The Hoot

Valley High School's Literary Arts Publication

Hoot Hoot Webquest

Everything on this site was made by a student sitting in the chair you are sitting in. Some of it took a class period. Some of it took a month. Your job today is to look at all of it, decide what is good, and figure out what you want to make first.

Requirements

  • Answer all 21 questions on the answer sheet
  • Full sentences for every answer
  • Be specific. When a question asks about a piece, name the piece and the line or detail. “idk” and “it was good” don’t count.
  • Finish with a pitch for your first piece

Steps

  1. Print: Grab a copy of the answer sheet.
  2. Explore: Work through the 9 stops below. Open the links in new tabs and look around.
  3. Answer: Write your answers to the 2 questions at each stop as you go.
  4. Pitch: Answer the 3 finish questions, including your first pitch.
  5. Submit: Turn in your answer sheet.

If a stop grabs you, stay in it. Reading five pieces at one stop beats skimming one at all nine.

The Stops

Stop 01

The front page

Start where a reader starts. Don’t open any pieces yet. Just look at the front page.

  1. Q1. Write down the title of one piece on the front page that makes you want to click it. Then explain what that title does to earn the click.
  2. Q2. Who is this site for? Point to something on the front page as your evidence.
Stop 02

Reviews

An album, a movie, a show, a console. You make a claim about whether it is good and then you prove it.

  1. Q3. Pick one review. In one sentence, what is the writer’s actual claim about the thing they reviewed?
  2. Q4. Copy one specific detail they used as proof. A lyric, a scene, a moment, a feature. Not a general compliment.
Stop 03

Hot takes and editorials

An opinion with a spine. The title picks the fight and the piece has to win it.

  1. Q5. Find the take you disagree with most. Name it, then give your counterargument in one sentence.
  2. Q6. Write a hot take title of your own that you could actually defend for 500 words.
Stop 04

Poetry and personal writing

The hardest stuff on the site. True, personal, and published under a real name.

  1. Q7. Copy the single line that hit you hardest. Then name why it works: the image, the sound, the surprise, or the honesty.
  2. Q8. Name one personal detail the writer chose to share. Then name one thing you wish they had told you more about.
Stop 05

Interviews and profiles

You point the attention at somebody else. Staff, students, people around the building. Some are written and some are on video.

  1. Q9. Who got interviewed, and what made that person worth a whole piece?
  2. Q10. Write one question you would have asked that the interviewer did not.
Stop 06

Podcasts

Two mics, a room, and a reason to talk. Pick one and give it at least two minutes with the audio on.

  1. Q11. Listen to the first two minutes of one episode. What do the hosts do to make you stay?
  2. Q12. Name the podcast you would host, who your co-host would be, and what you would talk about every week.
Stop 07

Video

Phone footage, a mic, and an edit. Notice how much of this was shot at school or five minutes from it.

  1. Q13. Pick one video. What did it get from being video that the same idea written down would have lost?
  2. Q14. Guess what they actually shot and edited it with. Then say whether you have access to the same thing.
Stop 08

Art and photography

Drawing, painting, photos, design. Published with the artist’s own words next to it.

  1. Q15. Art gets published with words around it. What did the writing next to the art add that the image alone did not say?
  2. Q16. What could you photograph or draw at Valley that nobody on this site has published yet?
Stop 09

Useful things: how-tos, recipes, playlists

Pieces that hand the reader something they can use before they close the tab.

  1. Q17. Open one. What did you actually walk away with? Name the thing, not the vibe.
  2. Q18. What do you already know how to do well enough to teach in 400 words or one short video?
Finish

Your first pitch

You have now seen the whole menu. Time to order.

  1. Q19. Rank your top three stops, the ones where you could see your own name on the byline. Number them 1, 2, 3.
  2. Q20. Write your first pitch. Name the type, the topic, and one sentence on why anybody should read, watch, or listen to it.
  3. Q21. Name the one piece you found today that set the bar for you, and who made it. That is the standard you are aiming at.

Rubric (20 points)

Category5 pts3 pts0 pts
CompletionAll 21 questions answered15 to 20 answeredFewer than 15 answered
Full SentencesEvery answer is a full sentence1 to 3 answers are not4 or more answers are not
Specifics0 vague answers like “idk,” “it was good,” or “it was cool”1 to 3 vague answers4 or more vague answers
PitchQ20 has all 3: type, topic, why someone should care2 of the 30 or 1 of the 3
Total20 points