The objectives of the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Course using the Intensive Journalistic Writing Approach can be achieved in many ways. No matter which method is used, the center of the course should remain the connection between reading and writing.

Surprisingly, one of the most productive assignments in retaining this connection between reading and writing is sports writing. Sports writers are to be admired because they must produce excellent writing on the spot and quickly. Their research must have been done painstakingly and extensively before the event they are covering. Since they do not know how an event will turn out, their research must be so thorough that they can mentally link with whatever happens in the game or with their previous knowledge and produce new insight into the game or event, new insight that will make the reader say, "Ah, yes, that's it."

The kind of sports writing that should be taught in the A.P. course using Intensive Journalistic Writing is not the sports article that is little more than a box score. That type of writing goes with the pedestrian reporter and is not what students should be encouraged to write.

Students should be presented with models. One model should be by a regular sports writer; the other should be a sports analyst or columnist. One exemplary sports writer is Tom Weir who writes sports columns for USA TODAY. His coverage of the NCAA Basketball Title Game between Michigan and Duke was one my students enjoyed.

Excellent models for the second type are articles by columnists Bob Greene, Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Mitch Albom, Christine Brennan and Sally Jenkins. Bob Greene is a columnist for The Chicago Tribune who writes about whatever interests him. Greene is not a sports writer, but he does know how to observe and he knows Michael Jordan. Go to the Web site for the Chicago Tribune and look for an excerpt from "Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights."

Wilbon and Kornheiser, found at www.washingtonpost.com, are also included in several anthologies which can be purchased through the JEA Bookstore. They and Jenkins, who writes for Sports Illustrated, are included in The Best American Sports Writing 1995. Brennan's work can be found in Women on Deadline: A Collection of America's Best. Check out the Web site of the Detroit Free Press, Best Newspaper Writing 1996 from JEA or your local bookstore for a collection of Mitch Albom's columns.

The teacher may want students to write both types of articles, or he may want the student to choose one type. While a student who is not knowledgeable about a sport may choose the Bob Greene type of article, he could write either type of article. Neither article requires extensive knowledge about a particular sport. Both require knowledge of human nature and a keen observation of the sporting event and the people involved.

The following time schedule is only a suggestion. Some sections may take more or less time.

DAY ONE and TWO

Read and discuss the two models of sports writing. I would suggest one type per day.

Objectives

• To see the relationship between structure and author's purposes,
• To identify the main ideas and explain how subordinate ideas contribute to those main ideas,
• To follow the chain of coordination and subordination from levels of generality to the interrelationship of clauses and phrases,
• To evaluate the writing with regard to context and validity of claims.

Questions teacher might ask:

1. What idea is the author advocating?
2. What is the evidence for this idea?
3. How many different arguments in favor of this idea are offered?
4. How would you appraise the merit of each argument?
5. Is any evidence for the opposing point of view included?

Rhetorical questions teacher might ask:

1. Are main ideas in main clauses?
2. Does the verb express real action?
3. Are parallel ideas in parallel construction?
4. What rhetorical devices help point up that parallelism?
5. What kinds of words does the author use? Are they formal and learned, informal, colloquial, slang, or nonstandard? Are there puns or other word play? Do they indicate an intent other than that conveyed by explicit meaning?
6. Are words effectively chosen? Point out words that are particularly precise and evocative, as well as those that are unclear, pretentious, or inappropriate in connotation.

Discuss how content and rhetoric interact. Help students see how this interaction creates writer's voice.

You might want to go further in analysis of structure by asking what sentence structures each writer uses frequently, and how do these structures encode meaning. Are the sentences in a passage primarily simple, compound, or complex? Do these structures help control and pace a reader's response.

What, overall, is the effect of the article? What relationship - usually called tone - does it imply between the author, the subject, and the reader? How do all the components of the passage -- content, syntax, rhetoric, diction - help create that tone?

DAYS THREE AND FOUR OR MORE

Research

The teacher must decide whether all students will write about the same sport and/or same game. Since there are so many ways this assignment can be handled, there is no reason to excuse any student. Time must be allotted for students to decide what sport they will write about, research that sport, interview participants and coaches in that sport, and watch an actual event in that sport.

Viewing

Students must pick a sport they can watch. Teacher must decide whether student could watch a sport on television, or whether it must be an on-site situation. Watching on television will take some of the student's decisions away. The network, the cameramen and the announcers will be making decisions the student should make for himself.

Students should interview coaches and participants before and after the event he is writing about.

Writing

Each student should take notes during the actual event. Nothing can take the place of a student's instant reactions. The teacher should decide whether the actual writing assignment would be done in class or at home. The student should be able to use all the notes he has taken.

Students should try to match in their writing the sophistication of model material selected for study, although they should not feel that they must reach the standards of these professional writers.

Analysis of students' stories

The same questions that were asked of the articles by professional writers should be asked of students' papers. This analysis may occur in a general class discuss or in group work.