JOURNALISM. for. PEN ARGYL AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 501 West Laurel Avenue Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania Prepared by

Transcription

1 JOURNALISM for PEN ARGYL AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 501 West Laurel Avenue Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania Prepared by Spring Shank Spring 2012

2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION/COURSE BACKGROUND ESSENTIAL OUTCOME AND RELATED STANDARDS CONTENT AND INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES Unit 1 History of American Media Unit 2 Meeting Ethical and Legal Responsibilities Unit 3 Deciding What is News Unit 4 Organizing the Staff to Capture News Unit 5 Making the Interview Work Unit 6 Writing News Story Leads Unit 7 Writing News Stories and Headlines Unit 8 Handling Quotes Unit 9 In-depth Reporting Unit 10 Design and Layout Unit 11 Media Literacy SPECIAL EDUCATION ADAPTIONS Journalism Curriculum Page 2

3 INTRODUCTION General Statement: The primary goal of the beginning journalism course is to provide students with the necessary writing, computer, and interpersonal skills required to produce a school newspaper. The journalism elective is geared primarily toward publishing the school newspaper, The Green Echo. The class offers beginning journalism students an overview of the basic types of news writing Beginning journalism students learn the basic types of news writing: news, feature, opinion, and sports. After practicing interviewing skills, they establish a news beat and help to decide each issue s content. Students also learn layout and design skills, write headlines and photo captions, and are introduced to desktop publishing through the InDesign program. In addition to developing skills in writing and computer design, students will learn social and verbal skills through interviewing; personal and social ethics and good citizenship through the formulation and practice of publication and reporter standards; skills of synthesis and analytical thinking through the research and writing of news stories and editorials; and organizational and management skills through the production of a publication. Since the class is also a production course, design editing, and desktop publishing skills are emphasized. Students must be reliable, self-motivated, deadline-oriented, and able to work well with others in a laboratory setting. Students use their journalism skills to work in teams to plan and produce The Green Echo. Along with the required courses in Pen Argyl s senior high school English program, the journalism sequence revisits the standards students meet in eighth and eleventh-grade. Journalism Curriculum Page 3

4 ESSENTIAL OUTCOME AND RELATED STANDARDS a. Students will write various articles, include reviews, features, hard news, opinion pieces, and sports. b. Students will proofread, edit and organize articles for newsworthiness, timeliness, and quality of writing for creation of The Green Echo. c. Editorial staff members will create layouts, combine pictures and graphics, and complete the issue for publication each month. II. Standards a D Identify, describe, evaluate and synthesize the essential ideas in text. Assess those reading strategies that were most effective in learning from a variety of texts. b F Understand the meaning of and apply key vocabulary across the various subject areas c A Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents in all academic areas. d B. Write complex informational pieces. e C. Write persuasive pieces. f A. Write with a sharp, distinct focus. g B. Write using well-developed content appropriate for the topic. h C. Write with controlled and/or subtle organization. i D. Write with a command of the stylistic aspects of composition. j E. Revise writing to improve style, word choice, sentence variety and subtlety of meaning after rethinking how questions of purpose, audience and genre have been addressed. k F. Edit writing using the conventions of language. l G. Present and/or defend written work for publication when appropriate. m A Listen to others. n C Speak using skills appropriate to formal speech situations. o A. Select and refine a topic for research. p B. Locate information using appropriate sources and strategies. q C. Organize, summarize and present the main ideas from research Journalism Curriculum Page 4

5 CONTENT AND INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES Unit 1 The History of American Media a. Students will recognize the influence of the media on American life and discuss the importance of truth and accuracy in media reporting. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 5

6 Unit 2 Meeting Ethical and Legal Responsibilities a. Students will identify the qualities of a good reporter. b. Students will describe the legal and ethical aspects of good journalism and demonstrate an understanding of these aspects in their work. c. Students will discuss the responsibilities that accompany press freedom and understand student journalists rights and responsibilities under the law. d. Students will define and discuss principles of fairness, accuracy, objectivity, decency, balance. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 6

7 Unit 3 Deciding What is News a. Students will cooperatively create a workable production schedule. b. Students will develop methods for tracking copy flow. c. Students will develop attractive page layouts using basic principles of design d. Students will master information-gathering techniques necessary to incorporate and attribute in a story information from various sources. e. Students will demonstrate skills of analysis and synthesis in preparing interview questions. f. Students will plan and participate in a beat system that covers all areas of school life. g. Students will recognize and use the verbal and social skills necessary to conduct interviews. h. Students will demonstrate specialized listening and writing techniques in notetaking I. Activities II. III. Remediation Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor Journalism Curriculum Page 7

8 IV. Assessment V. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 8

9 Unit 4 Organizing the Staff to Capture the News a. Students will identify the elements of successful staff organization. b. Students will apply principles of management and organization to assign and carry out the various tasks necessary to publish a school newspaper. c. Students will define editorial structure and staff responsibilities, demonstrating competence in carrying out their own roles. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 9

10 Unit 5 Making the Interview Work a. Students will identify the elements of successful interviews in terms of product b. Students will apply principles of interviewing to partners and practice interviews. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 10

11 Unit 6 Writing News Leads a. Students will learn and master the news values that define a story s newsworthiness. b. Students will construct effective leads by experimenting with a grammatical variety of leads for news stories. c. Students will identify the 5 W s of news writing and use them appropriately in their own stories. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 11

12 Unit 7 Writing News Stories and Headlines a. Students will use knowledgeable writing skills and principles of newsworthiness to develop the body of a story. b. Students will write a news story that adheres to facts and avoids editorializing. c. Students will follow the inverted pyramid form, presenting facts and quotations in descending order of importance. d. Students will identify and incorporate facts and opinions from sources (people and print) in a news article. e. Students will demonstrate correct usage of direct and indirect attribution in news writing. f. Students will identify and use standard copyediting symbols in editing copy. g. Students will familiarize themselves with and follow the AP Stylebook in preparing copy for submission. h. Students will become proficient in correcting structural, grammatical, and style errors in their own work and that of others II. Activities III. IV. Remediation Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor Journalism Curriculum Page 12

13 V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 13

14 Unit 8 Handling Quotes a. Students will identify strategies to incorporating quotes within articles through specific quoting, question and answer, and summary quoting.. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 14

15 Unit 9 In-depth Reporting a. Students will define and discuss the various types of feature stories. b. Students will list the purposes of features and their place in different types of publications. c. Students will recognize the differences between features and straight news, being able to identify and write both d. Students will recognize the different types of editorials. e. Students will identify material in the school and local environment that appropriately demonstrates the purposes of editorials. f. Students will identify and demonstrate the differences between writing news/features/editorials. a. Students will recognize the specialized language of various sports and effectively translate it for the casual sports fan. b. Students will faithfully cover a sports beat, including recording of scores and records. g. Students will organize sports stories in reverse chronological order, emphasizing upcoming events and recent contests h. Students will practice writing music, film, videogame, or performance reviews, clearly distinguishing fact from opinion. i. Students will develop criteria for analyzing arts and the humanities, as a basis for writing fair and responsible reviews. I. Activities Journalism Curriculum Page 15

16 II. Remediation III. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor IV. Assessment V. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 16

17 Unit 10 Design and Layout a. Students will explore page formats and basic rules of design. b. Students will recognize the importance of formatting a page or spread logically so important elements are dominant. c. Students will demonstrate consistency in designing page layouts, creating order and organization through the placement of headlines, copy, and art d. Students will demonstrate understanding of type fonts and sizes in typesetting body copy and headlines. e. Students will apply basic rules of headline composition. f. Students will illustrate the relationship of type size and style to content. g. Students will discuss basic principles of effective photography and artwork. h. Students will master photo-editing skills such as placement, cropping and sizing. i. Students will identify content and structural requirements of caption writing j. Students will practice and master using a word processing program for writing, editing, and typesetting. k. Students will practice and master using a desktop publishing system to design and typeset a publication for camera-ready submission to the printer. l. Students will apply design and typesetting principles to page production. m. Students will print, copyedit, and double-check pages. I. Activities Journalism Curriculum Page 17

18 II. Remediation III. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor IV. Assessment V. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 18

19 Unit 11 Media Literacy a. Students will identify the goal of media outlets and analyze message based on impact, audience, and purpose. II. Activities III. Remediation IV. Enrichment b. Editorial Staff Positions c. Editor V. Assessment VI. Resources and Materials Journalism Curriculum Page 19

20 SPECIAL EDUCATION ADAPTATIONS Modifications incorporating specially designed instruction are appropriate for students identified as exceptional and included in regular education classes. A student s grade placement does not necessarily reflect his/her instructional levels. Therefore, adaptations are required as determined by the student s Individual Education Plan (IEP) Team and written in the IEP. Adaptations may include modifications in curriculum/instruction, including: Supplemental material (educational materials in addition to the regular materials), Replacement material (educational materials in place of the regular materials), Graphic organizers (study guides, skeletal outlines, charts, and/or similar devices), Individual/small group instruction (alternate grouping patterns), Adapted assignments (assignments individualized at student s level), and Instructional approaches (specific approaches for a variety of learning styles). Adaptations may include modifications in assessment, including: Format (changes to the traditional paper-pencil model of evaluation), Adapted Content (evaluation at the student s level of instruction), and Performance-based (assessment of a product or a demonstration of skills). Journalism Curriculum Page 20