Course Syllabus

Course Syllabus for Newspaper – 10^th grade ELA

Ms. Sackstein room 325 (Publications Lab)

ssackstein@wjps.org or mssackstein@yahoo.com

Newspaper is a course designed to give ELA credit for 10^th grade, keeping within all of the learning standards for NY City and NY State. This class will be run like a real newspaper and publication will be its intention from day one. Everything we do is for the good of the paper. Since we will be starting from the beginning our main goal will be the creation of a school-wide newspaper with editorial staff and mission. I anticipate getting at least 3 issues out over the course of the year (1 per trimester of varying length and skill level).

Supplemental texts: Newsday and/or NY Times subscriptions

Relevant magazine articles and newspaper articles

Self-paced reading on relevant issues

Field Trips, possible JEA convention, field work

Short stories and Non-fiction essays and/or articles

Materials needed:

• 2 sourcebooks – one for newspaper work and one for literature work – both are to be in class everyday. (There is a lot of conferencing in this class, so I may ask to look at your sourcebooks on any random day)
• Pens, pencils, highlighters and post-its
• School email address for class email blasts and/or blog posting
  

OVERALL COURSE GOALS:

• To teach the student skills necessary in communication in the print media today with emphasis on writing, but including interviewing, observing, reporting, reacting and synthesizing.
  
• To help the student to become an intelligent consumer of mass media
  
• To give the student the opportunity to discover and explore the various forms of writing utilized in journalism
  
• To provide students with opportunities to critique their own writing, the writing of others and to have his writing evaluated by a teacher
  
• To help the student understand and accept the legal, moral and ethical responsibilities inherent in a free press
  
• To help the student learn the copy rules and tools necessary for preparation of copy for newspapers, yearbooks and broadcasting
  
• To help the student to develop responsibility for punctuality in meeting deadlines
  
• To teach the student the necessity of research to add validity, emphasis and depth of writing
  
• To teach the student the practical aspects of producing a school newspaper
  
• To help the student develop the verbal, written, personal and social skills needed to publish a school newspaper.
  
• To give the student an outlet for creativity not found in other classrooms
  
• To awake in the student an awareness of the world around him, both social and political
  
• To stimulate an interest in journalism as a career
  
• To analyze literature and use author's craft in our own writing
  
• To use reading of materials as models for what we can be doing
  
• To understand the revision process
  

UNITS TO BE TAUGHT:

• The Challenge of Journalism
  
• The News Story
  
• In-Depth Reporting
  
• Journalistic Style
  
• Features
  
• Editorials
  
• Columns and Reviews/Entertainment writing
  
• Sports writing
  
• Photojournalism
  
• Headlines
  
• Copyediting and production
  
• Advertising and Business
  
• Literature analysis
  
• Poetry analysis
  
• Author's craft

GRADING:
There will be several projects assigned over the course of the term. Because this is a project based course, students are expected to use their class time wisely in order to complete their projects on time. I am available to answer questions and to provide help to those students who are actively working on their assignments. Many of your projects will be writing based. Learning how to write journalistically is different than essay writing, therefore all assignments are subject to revision. You can always rewrite an article or assignment if you aren't pleased with your grade. (This is encouraged.) There will also be several opportunities for self-evaluation.

Deadlines are a major part of producing publications. Therefore, journalism students should think of assignment due dates as deadlines. If a student (group) needs and extension of time, they must request it from me in advance of the stated deadline. Extensions will be granted at my discretion. Late work causes problems (not to mention fees) for everyone. Any late assignment cannot receive full credit. Extra credit will be awarded for turning work in early.

Blog posting is an important part of class and will contribute to your class participation and homework grades. Our blog address is:

http://wjpsnewspaper2.blogspot.com/

All major assignments will be rubric graded on a scale of 1-4 based on the standards. 1= needs improvement, 2= approaching the standards, 3=meets the standards and 4= exceeds the standards. A list of standards and curriculum map will be provided.

Portfolio – you will keep a working folder in class of all your work in progress assignments for the year. At the middle and end of each trimester, you will be expected to pull your exemplary work from your completed assignments for your portfolio. We will discuss this further in class.