Now you try
Estimated time to complete: 30 Minutes
STEP 1: Break students up into their production groups (unless students will be producing stories by themselves).
STEP 2: Give students five minutes to brainstorm and make notes about how they could turn their story ideas into elevator pitches.
STEP 3: Ask groups to choose one member to present.
STEP 4: Ask one student in the class to be the timekeeper and put 30 seconds on the clock.
Each presenter has 30 seconds to give their story pitch to the class and must stop when the timer goes off.
After each pitch, ask the rest of the class these questions about the presented pitch.
- Is this a STORY? What is it?
- Does it have a beginning, middle, and end?
- What is the conflict? The resolution?
- Who are the CHARACTERS and why are they ideal for the story?
- Why is the story IMPORTANT and interesting? (i.e. newsworthy)
- Will people care about this?
- Will the audience learn anything from this story?
- Lastly, is producing the story DOABLE? Will students be able to really produce this piece in the time allowed?
STEP 5: After the pitch presentations, give groups the SRL PITCH TEMPLATE. Students should make a copy then take their time filling this out, making it as strong as they can, based on the feedback they received from their classmates.
Optional: Once students have started production, do the elevator pitch activity again. Practicing their elevator pitch at any time in the process can always help students figure out the best direction and the real heart of their story.