Longreads Analysis

Process

Ahead of Class

Step 1: 
Ahead of class, select a longform article and assign it for homework. We used “The Desperate Journey of a Trafficked Girl” by Ben Taub in The New Yorker.

Step 2:
Explain the exercise: the class will be learning a new framework for understanding and analyzing stories, and will apply it to the assigned reading.

Background

Step 3:
Introduce the framework. It’s called the SAT Framework: Structural/Attitudinal/Transactional.

• Structural: The natural or built environments in our world, including physical geography, government systems, macroeconomic forces or policies, etc.
• Attitudinal: The attitudes and perceptions that affect how people think and behave, including religious beliefs, ideas about gender, race, class, etc.
• Transactional: The transactions, or key interactions, that happen between people involved in the system you’re covering.

Explain how these three categories can be used to identify the various forces in a given story. For example,  structural forces might include macroeconomic policies, legislation, demographic shifts in a community, or natural disasters; attitudinal forces might include religious practices or beliefs that are widely shared in a community, attitudes about school or education, or ideas about gender that affect the way people behave publicly; transactional forces might include interpersonal relationships between friends, families, or co-workers that play a part in the story.

Exercise

Step 4:

Divide the class into three groups, assigning each group one of the categories: Structural, Attitudinal, or Transactional.
Divide the class into three groups, assigning each group one of the categories: Structural, Attitudinal, or Transactional.

Step 5:
On chart paper, have the groups write all of the forces, within their assigned category, that they see in the story. Give the groups twenty minutes to discuss the story and write as many forces as they can identify. They might spent some time re-reading the story, with this new framework in mind.

Step 6:
Have the groups share their findings. As a class, have students discuss and compare what each group identified. Questions to consider:

• What are the connections between each group’s forces?
• How do the different forces affect and influence one another?
• Which forces would you be most likely to report on?
• How can your reporting reflect all three types of forces?

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.