Tribune Sportswriter Talks Shop with 6th Grade

Sixth grade students recently had a special experience with Chicago Tribune sportswriter and Parker parent Teddy Greenstein, hearing about his life’s work and learning practical writing and reporting tips from a professional journalist working in a major market.

Greenstein’s 6th grade daughter Elle introduced her father, who spoke about his work covering Northwestern University and Big Ten football, college hoops, the NBA and golf for the Chicago Tribune. Greenstein regularly appears on Comcast SportsNet’s Chicago Tribune Live and the Big Ten Network’s Big Ten Football and Beyond and co-hosts Golf Chicago TV on CSN. A native of New York City, Greenstein graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in 1994 and started at the Tribune in 1996 after working at Sports Illustrated.

During the consistently lively and interactive session, Greenstein shared his Top 5 Reporting Tips, Top 10 Writing Tips, detailed descriptions of articles he has written and more. Working directly with the students, he elaborated on his writing tips and showed students how various writers compose “ledes” (the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarizing the most important aspects of the story). He also talked about how he started as a writer, life in the press box, traveling to cover games, writing on deadline, working with his editors, other sportswriters whom he admires, preparing for interviews, the social contexts of sports, the difference between attending a game on his own and while on duty and getting to vote for a Heisman candidate.

Greenstein answered many questions throughout his presentation, and he and the 6th grade students could have easily extended the Q & A segment well beyond the allotted time.

In a gracious message after their visit, Greenstein and his wife Nori wrote, “What a pleasure it was to be there and see everyone so interested and participating in the discussion with really impressive questions. …Those kids are amazing. Thanks!”

Click here for photos of this experience.