Routhier students learn journalism

Jeremy Filion, left, and Daeton Noskey, students in Mrs. Sware’s Grade 6 language arts class, work on their story.

Mac Olsen
South Peace News

Students at Peavine Bishop Routhier School became reporters for a whole class Oct. 14. Principal Bruce Joudrey invited the South Peace News to give Mrs. Sware’s Grade 6 and 7 language arts classes a lesson in reporting. The reporter started by asking the students to give some details about themselves, such as their hobbies and why they like them. They learned what they are doing is telling a story about themselves and it’s important to respect that everybody has a story to tell, even if they don’t think it’s very interesting. Then the students worked in pairs, writing a story about a car accident and answering the five “W’s” and the “H” for it. Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? One student asked the questions and the other provided the answers. They spent 10-15 minutes on the interview and 5-10 minutes writing their information in story form. When finished, they read their stories in front of the class. Some students were very inventive and humorous, such as this the story by Grade 6 students, Chelsea Gauchier and Marissa Cunningham. “On December 12th, Thursday afternoon, 2008, Chelsea Gauchier, Chase Willier, Cole Hallet and Bridgette Shur-Auger were in a car accident in Peavine on the main highway. The vehicle slid into them because of the icy road, then the vehicle caused them to flip and land into the ditch. The people in the vehicle happened to be Jeremy and Daeton, but everyone was okay. They just had a few cuts. Chase said, ‘Thank God everyone’s okay. I would have cried if my Cole got hurt!’” Grade 7 students Savannah Bourque and Shania Cunningham wrote a story about a drunk driving accident. “On December 31st, Shania Cunningham and Callie Noskey were driving home from a Christmas party when they got into a car crash on the High Prairie bridge at 2 o’clock a.m. The roads were icy and their view was blocked with snow, which was falling very hard. R.J. Noskey was drunk and was traveling on the wrong side of the road and hit their car. No one was hurt badly. Shania broke her elbow and R.J. broke his nose. Callie was just fine. They were all okay and after being in the hospital they went home.” Near the end of class, the students viewed the online editions of the South Peace News and the Edmonton Journal, scrolling through the links to see stories and photos. Mrs. Sware says this exercise is an extension of the language arts curriculum and she appreciates the media giving her students insights into reporting. “It’s all relevant. It’s nice to have people come in from the field and show the kids the writing process,” says Mrs. Sware. “This is absolutely invaluable, especially for the kids writing their PAT’s, so they known what they’re doing.” This is not the only journalism experience the students are getting. Mrs. Sware has them writing articles for their school newspaper, which comes out at the end of October and goes to all families.

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