Teaching Journalism (Application of Chapter Three)

Hello all,  I hope that your Fourth was as full of hot dogs and fireworks as mine was!

Chapter three is a nice dive into writing as it pertains to application.  By now, we all know that the trend among savvy writing teachers is the get away from that dreaded five paragraph essay (though, I like it as a skeleton.)  I enjoyed the one-theme approach to teaching multiple styles of writing.

I am going to steer away from further analysis of the chapter, and get right down to the ideas it inspired for my Yearbook class.  Last year, I took a new job, and one of the classes bundled in that package was the Yearbook class.  At the end of the year, my principal asked me to add more journalistic writing so we could appeal to more students.

Until now, I have not really done much journalistic writing instruction, and I admittedly floundered last year and focused what had always been done; simplistic, canned summaries of what had happened during the year on each spread.

My Idea:  Each student will pick a topic that is interesting to them.  It can be fashion, design, robotics, food, or whatever inspires that student.  As we move through the different types of journalistic writing, that student will create an article in that style, while sticking to the theme that he or she has chosen.  They can incorporate photography, surveys, interviews, and really make it their own.

Now, for the big question for those who have taught Yearbook or Journalism.  WHERE DO I START?  Is there a Holy Bible of journalistic writing out there?   Any good teacher websites/blogs I should browse?  Do any of you teach journalism, and can I pick your brain next week?