Journalism

=Intro to Journalism Syllabus= Instructor: Liz Thornton Year: 2009-10


 * //Overview://**

//In this elective course, students will have a unique opportunity to explore the realm of journalism while focusing in on one particular aspect: the yearbook or// The Burr//. Ideally, the course will involve several mini-lessons and assignments about the field of journalism. Both newspaper and yearbook students will begin the year as an entire journalism class. Mini-lessons that pertain to both groups will be held as one entire class. Other class days will be designated as “production days” where students will hold weekly production meetings and work collaboratively on whatever needs to be done to meet the next deadline. Students will be given a specific responsibility for the yearbook (i.e. editing a section or two) as well as multiple responsibilities for other sections.//


 * Goals:**

· **//Collaborate with your classmates effectively//**: Students will work in “maestro teams” (photographer, designer, and writer) to complete several assignments. · **//Understand basic concepts and issues within the field of journalism//**: While students will be primarily focused on the production of the school’s yearbook, they will also be introduced to key concepts that are shared with the broad scope of journalism. Through several mini-lessons on topics such as ethics, advertising, interviewing, aesthetics, etc., students will develop skills that are relevant and transferrable in every form of journalism. · **//Explore and experience every facet of yearbook production//**: Students will be required to participate and learn all three major roles of yearbook production: designing, writing, and photography; They will be given individual homework assignments for each topic and they will be required to do all three sections for the final yearbook production. · **//Prepare for and meet deadlines and goals://** Students will write personal goals at the beginning of the year, which they will reflect on periodically throughout the school year; Part of their participation grade will depend on whether or not they met specific deadlines; at the beginning of each week, we will have a short production meeting where we will review upcoming yearbook deadlines and the steps that need to be taken by each student that week in order to meet the deadline. · **//Critique each other and ourselves//**//:// Peer-editing sessions, Review yearbooks from previous years and other schools to analyze successful and unsuccessful characteristics. · **//Work hard, have fun!//**
 * Units:**

· **//Introduction to Class//** o What is journalism? Why is it important? o Community/team building exercises o Gather contact info o Write personal goals o Go over the main parts of the yearbook o Assign editors for the year o Develop “maestro teams” o Yearbook terminology o First “production meeting”: Production meetings will be held once a week, usually Monday, to determine that students are keeping up with deadlines of the yearbook’s production. After the first couple of weeks, the Editor-in-chief will lead these meetings.

· **//Writing//** o AP Style o Grammar Lessons o Interviewing tips o The Importance of Background Research o Generating Story Ideas o Headline captions o Humanizing the news story o Genre: The Feature Story o Genre: Personal Profile o Genre: The Editorial o Quotations: how to properly imbed o Literary Devices o Story flow and Transitions o Proof-reading and editing

· **//Photography//** o Refresher course of the Do’s and Don’ts of good photography o Analyze photographs using OPTIC method o Photography captions o The Photo Essay o Photography and Style: examine photos by Jerome Liebling o Camera basics o Computer software tutorial: Photoshop

· **//Design//** o Design terminology o Examine magazines, newspapers, and other yearbooks to steal page layout ideas o Yearbook themes: develop and carry out a unified theme o Aesthetics: Fonts mini-lesson o Computer Software tutorial: InDesign

· **//Other Mini-units://** o Ethics in Journalism o The Business Side: Advertising and Journalism o Democracy and Journalism


 * Assessments:**

· Personal Goals for the Year · Yearbook critique paper · AP Style/grammar quizzes · Design terminology quizzes · Feature Story assignment · Personal Profile Assignment · Editorial Assignment · Page Layout and Design Book: Students will create a two-section yearbook spread out of construction paper, magazine images, etc. that utilizes a specific theme. · Yearbook Production Responsibilities o Manage and edit one section of the yearbook o Writing requirement for one yearbook section o Photography requirement for one yearbook section o Design requirement for one yearbook section · End-of-year Reflection essay · Deadlines and Participation grade