Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century 2013 | Page 3

Volume 2, 2013 Page 3 First place, full-time faculty member Short and Tweet By Sue Burzynski Bullard University of Nebraska-Lincoln final tweets on Twitter using a class hashtag i.e. #201short. Types of courses the idea could be used in: newswriting, reporting, editing How is the assignment innovative? What makes this idea good for teaching in the 21stcentury or preparing 21st century journalists? After students post “short and tweet” headlines, the professor pulls up Twitter, searches for the hashtag and show the entire class their work. This allows for an easy discussion of what makes a clear but concise headline. It demonstrates how headlines can be clever and interesting within tight constraints. It forces students to edit their own work. And it demonstrates how Twitter is a 21st century news wire because news outlets frequently post headlines and links. The assignment outcome: Students learn the need for clear, concise writing and understand that a social media site can be a critical informationsharing tool. Target level: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students in a professionally oriented program What is the goal of the assignment or exercise? The goal is to help students learn to write clearly and concisely. It reinforces William Zinsser’s advice in “On Writing Well.” He said, “Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose.” The exercise helps students learn to find the focus of stories. It helps editing students write concise, clear headlines that pull readers into stories. It also helps reporting students learn to summarize stories accurately and briefly — a skill they need as they craft their own ledes. How does the assignment or exercise work? Students are given copies of the same stories. Each student must write a headline (in tweet form) summarizing a story in 120 characters or less. Students then must refine the headline to 100 characters or less. Although Twitter allows for 140 characters in a tweet, editors often provide links to stories with their tweets, which means they can’t use all 140 characters for headlines. Smart editors also allow extra space so tweets can be easily retweeted by others. The professor provides copies of stories for students. Ideally, the stories are features that can entice readers via well-written headlines. The assignment takes one class period, depending on how may rounds of stories students are assigned. Students are given a limited amount of time – about 20 minutes — to read each story and wr