Giving Writing Students a Chance to be on NPR
The "In Character" Series Allows Kids to Explore Beloved Characters
Dec 29, 2008
Teaching students to write with the audience in mind is tricky when the main audience is peer editors and the teacher. However, National Public Radio accepts student submissions for the "In Character" segment, which frequently appears on "All Things Considered", and is also available as a podcast. Accepted student entries have included Junie B. Jones, the Grinch, and Bobby Pendragon.
NPR's "In Character" Series
NPR started the "In Character" series in December, 2007 to show how fictional characters highlight particularly American qualities and ideals. The series has taken different formats, including a video interview (starring Cookie monster), radio broadcasts and podcasts, and online essays and blog posts, and accepts listener submissions on the NPR website.
Using "In Character" for a Classroom Assignment
The objectives for this assignment could be:
- students will identify an American fictional character with specifically American qualities or ideals
- students will explore characterization
- students will write for a wide and varied audience
- students will use expository writing techniques to explain the importance of a fictional character (for more advanced writing students)
- students will use persuasive writing techniques to explain the significance of a fictional character in American culture
Students can submit characters from any American work, including movies, comic books, cartoons, and literature. Teachers should expose students to previously selected characters to give a sense of what the NPR series wants in a submission. There are also examples of student submitted work, including an "In Character" focus on The Grinch where the student reads her submission.
NPR's In Character Submission Guidelines
In order to submit an essay for "In Character", NPR has some rules which must be followed, so teachers should structure the assignment so that students will be able to transfer their work to an online submission page.
- The essay must be 150 words or less. It is not necessary for students to count words individually; word processing software (including Google Docs) has "word count" as a tool.
- The essay must be from an American work.Student might have to double check some characters; Harry Potter is from English work, even though the editions most Americans read were published by Scholastic in America.
- The essay must address how the character is significant, either on a personal or a more universal level. The essay is not a character study, but a study on how the character is important to readers or viewers.
Because NPR is a public broadcast, teachers should be aware of issues regarding privacy. It would be wise to get a signed permission slip from the parent allowing the student to participate in the project, and advising that the student's work may be selected to be used online and/or over the radio.
 |
 |
