This Week’s Anton Lesson Plan:
The relationship between newspaper and reader balances solidly on communicating and being able to do that via the written word. Regardless of the language that’s being used, the proper use of grammar and all its components—punctuation, active versus passive voice and stringing together words into sentences that are then strung into paragraphs—are what enable journalists to get their stories across. The following are exercises students can do to become better writers while using different approaches to their craft.
• Find five different sets of antonyms in the newspaper. Clip them out and then check with a dictionary or thesaurus to double-check your answers.
• Create, for the index of your newspaper, a sentence summary of five news and/or feature stories you think would be of special interest to readers.
• Find newspaper pictures that illustrate moods. Clip them out of the newspaper and write a free verse poem, haiku or cinquain about each. You could also use the picture as a basis for a short story.
• Write an obituary for the main character in a book you are reading. Use the obituaries in the local newspaper as an example of the writing style to be used. Try writing an epitaph for the character as well.
