Processes

Mission StatementTo inspire students to read and learn.

Overarching StatementEXPLORER provides an authentic reading experience in a classroom environment that inspires students to become active readers and lifelong learners. It does this by bringing the world to the classroom through engaging stories. Each story carries current information about the world we live in. Scientists, explorers, and other researchers write many of these stories. Stories look like authentic magazine articles, but contain scaffolding that is always invisible to the student. This way, EXPLORER doesn’t look like many other educational materials. Each issue is designed so that students want to read it and teachers want to teach it. In short, we create the EXPLORER Experience.

Story Selection1. All EXPLORER stories start the same way, with an emotion—Wow! I often say, I

have the best job in the world; I get paid to think like a 10-year-old. While this sounds like a joke and goes over well, I mean it. A 10-year-old is amazed by the world. Be amazed. Be wowed. Be inspired. Have fun. If you do that, you can’t miss. You can always add in the important stuff. You can always connect to standards. You have to start by being interesting to your audience. So make the interesting important and the important interesting.

2. Know your audience. I say that EXPLORER is the only magazine that doesn’t appeal to a demographic. We are not a children’s magazine or a teacher’s magazine. Instead of appealing to a demographic group, we want to appeal to an action—teaching. That means we have to be interesting and important to both students and teachers in a classroom setting. This helps us create a special teaching experience that both student and teacher can look forward to.

3. Bring the world to the classroom. We want to be the vehicle that goes out and finds the cool, interesting tidbits from around the world and brings them to the classroom. We want the words and photos to place students alongside the scientists and explorers. We want to put the students in unique locations. We want to place them in the action. That creates the experience.

4. EXPLORER has had a unique story selection process that is changing. The team has traditionally met over the course of several months to select stories for the following school year. The story calendar is derived from those meetings, and then modified when stories don’t work out or in the case of new developments. Now that we are moving to 10 issues a year, we are introducing a rolling story calendar. The team will meet once a month to discuss new stories and evaluate upcoming ones. The calendar will always forecast 12 months out. This will allow for a more flexible process that will ensure we cover the greatest range of topics and standards. It will also allow teams to begin working on stories ahead of schedule. For instance, it will give photo edit more time to work with stock houses and photographers. This is how most consumer magazines operate—a must as we move toward publishing 10 issues per year.

5. Story selection is one of the easiest and hardest parts of creating EXPLORER. It’s easy, because we are looking for some of the greatest and most inspirational stories on the planet. It’s hard for the same reason. It is also hard because it is done very differently from the way one would create a book or book series.

6. EXPLORER runs three kinds of stories—animal, science, and social studies. Topics for each category are made based on the ability to engage readers and inspire them. We want to educate students by appealing to their emotions. We want students to care. Once they care, they are ready to read and learn.

7. All topics need to be both grade and school appropriate. They need to be based on real-world experiences. They should be positive and not depict a fearful or doom-and-gloom world. We want to inspire students, not depress them. Even when we do stories on extinction, global climate change, or fresh water, we want to show students that each one of us can make a difference and a better world.

8. We look in many places for story ideas. Most ideas come by connecting two or more ideas. For example, a team member was just talking about fashion and joked about it being a story. That idea led to a discussion about what explorers wear when they are on an expedition. Suddenly, we had a process of science story about what explorers wear and bring and why. The working title is: “What’s in Your Backpack?” Although the story may or may not run, it illustrates how many of our best stories begin.

9. Besides making seemingly random connections, we look at websites, science journals, newspapers, science magazines, and books. We want all articles to look current and fresh and so we are always looking for new research. For example, the Easter Island story in the September 2012 issue focuses on the new theory explaining how the islanders may have moved the statues. We had been looking to write about Easter Island for years, but couldn’t find the right story. The statues are wonderfully photogenic, but we didn’t have a relevant story to tell that would inspire kids and relate to the curriculum. We were finally able to tell the story about how ancient people developed a technology to overcome an obstacle and how modern scientists are learning about what the ancients did by looking at ancient legends and applying modern research techniques. In short, it is a process of science story that supports standards. We have a story that is both interesting and important. We have a story that tells about the human struggle, both in the past and present, to overcome odds in a positive way.

10. We also look to the real world. Getting outside and looking around can lead to stories. On a vacation to Australia, I saw many crazy looking birds. That led to a story about feathers. On the same trip, I went to see the Pinnacles, which are odd outcroppings of rock. That led to a story on the world’s craziest landforms. Although the Pinnacles didn’t appear in the story because they weren’t crazy enough, they served their purpose by inspiring a story. In the future, we may run a story about unexplained landforms. They might appear there.

11. One of the first places we look for stories is National Geographic. The explorers, grantees, and photographers go on many inspiring expeditions. Sometimes they are involved in some fairly esoteric research. That’s okay. They still know the basics, and we can connect where they are going to the basic information EXPLORER needs to teach. We need their adventure, not the advanced knowledge in many cases. Some of the NG Explorers and grantees write stories for us, which we then edit for grade level. We work with them to make sure that we haven’t changed any important ideas. This year, we are starting a new annual feature. Each year, a NG photographer will write a story about what he or she does to get the shot. These will be adventure stories that give a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be an NG photographer and why that photographer does what he or she does.

12. We sometimes work with National Geographic Magazine and Channel so that topics appear at the same time. While the stories in EXPLORER are usually different from the ones that run in the Magazine or on the Channel, the topics will be the same. This extends the learning to the home and adds value. We sometimes even work with the same writers.

13. I look for one-third to one-half of the stories to be written in the first person. This adds to the magazine’s value. First, it creates an excitement that can’t be

matched by third-person reporting. It means that that we have created a primary source and established a firm connection to the biography end of the curriculum.

14. Each story is centered around one or more characters. A character can be an explorer or scientist, a plant or animal, or even a location or a structure.

15. While we generally don’t limit story topics, we do shy away from some topics. For example, we stay away from: guns, fighting, bullying, war, sex, politics, gender-specific topics, and anything that would make a teacher uncomfortable in a school setting. The last is an overarching principal and cannot be overstated. All we have is the teacher’s trust. If they don’t trust us to provide safe content, they will not subscribe to us. This does not mean we shy away from controversial topics. We cover them, but in school-appropriate and National Geographic-appropriate ways. Each National Geographic product appeals to a different constituency. The channel viewer is different from the magazine reader or book reader. We need to apply the teacher, student and parent expectations of a National Geographic school product. This may sound a bit amorphous. It is, but is important to always get it right. Once this line is crossed, there is no going back.

16. Once a topic is preselected, it is correlated with language and content standards. Here, we are not looking for 100% correlation with or coverage of standards. That usually cannot be done in 1,000-1,500 words. Rather, we are looking for the part of a standard that we can best support in a magazine format and build a story around. Standards are important, but unlike in a textbook, they are not our most important assets. Everything begins with the topic and storytelling.

17. Next, we preselect photos. These photos usually don’t appear in the story. They are meant to demonstrate that we can illustrate the story with National Geographic quality photos that will engage and inspire. Some stories begin with photos or a single photo. We then build a topic and story around that photo. In some cases, we have waited years to find the right story for an engaging photo. In other cases, we have waited years for the right photos to illustrate a story. Socotra Island is a good example of this. It is one of the weirdest places on the planet, but we simply don’t have enough of the right photos to build around the story. That’s okay; they will come. It is not worth forcing a story if all the pieces aren’t working.

Writing1. The heart of each story is character development. The character doesn’t have

to be a person; it can be an animal, a plant, or a location. That way we can focus the reader’s attention on something tangible so they begin to care about it. This cannot be overstated.

2. Instead of just writing nonfiction articles, we tell stories. By wrapping a story around the content, we engage and inspire students. Most stories are written in either the first or third person, but second person has worked equally as well. We tend to set up action and not scenes in each narrative. Instead of creating a picture, we want to create the movie of the action. This way we can propel the reader through the text. Ideally, we also tap into fictional genres, such as mystery and adventure stories.

3. Most stories have a typical narrative structure, but a few are compartmentalized. Instead of flowing from spread to spread, these stories make a point on either one page or one spread and then a new disconnected point is made on the next page or spread. Both formats work well, but the decision has to be made carefully and early. A good example of a compartmentalized story is Nomads. We discussed a different nomadic group on each spread. By compartmentalizing the story, we didn’t have to develop a narrative thread and could highlight a different point on each spread. A narrative thread would actually have hurt this story since it would have detracted from the various nomadic groups.

4. Headlines should encapsulate the story and grab the reader’s attention. They shouldn’t be academic sounding. Most are two or three words long.

5. The deck should also be short—one or two sentences. Depending on the story, the deck serves different purposes. For most stories, the deck is meant as a kicker to engage the reader. In some cases, the deck has to tell the teacher why the story is important to teach. We have to relate the educational value. Both kinds of decks work, but they have to be carefully crafted so that both teacher and student find value. Combined, the head and deck create the overlap between what the student and teacher want from each story.

6. Opening sections are designed to grab the reader’s attention. These are often vignettes and are separated from the rest of the running text. This can be accomplished using different text and design treatments. Openings are our last chance to really engage the reader. Here we are most concerned with student interest. The student must begin to care and want to read the story. The information will follow.

7. The main idea of the article may or may not be in the opening section. If it isn’t, it needs to be placed at the beginning of the body of the text. We need to tell students up front what the story is about and what they will learn. This should be imbedded in the narrative and should not read like a textbook.

8. Content should be imbedded in the narrative and not contained in separate sections. While this is sometimes difficult to avoid, such as in describing processes, it should occur rarely and be done to increase comprehension. In

most cases, it can be avoided. Content should flow logically from the narrative and be spaced out. That way, students think they are reading a story and don’t have to concentrate on the information. This can also help to spiral the content so that it builds over the whole article and doesn’t overload or bog down the reader.

9. Each column of text, except the first one, should start with a subhead. Magazine editors hate this and often call them tombstones. However, this is an easy way to build in some scaffolding that improves comprehension. It also guarantees that each column ends with the end of a paragraph and the end of an idea. This improves comprehension. It also means that each page and each spread ends with a period. Again, magazine editors hate this. National Geographic magazine, for example, never ends a spread with a period. They fear the reader will not turn the page. We would rather improve comprehension by building in the scaffolding and not calling it out the way many other educational texts do.

10. Conclusions should be more than summaries. They are a time to take the story to the next level. They should extend the learning, inspire more learning, and help readers care about the topic. They can remind students of the important points, but they don’t summarize them.

11. Each article is written and edited and then flowed into the article. Nothing is done to modify the text until after the photos and design are approved. At that point, the editor goes back into the manuscript to fit the copy to space. That includes evening off columns and repositioning subheads. This is an important process in maintaining EXPLORER’s clean look and in providing appropriate scaffolding.

Photos and Design1. Photos and design don’t just illustrate the story. They must tell the story. All

the photos illustrate the story and solicit an emotion. Each photo tells a part of the story, but combined, they should tell the whole story. In addition to telling the story, each photo must also inspire an emotion. We never show what students have seen before. Instead, we have to show the unusual or the usual in an unusual way. This has to be done carefully. We don’t want this to become a freak show the way nonfiction TV has gone, or the way some books and book series are. Think of many of the Time-Life books in the 1980s. That’s a dead end in magazine format. Each photo has to be more shocking than the last one and that is not sustainable. Many magazines have tried this. They have short lives. So we want the wow factor in every photo without giving in to showing the most shocking scenes.

2. Photos should be large so readers can appreciate them. This helps to focus attention, create a clean look, and place the reader in the photo. Large photos can also create an emotion in ways that lots of smaller ones can’t.

3. Photos should be color corrected so they accurately reflect nature. Logos and school-inappropriate body parts can be removed. In some cases blood, dirt and fecal material can be removed. This is usually a judgment call. But in no cases should a photo be manipulated or changed. An animal should not be taken out of one photo and placed into another, unless it is an obvious montage.

4. Design should be almost invisible. Readers shouldn’t see it. They should see the photos and the text. Design needs to support text flow so readers can easily track it. We lose whenever design overpowers the photos and the text.

5. Captions are very important and are an art in their own right. We ask one of three things from each caption. First, a caption can act as an introduction to a section of an article. Second, it can summarize a point. Third, it can extend the learning. Fourth, it can do any combination of the above. We make this decision based on the story and on the photo itself. All captions need to relate directly to the photo itself. For example, if a photo shows only one blue ringed octopus, the caption should be singular, not plural. The caption should relate directly to the action shown in the photo. Captions should be placed so that they cannot be confused with other photos or with the running text. These points may seem subtle, but they are a key scaffolding technique that is often overlooked.

6. The use of art, even realistic art, should be limited and never used on a cover or opener. Teachers and students expect photos from a National Geographic magazine. So if we do not deliver National Geographic-quality photos, we have not met expectations. Our goal is to always exceed expectations. This means that dinosaur and other prehistoric animal stories are very difficult for us. We have tried using realistic art to tell these stories, and have not met expectations as a result. The one exception to this was a story on Mars. The opening spread was realistic art of the Martian surface. We are going to experiment with a story about animals that have giant prehistoric counterparts. Because of this exception, we plan to illustrate the story with realistic art of the prehistoric animals and with photos of fossils and the modern animals, such as dragonflies, penguins, snakes, sloths, and frogs.

7. Infographics should be used whenever possible. Photos, photo illustrations, and realistic art can be used in infographics. A photo illustration incorporates the photo and illustration, but is not a Photoshopped photo. Each issue should contain at least one story with an infographic..

8. Sidebars and fact boxes are important design and text features. Starting in March 2013, each issue will contain at least one fact box with three or more fast facts. These must be remarkable facts that students will want to share with friends and family. They are meant to create a buzz and spread the word

about EXPLORER. Sidebars should be used when appropriate to add to the learning. While important, they take up a lot of room in a magazine that has limited real estate. That being said, a sidebar can transform a good story into a great story. It is another feature that we will have more of, beginning in March 2013.