Finding Story Ideas and Successfully Preparing for your Student Television Show

Finding story ideas for our monthly student television broadcast is quite easy for me.

“But you’re the teacher, Mr. Goble. You know it all,” say my students.

Right, “I know it all.” But seriously, finding great stories to tell for your high school television show can be very simple. Here a few ideas to get your students started.

Take initiative

  • Keep your eyes and ears open; listen to what your friends are talking about.
  • Watch or read your daily school morning announcements.
  • Read everything you can get your hands on; get story ideas from other newspapers, magazines, or any online news or television source.
  • Think of a youth angle to a current local or national news story.
  • Research a subject that interests you and ask yourself, what you would like to know more about.
  • Talk to people, your friends, teachers, principals, community members, and parents to find out what is important to them.
  • Check out videos online, such as SchoolTube.com, to see what other students are producing.

Now your students have some ideas, but how do they begin?

Preparation = Success

  • Begin collecting articles on your subject.
  • Talk to friends, classmates, or anyone in your community about the subject you selected for input and insight.
  • Contact agencies or associations with interest, or professional knowledge, in your subject area.
  • Create a list of people you want to interview; cover both sides of the story by interviewing people on both sides of any issue.
  • Collect statistics, reports, press releases, or any information you can obtain to use as background material.
  • Go out and do it! We learning by doing, not listening to others tell us how to do something. (Which is kind of what I just did….okay NOW go out and do it!)

What else would you include to the lists? Feel free to add any other items in the comments section.

 

Don Goble

Don Goble is an award-winning Broadcast, Technology, Multimedia and Film Instructor at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis. Journalism Education Association's National Broadcast Adviser of the Year in 2015, Don is also an Apple Distinguished Educator, PBS Lead Digital Innovator and author who advocates for media and digital literacy for all learners. Don masterfully engages students to author and craft media messages to build their voice and share their story.

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