Lesson Plans
Susan Fergueson
Journalism teacher
Lesson Plans
Editing for AP (and Your Newspaper's) Style
Writing the lead
Examples of Work
Thinking Through Leads (or is it Ledes?)
Lead Practice Exercises
Putting First Things First
Susan Fergueson teaches journalism and sophomore language arts at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, Wash. She has taught since 1999 and advised since 2000 has advised Cat Tales, which was revived last year after a seven-year absence.
Fergueson graduated from Albion College in Albion, Mich., in 1995. While at Albion, she spent three years on the staff of The Pleiad, the weekly campus newspaper. Beginning as a staff reporter, she worked her way through the ranks and spent her senior year as managing editor and editor-in-chief.
After graduation, she attempted to escape the inevitability of becoming a teacher by moving to Washington, D.C., where she served as a staff assistant to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. While on staff, Fergueson conducted tours of the Capitol for constituents and school groups, where she realized that teaching was the best part of her job.
After careful consideration, Fergueson left Washington, D.C., for Seattle University, where she received a master's degree in teaching in 1999. She has been teaching at Mount Si ever since.
Fergueson is actively involved with journalism outside of school as well. In 2001, for example, she visited three new cities on journalism-related adventures: San Francisco and Boston for JEA conventions, and Norfolk, Va., to attend the ASNE High School Journalism Institute at Hampton University. She is also involved with the Washington Journalism Education Association, where she serves as co-director of the summer journalism workshop for students.