Students rewrite their ledes, focusing on different aspects of their story.
LEARNING GOALS
Students will learn how to look at their stories in a new way and be flexible about their approach, and will gain a better understanding of narrative structure.
MATERIALS
- Jacob’s Ladder toy or a video of one;
- paper and pens/pencils, or laptops
TIME
30 minutes
Note: This exercise should be done with students who are already working on a story and have completed a first draft. It works best if the story is a feature or a profile, as opposed to hard news.
Process
Exercise
Step 1:
Show students Jacob’s Ladder, a children’s toy with a series of wooden blocks attached to one another by straps. The interesting thing about a Jacob’s Ladder is that it will always reorganize itself back into a linear structure, no matter where you pick it up. If you have a Jacob’s Ladder in the classroom, pass it around. If not, show students a video of how it works.
Step 2:
Explain today’s exercise: students will think about their stories as Jacob’s Ladders. Wherever they decide to start their story, they can organize it into a linear narrative.
Step 3:
Have students open up or take out a draft of their story. Tell them to choose a sentence in their story that is not their lede, and to try beginning their story there.
Step 4:
Give students five minutes to rewrite their story from that one sentence. They are not expected to rewrite the entire story in that time, but ask them to get as far as they can.
Step 5:
Repeat this process two more times, so that each student has four different ledes: the one from their original draft, and the three that they just created.
Step 6:
Organize students into groups of two or three. Have them share their four ledes with their partners and ask them for feedback. Questions to ask:
- Which lede captures the audience’s attention the most?
- Which lede makes the audience more curious about the rest of the story?
- Which lede gives the clearest idea of what the story will be about?
Step 7:
As a class, discuss the results and reflect on whether this exercise helped the students get more creative.
Have questions? Feedback?
We’d love to hear about your experience using these activities in your classroom, get your thoughts on what we could improve. Email us at resources@journalismdesign.com or fill out this form.