My class on the beat

Jennifer, a business reporter, plays the roll of a distraught coworker.

Today is one of my very favorite Saturdays of the year. My students pretend to investigate a crime and my coworkers pretend to be bodies and killers and such. Hooray!

Newsroom 101 is a high school program that The Oklahoman offers for students in the Oklahoma City area who are interested in journalism. I've been teaching in this program since my first spring at the paper. (That was back in 2005. What? Has it been that long really?) The students come in on Saturday mornings and learn all about reporting. They write their own stories, which are printed in a special publication sent out across the state. It's pretty fantastic, and my students are the absolute best.

One of the most fun classes we have is when we create a fake crime scene, complete with a police officer. Sgt. Mike Klika helps us out every year, and he is great. The students interview him as if they're on a crime scene, and he treats them just like regular reporters. And he usually gives people guff if they aren't Green Bay Packers fans. 

Students busy taking notes.

Students busy taking pictures.

Sgt. Klika giving people guff.

The "scene."