Your Inner Child

Taken from Google Images

This is a writing exercise to get you in touch with your child-self before we start writing your children's books!  Choose one of the prompts below and write it as your child-self (this is going to take some thought)!  What kind of things would you have to say about one of these topics when you were 5 years old?  7 years old?  9 years old?  If you're feeling brave, use your multi-genre sheet!  Make sure that you write in a child's voice - your child voice!

a. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Why?

b. What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?  Why was it so scary, and how did you get away from it?

c. Talk about a time in which you felt proud of yourself.  What did you do and why did you do it?  Did you receive any awards for this task?

d. What are the differences between boys and girls in how they act?  Why do you think that boys act one way and girls act another?

e. What would you do with a million dollars?  What would buy and why?

Magnificent Magazines!

For the first 10 minutes of class, I want you to read an article in the magazine that you brought.  How is this article different from the newspaper articles you read yesterday?  What techniques do the writers use that go against the rules of the Inverted Pyramid?  Does the genre of magazine determine the types of articles that are written?  What is the importance of audience?  What other techniques do publishing companies use in their magazines that hold reader interest?  I mean, a magazine isn't simply made up of a bunch of articles, right?
For the next genre, we will be exploring elements of magazines and come up with a list of "genres" within a magazine that make up the publication as a whole.  What can you find?  Let's brainstorm and collaborate together!

Taken from Google Images



For the next genre, think about ways in which you could incorporate various elements of a magazine into your multi-genre project (it doesn't have to be an article either, but it can be!).  Here are some things to ponder before you get started:

•  What kind of magazine would relate to your topic?  Womens' interest?  Mens' interest?  Health?  Beauty?  Sports?
• Who is your target audience?  Who is most likely to buy the magazine, and how would you write the article for that specific group of people?
• What kind of photos, headings, and statistics could you use to make your piece more engaging and interesting for your readers?
• How could you incorporate a magazine piece into your final multi-genre project?
  

Journalism and Print Media

Today my friend, you are a journalist.  I want you to think about how you could incorporate a news article into your multi-genre project, and use the Inverted Pyramid in order to write your article:

Remember that the most important information (the who? what? when? where? why? how?) always goes first in a news article.  Immediately, the reader should have a strong idea of what happened, where it happened, and to whom it happened to (etc) in the first sentence or two of the article.  This is the most important part of the article, for it holds the most pertinent information!

The next section of the article will be dedicated to the minor (yet still important) details of the event.  However, this information is not considered "necessary" - it simply adds more insight to the story for the readers who crave to know more.

The last bit of the article is the least important; it could be considered the "fluff" section that is written in order to get a certain amount of words or fill up more space in that section of the newspaper.  The information found in the bottom portion of the Inverted Pyramid is the information the readers could do without, hence why it is the smallest section.

How can you incorporate a news article into your multi-genre piece?  Remember that news articles have dates,  photos with captions, quotes from people related to the subject, catchy headings, and a byline that includes the name of the writer and perhaps his/her title (ie - Monica Richardson: Editor in Chief). 

Take some time to analyze a newspaper and adopt the style for this writing exercise!