High Journalism 1

Segment One

· Defining journalism and its role in society

· Exploring the history of journalism

· Examining civic literacy

· Understanding ethics in journalism

· Discussing journalism and the First Amendment

· Identifying factors of newsworthiness

· Distinguishing between objectivity, subjectivity, and bias

· Exploring careers in journalism

· Developing skills needed for journalistic success

· Mastering AP style and industry standards

· Analyzing elements of a news story

· Crafting diction and syntax in journalism

· Examining the journalist's point of view

· Studying text features in print journalism

· Understanding the process of news gathering and journalistic research

· Practicing verifying and fact-checking sources

· Differentiating between primary and secondary sources in journalism

· Honing the art of journalistic observation and notetaking

· Preparing for and conducting interviews

· Synthesizing sources

Segment Two

· Distinguishing between active and passive voice

· Applying grammar and punctuation in journalism

· Crafting a news article

· Writing a feature article

· Exploring opinion journalism

· Analyzing rhetoric and figurative language in opinion journalism

· Identifying elements of an op-ed

· Writing to persuade a specific audience

· Mastering layout and design in journalism

· Utilizing graphic design, typography, style sheets, and design handbooks in journalism

· Using visual design to support a central idea and match a piece's tone

· Discovering photojournalism (ethics, composition, and equipment)

· Incorporating data journalism and journalistic infographics

· Tracing broadcast journalism's history and evolution

· Differentiating types of broadcast journalism

· Producing audio journalism (scriptwriting, narrative techniques, figurative language, imagery, and recording best practices)

· Exploring video journalism (equipment, shots, on-camera interviews, editing, ethics)

· Combining multimedia journalism (audio, text, graphics, and video)

· Developing a broadcast news package

You will need the following items to complete this course:

· Microphone or other voice recording device

· Device or program of choice to record video with audio

· Digital audio and/or editing software (optional)

Besides engaging students in challenging curriculum, the course guides students to reflect on their learning and evaluate their progress through a variety of assessments. Assessments can be in the form of practice lessons, multiple choice questions, writing assignments, projects, research papers, oral assessments, and discussions. This course will use the state-approved grading scale. Each course contains a mandatory final exam or culminating project that will be weighted at 20% of the student’s overall grade.***

***Proctored exams can be requested by FLVS at any time and for any reason in an effort to ensure academic integrity. When taking the exam to assess a student’s integrity, the exam must be passed with at least a 59.5% in order to earn credit for the course.  

To achieve success, students are expected to submit work in each course weekly. Students can learn at their own pace; however, “any pace” still means that students must make progress in the course every week. To measure learning, students complete self-checks, practice lessons, multiple choice questions, projects, discussion-based assessments, and discussions. Students are expected to maintain regular contact with teachers; the minimum requirement is monthly. When teachers, students, and parents work together, students are successful.