The 4th & 5th grade Photogs consulted with a professional journalist today. Mike Hall, a writer from Texas Monthly, talked to us about what it’s like to be a journalist. He helped us understand that focusing our topic helps make it more interesting. For example, instead of writing about a big topic like animals, we could write about a specific animal, like the owlets who nested here in Travis Heights. Writing about a more focused topic makes the writing more interesting to the reader. (Look for an article about those owlets in an upcoming Life in Travis Heights magazine!)
Mr. Hall also talked about how important it is to plan out your writing. He suggested trying to tell the story to a friend before writing it. By telling it to a friend, we can learn what parts work and what parts to leave out. After that, you can plan out your writing in an outline.
He explained that professional writers have editors who look over their work and give them suggestions on how to improve what they’ve written. This is similar to what teachers do for students when they write a rough draft. One of the students asked him if he had to write drafts before publishing his work, and he said YES. He said he writes several drafts and gets feedback from his editor before the article gets into the magazine. (Sometimes that is frustrating, because you feel like your writing is already good.)
We finished off with some fun jokes. It was great to have him join us!
