Session 7: Revealing Central ideas and

stirring empathy TODAYS TEACHING

Today wePOINT
will talk about how journalists develop the action, dialogue, and
setting. They do this not just to enliven their news stories, but also to
highlight what they want to convey about the issue or lesson they are
advancing. They especially harness these techniques to reveal their
central ideas and to inspire their readers to feel compassion.

USING STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES

You know that Ive been looking at the difficulties that teens face, and Ive been looking for story
ideas. One place I went to look for ideas was the cafeteria. So much happens up there each
day!

I took some notes about what I witnessed, and I want to show you how to use the storytelling
techniques youve learned to stir up compassion in the reader.

Watch how I use action, dialogue, or setting details to do this work. As I work on the opening
scene, you should compare how you would do it. What would you include to get your reader to
feel compassion?

Using storytelling techniques

I might try to begin my story with some of the setting details. My

angle as a journalist is that the cafeteria can be kind of awful, so I
want to develop that unpleasant scene.

The cafeteria smelled of hot dogs and grease, and somehow, old
socks

This gets at the smell of the cafeteria, but the issue Im really trying to
look at is hardship. Can I change this to make that more clear?

Using Storytelling techniques

I could start out with the food smells, but those details dont
really help get at the issue. I dont want to just scatter craft
details; I need to be purposeful. In journalism, when I am
focusing on not letting my piece get too long, I really need to
make sure my details accomplish big work. Every detail needs to
work toward illuminating my central ideas.

Using Storytelling Techniques

Maybe now I will try emphasizing setting details that would show
how isolating the cafeteria can be, which fits what Im trying to
show in my news story. Let me try again.

It was just another lunch period in the middle school cafeteria.

Looking around, one saw table after table of bustling conversation.
Groups of kids reached across each other, squished in next to each
otherexcept for the table where one boy sat alone.

Your Turn: Stirring Empathy

Now I want you to try this out. We want our reader to empathize and really feel
how lonely it can be, even in a crowded place like the cafeteria. If we want to stir
up empathy and get our readers to care about this issue, what should we add
next?

With your partner, write the rest of the story in the air.

Boy was sitting alone

Not talking to anyone

Two boys sat next to him

Began talking about soccer

Stirring empathy

As you are working on this, you need to be careful about not

exaggerating. At the same time, you can be purposeful about
using action, dialogue, and setting details-or other narrative
techniques-to shine a light on the issue you want to reveal, and
get your reader to really feel it and care about it.

Share with your partner

You will need to decide which techniques will really highlight the issue you are
showing and get your readers to care. For some of you, the story youre telling
will make it easier to use dialogue, while for others it might be more setting or
action, or even something else such as figurative language or symbolism. Take a
moment to consider specifically what strategy you will use today.

Turn to your partner and share what you wish to accomplish today and how you
plan to do it.

Know your deadline

Writers, especially journalists, need to know their deadlines. The deadline

for this group of journalists is a few writing days from now. Thats actually a
pretty long stretch of time for a journalist to work on a column.

The piece youre writing now can be longer than the newscasts you wrote. It
should be denser, more elegant-it can have longer narrative parts, and you
might include longer explanatory parts.

By the end of workshop today, you will need to have chosen your main focus
so that you can really begin to develop it.

Committing to a story idea

By now, you have collected several stories in your notebooks. It

is time to choose what some writers call a seed idea-the story
that you can grow into a fully developed piece, which you will do
over the next several days. This will be on the topics you
selected as important issues to you.

Homework:

You need to have a clear issue to write about (should be on a notecard from yesterday)

Think about what stories you can tell or scenes you can introduce to draw your reader
into caring about your issue.