
Teach caption writing with video, lesson plan
Written by Elizabeth Braden, CJE
Pictures are worth a thousand words, but the stories within them are incomplete without captions.
Captions are easier to write once you know the formula, and yearbook advisers are telling us they would like more training materials for their staffs on topics such as caption writing. Walsworth is listening, and has responded with a caption-writing lesson, complete with a new video called “A Simple Approach to Great Captions,” Lesson Overview, one pre-video activity, two post-video assignments and three handouts you can access at the links below on this page.
Renee Burke, yearbook adviser at Boone High School in Orlando, Fla., wrote the script and is the presenter in the video. She said caption writing was a good choice for a video and lesson plan because captions are important in yearbooks.
“I personally get so annoyed when I am reading a yearbook, or even a magazine, and there isn’t a caption for a picture. I want to know details,” Burke said.
The objectives for the lesson plan include students learning the parts of a good caption and how to write them to identify people, be accurate and informative.
Burke also said caption writing is easier to approach because it’s a group of smaller pieces instead of a multi-paragraph article.
“Body copy can be intimidating. Oftentimes people don’t know where to start or they feel like they’ve said the same thing year after year. Also, small schools feel that since they have a small book it’s hard to give up space for body copy,” Burke said.
“I see such value in captions and feel staffs can overlook their importance,” Burke said.
All the activities, assignments, handouts and a Lesson Overview that you can use with the video are available at these links.
Overview –
Exercises –
Caption Writing Exercise.5Ws.1H
Caption Writing Exercise.TellmeMore
Handouts –
January 25, 2013 at 8:29 am, joe ralyea said:
Great lesson, thank you.
August 21, 2013 at 6:51 am, David Clar said:
Nice lesson Elizabeth, I bet the students will learn a lot!
August 21, 2013 at 8:01 am, Elizabeth Braden said:
We should all thank Renee, she did an terrific job. And thank you for the kind words.
September 11, 2013 at 10:45 pm, Jenny Johnson said:
Thank you! This is great information and I enjoyed the presentation.
October 23, 2013 at 10:10 am, Jami Adelman said:
Elizabeth and Renee, thank you so much for posting this lesson plan. It’s very informative and all-inclusive. I would love to see others on headline writing, theme copy writing, sports writing, and/or feature writing.
October 23, 2013 at 1:22 pm, Elizabeth Braden said:
Thanks, Jami, glad you like it. We do have a short lesson on headline writing with handouts online called Five Simple Ideas For Headline Writing, http://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/idea-file/14350/five-simple-ideas-for%E2%80%A6headline-writing/ and we just released our Copywriting Primer, which you can find in the issue of Idea File magazine out this week and online here: http://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/idea-file/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Copywriting-Primer.pdf
I hope you find these helpful, too.