Edgerton story ideas

Story Ideas

Story #1: Solutions based story about microaggressions towards students of color at South following another racist incident on social media.

Mission and need: Racial incidents keep happening. It’s important to address the story head on to look at how and why this keeps happening to help find a solution.

Why report now?: South has a history of racially charged videos surfacing on social media at the beginning of the summer which makes this story timely.

Essential questions:
Some of the bigger questions are what kind of continued education is going to happen with both teachers and students to reinforce the ideas from the original training. Does the training actually help students (there is a turn over rate of students). How does the district plan to make sure this does not happen again?

Sources to use: Students would want to contact the original facilitator of the training, talk to the principal, superintendent, teachers who received the training, students who were here 4-years ago when the original incidents took place, and students who were not there.

Potential issues with sources and how to solve them:
I don’t actually see any issues with these sources. I know the district will want my staff to write about it.

Medium/Media: The kids will want it to run in print but I think it should go online so it can be shared. Students could also have someone come in and interview them for a Podcast to incorporate with the story.

Visuals: Some sort of timeline of the incidents and what was done to combat them would be powerful. It would show the district having a lot of action, no action and now a reaction to the most recent incident. A photo of the social media on another students phone would work as well. Not showing the person’s face.

Range of story angles:
Other possible angles can include follow up with what the district does to re-train, they are doing restorative justice on the students involved. A story about what restorative justice and what it is would pair well with the original story. Columns/editorials would work too.

How will the various information pieces be visually, alternatively presented:
They could run as a package or be placed in the same issue or linked together online.

Legal, ethical and social:
Writing this story highlights what happened a few months ago, a few years ago and brings it back into the forefront. Is it necessary to dig up old dirt? In this case, I think it does. As long as the students get all sides of the story there aren’t any legal concerns.

Other questions, points, approaches or media:
Podcast about racial issues, history and complexities. Tips on how to handle microaggressions.

 

Story #2: Solutions based story about female accessibility to feminine products at school.

Mission and need:
In class I had a conversation with two students after one did not have a tampon and had to ask her friend for one. This lead me to realize the girls bathrooms at the school do not have feminine products.

Why report now?:
This story is pretty evergreen but it’s something the writer can tie directly to a problem girls in the school face on a monthly basis.

Essential questions:
Some of the bigger questions are what kinds of options do girls have? Are there options to provide products in the bathroom? Why is there such a stigma about periods?

Sources to use:
Students could talk to a gynecologist, school social worker, students who have been at school without, and perhaps a parent who has had to bring things to school when a student gets her period.

Potential issues with sources and how to solve them:
Some of the girls may not want to talk about their troubles for fear of being made fun of or because of the stigma surrounding periods.

Medium/Media:
I think this could go into print and would include some sort of polls, and infographic including school data in comparison to national data about access to feminine products.

Visuals: Infographics, poll broken out as its own fact box. I feel like color and text could be a good option her.

Range of story angles:
Students could break out and write an opinion column, they could also write a feature about accessibility around the world compared to the U.S.

How will the various information pieces be visually, alternatively presented:
Timeline, infographic, crowdsourcing on Twitter to gather students’ opinions.

Legal, ethical and social:
Social concerns would be sources being targeted for speaking out. I don’t think it will happen but it is in the back of my head.

Other questions, points, approaches or media:
A man on the street video asking opinions.

Story #3: Students with dyslexia and overcoming day-to-day challenges at school.

Mission and need:
Highlighting something unknown about another student is interesting. It helps to bring awareness, stepping into another’s shoes.

Why report now?:
Another evergreen but it deals with real problems students face which is important. It could be timed around Dyslexia Awareness Month (October).

Essential questions:
Some questions to ask are what types of hurdles students face, what types of things they do to help themselves, what type of social stigmas are surrounding their disability, and what do they want people to know about them and their Dyslexia.

Sources to use:
Students can talk to the student and their parents. They can talk to teachers that work with the student (with the students’ permission) and a psychologist who works with kids with Dyslexia, and an occupational therapist.

Potential issues with sources and how to solve them:
One of biggest problem with sources would be making sure you do not violate someone’s health privacy.

Medium/Media:
This story would be in print and will include infographics and environmental portraits of the student.

Visuals: Infographics, poll broken out as its own fact box. I feel like color and text could be a good option her.

Range of story angles:
What are occupations the student could have after school, other reading disabilities (not just dyslexia).

How will the various information pieces be visually, alternatively presented:
I think some candid environmental shots of the student in their lives would work really well here and would make the piece stand out by itself. A visual of what a piece of writing looks like to someone with Dyslexia.

Legal, ethical and social:
Legally the students will have to be careful to not break any privacy laws or health laws protecting students. I think in this case we would get permission from the student and parents.

Other questions, points, approaches or media:
A podcast interviewing the student.

 

Story #4: Feature on news polarization and how students conduct civil discussions as elections near.

Mission and need:
2020 is an election year and this story is timely, important and interesting.

Why report now?:
Timeliness and how close it is to elections.

Essential questions:
Some questions to ask would be why there is such a polizariazion and what led us to this, does gerrymandering come into play, what causes polarization in the first place, does the rise of identity politics come into play, what about racial and ethnic diversity, what can students do about civil discourse.

Sources to use:
Students can call the local republican and democratic offices to talk to them, they can call their congressman, talk to the school board, social studies teacher.

Potential issues with sources and how to solve them:
Getting politicians to call back, making sure the sources are applicable to students.

Medium/Media:
The story will go online so it can be pushed out to a wider audience. They can create a map showing political lines and a Flourish showing data surrounding elections.

Visuals: Flourish, Storymap, and an infographic.

Range of story angles:
Students could highlight political clubs at the school in a separate profile, a pro/con op/ed, follow the election and what students care about the most.

How will the various information pieces be visually, alternatively presented:
Podcast following the elections with a weekly check in, interviewing students who can vote and create a multimedia.

Legal, ethical and social:
I think the biggest concern is to make sure the reporting is balanced and that the students gather enough data.

Other questions, points, approaches or media:
It could be approached as a weekly instalment, breaking up the story into small chunks.