Because we are starting on story creating this week, I'm re-posting a blog from September of last year. It's still timely and informative and gives you a pretty good idea about how to come up with story ideas and how to pose them to me, including the research you'll need to put in your package.

Story ideas. Where do we get them? How do we convince others that we have a good story worth doing? How do we keep our audience interested in the story we are telling?

It all starts with a good story idea that is well-written, has a distinct angle, good characters, relevant to our audience, compelling visuals, well-researched and newsworthy.

The reason we turn in story ideas is because I want you to begin to think in terms of a reporter, producer or photographer about what makes a story worthy of your time and research. I also want you to become better writers and researchers as well as being a good journalist. You have to be able to incorporate numerous pieces of data yet filter out the irrelevant information to focus your stories. That's hard. So, let me tell you what I'll look for when I grade story ideas.

Start out by looking around for something that's interesting to you. Look at local news in papers, newscasts, magazines and radio. Look at bulletin boards, newsletters or subjects that you and your peers are talking about. As your parents what's going on or look on the internet news websites.

If it is a national story, you must localize it, or determine an angle that's relevant to your audience. Your audience would be teenagers in the metro Atlanta area as well as adults (parents and educators) who might see your story on Eagle TV or on Cobb EdTV.

Do research. Do you have information that supports your angle? Are there enough visual possibilities to make it TV-friendly? Are there local experts that are available for you to interview about it? And most importantly, can you tell the story through the eyes, or experience, of someone who has been there?

Once you've done these first few steps, you are ready to write your proposal. The elements that need to be in your proposal are: a statement of what story type it is, a summary, how will you tell the story, who are your potential characters, elements to include in the story and any background information or statistics.

Here's my idea....I recently saw on the TV news the results of a recent study that says that teenagers are physically incapable of waking up early because of their body clocks and a later start time for schools is being pushed in some states. So I did some internet research:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teens-health/CC00019

The Story Idea Summary part of your proposal begins, "this is a story about..." and explains what makes the story relevant or newsworthy? Why would your audience want to see it? This is your "elevator pitch".

This is a story about a new study that says teenagers are biologically incapable of being alert during the early start times of middle and high school. Some people believe that later start times would decrease absenteeism and increase grades.

Telling the Story. Describe how you'll open the story, what you'll go to next and how you will end it. Tell us who we will be meeting and why they are important.

I will open the story by talking about the role sleep plays in our life then spotlighting a student who has had incredible difficulty with staying awake for his early classes over the last few semesters (not just one semester to rule out a problem subject matter) perhaps even find someone who has had sleep studies done. I will then go into the study and other statistics about sleep patterns and teenagers. I will then revisit the student at the end of the story with his solution to sleep deprivation.

Potential Characters. List the characters in their order of importance to your story. Who are the people you want to interview or what kind of people do you want to interview? What role do they play in your story?

I will interview, of course, a student or students who have trouble staying awake in the mornings, parents of those students who can talk about their son or daughter's sleep habits (and maybe frustrations with teacher calls!) and sleep experts from a local sleep study center. I may also talk to a teacher or two. I know a student named Jason who has had a very difficult time in his first block classes over the last few years. Perhaps he would be willing to talk about his experiences.

Elements. This is for you to describe any visuals or pictures that will be part of your story. Very important! How do you plan to cover your story outside of interveiws? There must be pictures or video! Warning...you don't want to "stage" your video!

I will get video (and permission to use it) from a sleep study center and possibly use some of the video of people sleeping, I'll get alarm clock videos, unmade beds, students attentive in class and some with their heads on their desks. Footage of class changes and teachers teaching in class, maybe students drinking coffee or caffeinated soda to stay awake.

Additional Background. This is for statistics and background information that supports why your story is newsworthy. this is NOT copied and pasted research. It is information that indicates that you've done your research and drawn your own conclusions about how it relates to your story and angle. It shows that you understand and care about your story and how it can be relevant to your audience. It could also be background information on your characters who are in your story. It is information that you may use in your story, but not necessarily. his shows me that you've at least done some preliminary research and that you have evidence to support that this is a valuable story and not just piles of data.

According to the Mayo clinic website, our internal clock guides when we feel sleepy or awake. They are called our circadian rhythms. As a young person, our circadian rhythms signal us to get sleepy around 8 or 9pm. As we approach our teenage years, that internal clock doesn't make us tired until about 11pm or midnight. Because studies reveals that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep to feel alert during the daytime, early morning start times for school make that difficult. Countries as far away as Isreal are looking at this data and are beginning to take note by changing school start times in hopes that teens will succeed more in school. The Sleep for Science research highlights why teens are challenged by an early school start.

Lastly, make sure that you attach any supporting materials to your story idea. Print out websites or cut out articles of your sources. Remember that if you quote statistics in your story, you must attribute them to the proper source.

Your question this week, therefore, is what story ideas do you have that you might like to produce? Come up with some good ones and tell me why they are important and who you would interview and what kind of supporting material/statistics you would use.

That White Stuff!

There's nothing like a good couple of snow days to wipe the extraneous and non-essential off our To-Do list and bring us back to basics. Without the ability to leave the house unless on foot and not many stores open, we are forced to focus on just the necessary needs we might have.

The basics. It helps us focus on meaning and purpose. Do I have enough food in the house to keep me fed until I can get to the store? If we lose power, will I have enough firewood to warm the house? I don't really need that new shirt because I have everything I need in my closet and I can't get to the mall anyway. Are the pets safe and warm? Am I safe and warm?

Each hour that you spend in the house you make meaningful because you invest it with your energy, your intentions, your capital, your decisiveness. There are no distractions. You make meaning to the time you spend with yourself and your family and friends because you are forced to live with just the basics for a few days.

How we live our life with intention should be the path we choose ALL the time and not just when we have a few snow days. Think about school in this way. Don't clutter your life with the non-essential. The drama. The unimportant.

Another aspect to this snow day break includes the ability to be a kid for a minute. I got a chance to sled down the hill in front of my house with a piece of cardboard wrapped inside a trash bag. I'm sure you made a snowman, snow angel, did some sledding, had a snowball fight with your family or friends or at least enjoyed traipsing through the snow up to your ankles.

It is my hope that while we will do lots of hard work in Eagle TV this semester, eliminating the unimportant, that we will have lots of fun while we're at it. We will experience some things that we've never done before and will pave the way for our viewers, down a path that they've never been down before. We will be pioneers and, through Eagle TV, will lead our viewers into adventure. Maybe we'll do a story on zip lines in north Georgia, maybe we'll show SCHS about the gorilla rescue sanctuary, maybe we'll feature a man who teaches young people how to climb trees in order to overcome fear and adversity, maybe we'll show our school a story about someone who has overcome unbelievable odds to follow their dreams, maybe we'll be able to show that Everybody Has A Story.

Eliminate the extraneous and start thinking about how you can use your personal power to showcase greatness. You have the power. Start thinking like a journalist. Show us some amazing stories!

Tell me about how you're excited about your role in Eagle TV. What kind of stories are you interested in featuring? How has this snow storm allowed you to focus on what's important? How can you combine fun and business with Eagle TV?

****Please use full sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and put some thought into your answer. I want at least 4-5 sentences that make sense. This is a writing assignment, remember!**** Also, make sure you sign your post so you can get credit.

New News!

Let's get ready! This week and next is practice week!

We have one of the most state-of-the-art news control rooms on the way to Eagle TV. Once set up and everyone is trained, Eagle TV will be incredible! I'm looking at one of the best fast-paced, graphic-heavy, informative and entertaining news shows EVER!

I have some ideas. Of course, your news packages will air; the ones you've already produced. But I would like to have some shorter pieces. Some funny ones, some serious live interviews, some teaching-type pieces, etc.

Here is Kell's second show show http://www.schooltube.com/video/68b640a8643f5cb05774/Hay-Kell-show-2

And here is Allatoona's show:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/36c29d5291495e2937dc/Bootleg-TV

Although, I don't condone too much silliness, a little is okay. Here are some of my ideas:

--An on-set interview called "Eagle Flap", or something like that, on topics that are current. Usually an interview with a staff member who knows a little about this topic.

--Student opinion poll..."Heard from the Bird" on current events.

--"We have Class" A segment on the interesting things we are learning in our classes, or a segment on how to do a certain math or science problem.

--Word to the Wise...a poll to see if students know a word, (funny answers) then the definition. (kind of an SAT word of the week or something like that.)

--"Say What?" a feature on something funny like a question that has no right or wrong answer, most mispronounced words, funny trivia, etc.

--Around Town, a feature on a new place to eat or place to go

--This day in History, a filler....usually without video that we can use on short news days.

--Healthy Choice, a fitness and health segment. Could also feature some type of medical segment

--Read Any Good Books Lately? , a segment about what students and staff are reading right now

--Where are We?, A segment in a different part of the campus that not everyone has seen before (particularly timely with the construction)

--Before They Were Teachers, a segment on what teachers did before, well, they were teachers!

--Talon Talent, a spotlight on someone who has an unusual talent

--Pimp my Locker, spotlight someone's locker that is especially decked out

--Life Lessons, Students who have learned life lessons like getting to class on time, solving arguments, completing homework on time, etc.

--Dress Code Diva - a segment on dress code rules hosted by someone who is a diva.

--Laughter is the Best Medicine - a funny segment such as the birthday segment from Kell.

--???? What's your idea?

Come up with some segment ideas and a solid idea on how to produce it. It must be able to be produced in one week. Only a 30-40 second segment and it's needs an Open (5-10 seconds).

In order to do this show, we'll have to be sure to be really polished production-wise. We'll need to be able to think quickly on our feet, be able to be sharp on the air while questioning people and have a good sense of timing.

What do you think?

In what ways are you lucky?

Of course, 'tis the season to give thanks. It's predictable that every year about this time, people ask, "what are you thankful for?" But, I'm going to ask it a different way: In what ways are you lucky?

We all have plenty to be sad and upset about. In my case, I have a good friend my age who is suffering through brutal cancer treatments that probably won't cure him. I'm not the (rich and famous) writer I had dreamed I'd be at this point in my life, I have terrible headaches that have plagued me since I was 15, I don't have enough money to travel like I had hoped in my adult life and I my body doesn't look or feel like it used to.

But, I'm lucky that I have relatively good health, I have many students whom I think the world of and I have a wonderful, healthy family. I still have time to write that book and I am lucky to have a comfortable home and a steady income. I have many close friends and I can find humor in a lot of things.

As far as work goes, I have a job that I enjoy, I get to play with cool editing and videography equipment, my students make me laugh (most of the time) and I look forward to what's in store for Eagle TV. I also have lots of colleagues who happen to be my friends and I have been very lucky to have seen many of my students succeed and care enough about my role in their life to come back to tell me of their successes.

Now, it's your turn. Talk about what you feel lucky about in your life, both personally and with school. Don't end by telling me...tell your family and your friends too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cobb County Short Movie Extravaganza

Short post...how are your movies coming? I'm excited that we'll have entries this year! Tell me how it's been going....exciting moments, tough moments, are you feeling good about your stories? etc. Fill me in, I can't wait!