My students are right about to begin creating their own "news"papers tomorrow, so they pitched ideas for what themes they'd like to focus on in small committees. I suppose I could make them report the true facts of news in their school or town, just as real-live journalists do, but I enjoy the sixth grade imagination too much, so instead I'm asking them to pretend to be real-live journalists as they report on phony news in the style of today's newspapers.
As my students prepare to create Onion-style newspapers, whether their news and special features focus on sports, animals, celebrities, fashion, or even mythical creatures, I expect these kiddos to stretch the truth and flat-out lie in some cases, in order to create entertaining reading material for their classmates. Am I encouraging another Stephen Glass, known for falsifying news in a competitive writing field? It's notable to some, that his next chosen career is in law. Next up, I'll expose them to Mark Twain, who was run out of town for making stuff up and calling it truth.
I'll let my students know what happens to writers who lie and pretend like they don't, but for now, I want them to write and enjoy it along the way. Is that so wrong?
No - tap into their human ingenuity! Of course you will teach them to act ethically - it's part of who you are. Besides...if Stephen Glass had called it a novel, would we have paid big bucks for his writing? I'm imagine so.
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