The Interview and Article
Ready to be the next Dr. Phil? Ellen? Oprah? Meridith Vierra? Being a reporter means being about to interview anyone, anywhere, any time. These simple steps will help guide you through the process and make you ready for any interview--from a student, to an administrator, to a celebrity!
interview_notes.docx | |
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interviewworksheet.docx | |
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What to do in an interview:
What not to do in an interview!
Interview: Our Article Pre-Assessment
Directions for how to turn that interview into an award winning article are below. The idea of an article is to tell the the facts: who, what, where, when, why, and how about the topic and the event. Just listing facts is not engaging to a reader, so doing it through storytelling is how you strike the balance. See the examples below to turn a short interview (notecard) or longer interview into a brainstorm and first draft.
example_notecard.docx | |
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Step One: Prepare for your interview! The notecard example (above) is one way to graphically organize your interview before it happens.
example_notecard_rainbowed.docx | |
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Step Two: After the interview, reflect on the information you've gathered. What's good? What's useful? What's important? And what parts can be left out?
rainbow_brainstorm_and_drafting.docx | |
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Step Three: After reflecting on what you'd like to include, use a model to help build the first draft your article. It gives you a starting point of what to include and how to word your own article.
rainbow_brainstorm_and_drafting_example.docx | |
File Size: | 29 kb |
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Step Four: After drafting, it's time to revise for clarity, organization, and fluency. Don't forget to edit for conventions and word choice, too! Make this the best reflection of your interviewing and writing abilities.
Turning in Your Interview
To publish your interview you need to:
Ms. Panther will use this as a 20% grade to inform her instruction. This will determine certain placements and tasks required during the upcoming Boot Camp.
- Reread your article backwards (yes, backwards!) First word by work looking for spelling, and punctuation mistakes. Then, sentence by sentence looking for grammar. Reading backwards, you won't be distracted by the story and will be better at locating errors.
- Read just the first word of each sentence to look for sentence fluency. Do you over use a certain word or phrase? Fix it!
- Read through your article one last time to replace "boring words" with more interesting synonyms. Boring words include: nice, said, very, stuff, things, big. Note: if the boring word is in a quote, it cannot be changed!
- Print your article from Word using lv_printers on ph_print
- Staple your rainbow brainstorming note card, and final draft in the correct tray on the red table
- Finished early? Read, work on other homework, study, play an educational game (see the "Finish Early?" section on Writing on Demand, or talk to Ms. Panther about special project opportunities.
Ms. Panther will use this as a 20% grade to inform her instruction. This will determine certain placements and tasks required during the upcoming Boot Camp.
Whole Class Revision
Use the sheet below to help your peers with guided peer revisions. We are focusing on ideas, organization, sentence variety, and voice.
whole_class_revising.docx | |
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As you look over your sheet, it's time to reflect. Set one clear goal for your next article. Examples include:
Email me the goal using the form below so we can conference about your goal after your next article.
- I will use two or more quotes in my writing to help organize the article
- I will use creative words in my headline and first sentence to draw in my reader
- I will spend more time developing interesting questions to ensure a more interesting article idea
Email me the goal using the form below so we can conference about your goal after your next article.