Two Gazette journalists visited a classroom of excited and curious third graders last week to discuss all things journalism and hopefully inspire the next generation of news reporters.
Shelby Brooks and Danielle Kutchel visited Lakeside College on Friday 21 May, bringing with them a slideshow of photos of their time in and out of the office, a video of a printing press and ideas of how they source news.
The visit was organised by Lakeside College teacher Leah Kelly who said it kicked off the beginning of a deep dive into news reporting.
“We have a unit based on climate and weather and we wanted to intersect that with literacy,” Ms Kelly said.
“The kids are going to have a go using a green screen to share a news report based on what they’re learning about climate.”
Long time Gazette photographer Stewart Chambers was the clear favourite guest, fielding questions from the students such as, “How many photos do you take a day? A gazillion? Have you ever photographed Jennifer Lopez? And what is your favourite thing to take photos of?”.
Shelby and Danielle brought with them a worksheet about the real life story of Molly the cow’s birthday party for the kids to have a go at turning into a news article and helped the students learn about by-lines, quotes, introductions and headlines.
“The kids absolutely loved the visit,” Ms Kelly said.
“The energy was awesome and the level of engagement and the take away was really really good.
“I think you’ve inspired some to get into journalism or photography.”
The next step for the students is to head out to the community and find out what might be some news worthy issues for locals.
They’ll be heading to the Cardinia Cultural Centre, pharmacy, Coles and kindergarten to ask questions of the workers.
