Journalism I Syllabus

2004-2005

I.                   Course Objective

In the Journalism I course, students will learn to write various types of stories for newspapers including editorials, sports stories and feature stories, will learn to interview, will learn about photography, and will learn to edit and lay out a newspaper using desktop publishing. Students will also learn to a lesser degree, the basics of yearbook production, advertising, broadcasting and public relations.

II.                Purpose

The Journalism I course prepares students for future work on the school yearbook and newspaper and improves their oral and written communication skills.

III.             Course Objectives

A.     Journal

1.      Students will keep a journal. The topic will be placed on the board and it will generally be about a current event. These will be given about once a week and will be turned in at the end of the nine weeks.

B.     Beats

1.      Students will be assigned a beat (school club) once every other month to cover for the school paper.

C.     Current Events

1)      Keep up with current events. We will have a quiz at the end of each week. These will cover local, state national and world events.

D.    Journalistic Style

1. Students will cover the important parts of the Associated Press stylebook and learn copy editing symbols. This area will also cover spelling and vocabulary.

E.     News Judgment

1.      Determine what is news and what is not.

2.      Learn about ethics, libel and censorship

3.      Discuss your rights as  a high school journalist

F.      News Stories

1.      Write leads and stories using the inverted pyramid style

2.      Learn interviewing techniques

3.      Implement direct quotes and paraphrasing

G.    Feature Stories

1.      Writing creative leads for features

2.      Brainstorm for feature ideas

H.    Sports Stories

1.      Write pregame and postgame stories

2.      Go over reporting tips for covering an action event

I.       Editorials and Columns

1.      Distinguish between fact and opinion

2.      distinguish between editorials and columns

J.      Advertising

1.      Learn the purpose and importance of advertising

2.      Create ads

K.    Layout, Headlines, and Design

1.      design layouts for the yearbook and newspaper

2.      learn about story placement

3.      Write and count headlines

4.      Design graphs and charts

L.     Yearbook Production

1.      Develop yearbook themes

2.      Crop pictures and write captions for yearbook

M.  Broadcast Journalism

1.      How broadcast journalism is different from print journalism

2.      The world of television

3.      The world of radio

4.      Writing a broadcast script

N.    Photography

1.      What makes a great photo

2.      How a camera works

3.      Digital Photography

4.      Cropping and sizing a photograph

O.      History of Journalism

1.      Study the events and people who have made a significant contribution to the field of journalism

IV.              Grading

Daily grades (quizzes) – 50 percent

Projects, story assignments, tests, class participation, and journal – 50 percent

Late Work:

 Journalists work on deadlines. Therefore I expect you as student journalists to adhere to any deadlines set in class. This includes when assignments are due. Points will be deducted from any assignment turned in late.