home

= =

Journalism I & II



Class Description:
Laurel School District designs its journalism class for students in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 who are interested in writing and publication of newspapers and news media. Beginning journalism students receive instruction in all areas of journalism needed to pursue staff positions of the school newspaper (The Spartan Shield). Among the areas covered are: interviewing, beat reporting, feature writing, news stories, layout design, advertising, journalistic ethics, professional standards, photojournalism, editing, and meeting strict deadlines. This course includes extensive reading of models of excellent journalistic techniques and evaluates and analyzes journalistic writing through discussions and critiques. Prerequisites for admission into the journalism class are teacher recommendation and a "C" average in English grammar and writing skills.

The online journalism class is offered to students in grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 scheduled for an independent study who are interested in writing and the publication of newspapers and news media. This form of instruction will provide the student with the same instruction are the scheduled journalism class, but it will also allow him or her to develop their 21st century skills. As technology uses increase in education and the workforce, it is necessary for schools to keep up with the high demand of the qualifications needed by students entering college or workforce. This course is intended to promote individual mastery of material through a guided forum while also allowing the student to take the classes that he or she wants or needs to complete Laurel and the state's graduation requirements.

Requirements:
All students are required to complete the following components of the course. These components must be completed in a timely fashion. Below is a list of requirements that will be graded concurrently throughout the course.


 * Discussions
 * __Spartan Shield__ articles
 * Editing exercises
 * Homework assignments
 * Quizzes and unit tests
 * Scheduled Appointments

= =

Discussions:
Discussion questions are to be used to generate virtual conversation about the reading assignments, presentations, audio links, etc. These discussion questions will be posted on the discussion page along with a due date and precise directions to complete. Remember that this discussion forum is academic in nature and should never be used for informal chatting with classmates and/or the teacher. To ensure grammatical and spelling accuracy, please type in a word document and paste into the discussion area. Lastly, keep in mind that procrastinating on the responses to the discussion questions only holds up the class and your peers. Complete in a timely fashion to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to finish his or her work on time.

Spartan Shield Articles:
Throughout the week, each student should check the calendar on the wikispace. There will be updated events and article possibilities for each student. Some events MUST be covered; other events are only if interested. Also, as a class, we will update the calendar and add possible topic ideas for the newspaper. Ultimately, the school newspaper will go out monthly. The size of the paper is determined by class and article size. Individual article assignments are posted here.

Editing Exercises:
Editing is a major part to journalism. Each week there will be an editing exercise. Also, each student will submit articles intended for the school newspaper for editing and revision. These exercises will be used as a homework grade.

Homework Assignments:
Within each unit, there is a list of homework assignments and due dates for each individual assignments. The homework assignments are intended to instruct, provide guided practice through new concepts, and review. The due dates are provided to ensure that each student completes the assignments in a timely fashion. All assignments are required unless posted otherwise. These will be graded and will also help the student prepare for quizzes and tests. Lastly, all homework assignments are posted in order of requested completion. It is important that each student knows which class he or she is taking because some assignments are altered due to the level taken.

Quizzes & Tests:
All quizzes and tests are taken and graded online through classmarker. The exams will be on the topics covered beneath each unit. Quizzes and tests will NOT be open to take until all homework assignment due dates have passed. = =

Scheduled Appointments:
Each week, each student must meet with the teacher to touch base on the progress being made in the class. Period 7 is also set aside everyday to work on the school paper or any other assignments in the class.

Links:
CNN Student News Student News Daily

**Contact Information:**

Ms. Nikki Downing Room 203 724-658-9056 ext. 1203 lhs.spartan.shield@gmail.com ndowning@laurel.k12.pa.us

===**Journalism Wiki Rules for Contributions, Discussions, and Usage of Wikispace:** === 1. All Wiki contributions should be related to journalism, the class or the subject matter. 2. What you say on the Wiki "can and will" be used against you if your comments or contributions are inappropriate, disrespectful, or illegal. 3. When participating in a discussion, add your comments to one discussion train only. Do not start a new discussion unless instructed by Ms. Downing. 4. Only 2010-2011 journalism students are permitted to add to the Wiki. 5. Do not delete anything fr ﻿ om the Wiki without getting permission from Ms. Downing. 6. All Wiki discussion responses should be academic in nature and typed without slang or jargon. Do not turn the Wiki into your chat room. 7. If you take information from an outside source and add it to the Wiki, cite your source or provide the hyperlink of the site the information was taken from. 8. You are not permitted to edit, manipulate or delete any files, hyperlinks, pictures or files added by Ms. Downing 9. Work on text in Word// or some other word processing program and copy and paste it into Wiki pages or discussion responses. This will allow you to proofread and spell check before you add it to the Wiki. 10. Please do not provide your last name on the wiki. Use only your first name and last initial when identifying yourself or your work on the wiki. Also, refrain from including you picture or any other identifying information on the wiki