Journalism CP1

Journalism I (CP1/HON) and II (HON) Mr. Rose Journalism Course Syllabus Welcome to Journalism I (CPI/Honors) and II (HON). This interdisciplinary writing course is designed for students interested in gaining knowledge of journalism through theory and practice. The course will detail all aspects of print and digital journalism, including interviewing; writing news, feature, and sports stories; writing editorials and covering entertainment. Layout and graphic design techniques will be learned through Adobe Creative Suite, including InDesign. As part of the course, students will write and produce the award-winning quarterly student Newspaper, The Crusader.

Honors Option Students may opt to take Journalism I as either a CP1 course or an Honors course. Students opting for the Honors option will be required to do the following in addition to the regular CP1 class expectations: 1. Assume an editorial role with The Crusader and the additional responsibilities that go along with that.

2. Produce an independent journalism project each semester. The student will have the latitude to propose the form and content of his project, which must take the form of an extended piece of journalism, e.g., a documentary video, a newsletter, an extended investigative report, a multi-media project.

3. Produce press releases throughout the year in coordination with the Moeller Communications Director.

What Is Journalism?

An important part of this course is to help you gain an understanding of news and information and the important role that they play in society. What is news? News is information that is timely, interesting and significant. The information has to be in a form appropriate for the medium in which it is carried.

Journalists are those professionally entrusted with offering our society information that is accurate and credible and doing so in a timely fashion. This task cannot be duplicated by any group in society. To be able to produce news, a journalist must be able to report and to write. That's what this course is about.

This course emphasizes professional skills, attitude and demeanor. You are expected to acquire and display all three. First of all, you should take your work seriously, approach it with honestly and with a sense of integrity. All of these things have high value in the world of professional journalism. If you're in this class, you should have the intelligence and maturity to understand and develop these habits and characteristics.

Overview As a writing course, journalism addresses the need for you to be able to pursue higher-order writing and critical thinking skills. Journalism provides you with the opportunity to analyze, to interpret, to detect bias, to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant information, and to identify ambiguous or faulty arguments. Journalism will also teach you how to prioritize, synthesize, and articulate information.

Expectations Because you will be producing a newspaper under deadline, it is of utmost importance that you adhere strictly to due dates for assigned work. Ten days of each quarter, you will be expected to put in extra time after school (and/or during M-blocks) and on weekends to lay out the paper. You will be given the

layout schedule at the beginning of each quarter so that you can plan work and your other activities accordingly. Half of your grade is based on writing and laying out the paper. Failure to meet deadlines or to show up at layout sessions will have a severe, negative impact on grades.

Here are my three basic expectations: 1. Be professional: This course is designed to model a professional communications department. You are expected to come to class on time, come to class prepared, and come to class with a positive attitude and an excellent work ethic. Your job duties producing a newspaper require responsibility.

2. Meet deadlines: Journalism students are expected to work as a team. This means all students are required to contribute not only during class but also any hours required outside of class during the two weeks of each quarter before The Crusader goes to press. Th paper isn't finished until everyone is finished with his page (and other assigned contributions). Again, this requires working together until the paper goes to press.

3. Produce high quality work: The Crusader has won a number of awards, including a 1st place award in the American Scholastic Press Association's annual newspaper competition. The quality of the newspaper is a reflection of Moeller High School and the talent of the students who produce it. You should strive to continue to produce high quality work 1) to honor Moeller, and 2) to create a personal portfolio to send with college applications and job applications.

Consequences Further, all other Moeller house rules are to be obeyed in class. For example, that means that "off task" work on your laptops will result in a detention. Continued problems will result in dismissal from journalism class. Remember, this is an elective course. You chose to be here, which means you're agreeing to take on the above responsibilities. If you fail to meet any of the expectations detailed above, parents will be notified, administrators will become involved, and this may result in your removal from the course.

If you do not think you can meet these expectations or if you are unwilling to meet them, then please drop the course straight away.

Course goals Still with me? Good. By the end of the year, you should be able to: 1. Define the roles and responsibilities of the media, including legal, moral, and thical considerations.

2. Practice the skills necessary for news coverage of activities, events, issues, and individuals associated with Moeller High School.

3. Define, identify, and analyze newsworthiness.

4. Practice basic reporting skills through information gathering and research.

5. Practice basic journalistic style and format.

6. Proofread and edit copy.

7. Competently write news stories, editorial and opinion pieces, features, and sports stories.

8. Write and design headlines.

9. Write and design photo captions.

10. Produce, select, and integrate photographs into a publication.

11. Be competent in the basic concepts of layout and publication design.

12. Use InDesign desktop publishing to produce a publication.

13. Demonstrate strong team-player skills by being able to work with a team of others with diverse skills in order to produce a newspaper.

14. Possess a strong knowledge of career opportunities in communications, including journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.

Textbooks Scholastic Journalism. Tenth edition by Tom E. Rolnicki, C. Dow Tate, Sherri Taylor. Iowa State University Press.

AP Stylebook by Norm Goldstein, Ed. Basic Books.

Grading Your grade each quarter is computed as a sum of all points earned divided by the total possible points offered. The following is an approximate breakdown: - Daily news analysis: 10 points daily (approx. 150 per quarter) - Student summary presentation: 25 points (one per quarter) - In-class workshop assignments: 10 points each (approx. 100 per quarter) - Quizzes and tests: 25-50 points each - Newspaper articles: 100 per article - Layout, design, editing and production (class participation): 200 per quarter Note: Daily News Analyses are due to be posted before the end of the period assigned in order to be considered "on time." If it is posted after class but before Midnight of the same day, it will be considered "late." If it is posted after that it will be considered a zero (0 points).

Make-up Work Policy Short Term Absences (1 or 2 days) For all types of short term absences (expected, unexpected, field trips, etc.), upon return to school, you are responsible for contacting me to arrange make-up assignments and assessments for work that was assigned during your absence. When you return from an absence due to illness, family need, or other reported reason, you must acquire any missed assignment upon your return and submit it at the next class.

For work that was assigned prior to your absence, and was posted on NetMoeller prior to your absence, you are expected to have the work ready upon your return.

If you are absent for an extended period, we’ll discuss a schedule to make up your missing work.