Here is the promised continuation of my commentary on one sample piece of reporting can help us in the classroom. The original story can be found here, on the Washington Post website.
A snowstorm that catches millions of people off-guard and that produces all sorts of dramatic and revealing events and reactions might seem too big to effectively cover. Even a traditional school event like a dance or an assembly or Homecoming might seem a bit overwhelming to student reporters.
Where should they start?
My answer to this question was to invoke the reporting wisdom of Ernie Pyle, the famous and revered WWII reporter who invented the concept of G.I. Joe and tried to focus his reporting not on the generals and politicians but on the "grunts," the soldiers in the trenches and in the field. This may be slightly edited from Pyle's original statement, but the quote I put up in my classroom was, "If you want to tell the story of a war, tell the story of one soldier."
My localized version of this advice was, "If you want to tell the story of a high school, tell the story of one student."
I added that no one person's story was sufficient to provide full coverage but that an accumulation of focused stories, each showing students in action, each sharing student thinking and emotions, might provide the sort of insights that readers desire and need.
When I found this story about Senator Kaine and the focus on his specific experience while stuck on I-95 due to snow, ice, and (I assume) a healthy dose of human error and simple chance, I couldn't resist the combination of "one American" and prominence, along with the oddity of being stuck in a car for over a day.
Average reporters might be inclined to begin with an anecdote about a prominent person who has become part of a larger story, but then quickly turn to official reports, statistics, and a series of almost random direct quotes from a range of witnesses.
What I like about this story is that it is organized as a real story, not at all different from a piece of fiction (with the important difference being that all the facts come from research and interviewing and observation.
Readers get a clear main character and a classic conflict -- man vs. nature -- along with a vivid setting. There is a resolution -- Kaine finally gets to his office in D.C. -- that is satisfying.
Structurally, this story makes use of the "hourglass" shape, with a lead that provides the 5Ws, sets the scene and introduces the character(s) and conflict. Part of this "story shape" is called The Turn, where the reporting moves from providing the basics for scanning readers to a chronological retelling of events.
The Turn happens here:
Officials said later in the day that they hoped I-95 would be cleared and open again by Tuesday night and that they had been sending emergency crews to try to reach still-stranded motorists, while pledging a full investigation of what went wrong.
Kaine said he left Richmond at around 1 p.m. Monday for a pressing voting rights meeting later that day with other lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, believing he had plenty of time. The commute typically took him two hours.
The rest of the report tightens to one person in one car, bringing in the telling anecdote of some neighbors sharing oranges with their fellow travelers. Even the photos move from those drone views of snarled traffic to the inside of a vehicle, to one point of view.
This story cannot exist on Twitter or other social media because the reporter needs enough time to follow the events through to some sort of resolution. Instant publishing is too restrictive.
The story also cannot exist without reporters who keep asking about what came next, about what our main character was thinking, and about what the main character remembers about interactions with supporting characters (the family distributing fruit).
I would point out to students that the story ends up not really about a snowstorm -- after all, they happen quite regularly -- but about how one person dealt with the challenges.
And to add one more layer here: there are no stories about weather. There are only stories about people or animals reacting to the weather.
All stories must be about people.
If students learn that, all will be well.
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