thank you, McAlister Intermediate School, for allowing The Suffield Observer to talk to the fifth grade. To the two classes I spoke with at end of the school day: I told you I’d write about you guys!