Joan in GE Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Hi All, I'm wondering if anyone has developed a journalism course? and if so, what materials you used? any advice? It will only be for 1/2 credit... Thank you for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanda7 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 What exactly are your goals? Is this for a future journalist, for fun? For how many children? My degree and career was in journalism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 I don't think she'll be a journalist, but since she's done British literature and AP Eng language and may also be doing Classical or World Lit, I thought Journalism would add variety. She's hoping to graduate early so we have to do 1 1/2 credits next year. It's just for one. Another of my offspring took a college course and used The Complete Reporter but it looks pretty dry and too sophisticated... We have the possibility of visiting our local paper for a 'meet the press' type morning. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanda7 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 You could go to your local used bookstore and browse the used college texts to see if anything appealed to you. I think it would be pretty easily done without using a text at all, though. Decide if you want to do print or broadcast (or both). Basically, you would teach writing the 5Ws, putting the story in pyramid form (where the most important information is at the top), writing in simplistic terms (think 3rd grade vocabulary), and interviewing skills. If you wanted to do broadcast, your student could video herself doing stories and/or upload to youtube. You could work on public speaking skills, proper diction, etc. If you want to get really technical on the writing, you could look into AP style format, but if she has no interest in doing it in the future, it isn't really necessary. Pull newspapers and magazines, watch broadcasts, and analyze and discuss.There's also the rabbit trails of computer-based and web-based publishing, media law and ethics, etc. In its simplest form, assign or come up with a story idea, research and interview 2+ sources, write and edit story. Off the top of my head, I think my college paper required around 300 words for a story. You could alternate learning about a technique one week and writing the following week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 https://www.newsu.org/courses#table This has a TON of free online lessons on different topics for Journalism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Decide if you want to do print or broadcast (or both). Basically, you would teach writing the 5Ws, putting the story in pyramid form (where the most important information is at the top), writing in simplistic terms (think 3rd grade vocabulary), and interviewing skills. If you wanted to do broadcast, your student could video herself doing stories and/or upload to youtube. You could work on public speaking skills, proper diction, etc. If you want to get really technical on the writing, you could look into AP style format, but if she has no interest in doing it in the future, it isn't really necessary. Pull newspapers and magazines, watch broadcasts, and analyze and discuss.There's also the rabbit trails of computer-based and web-based publishing, media law and ethics, etc. In its simplest form, assign or come up with a story idea, research and interview 2+ sources, write and edit story. Off the top of my head, I think my college paper required around 300 words for a story. You could alternate learning about a technique one week and writing the following week. Your skeleton plan is very helpful. I think we'll just stick with print since oral skills don't count towards English with the umbrella school we use from Florida. But what you've written looks interesting.... We could just look at AP style format so she knows what it is (since I don't :-)) The computer/web based publishing trail is great too... You could go to your local used bookstore and browse the used college texts to see if anything appealed to you. I think it would be pretty easily done without using a text at all, though. I had to laugh here since we don't have this kind of used bookstore...so I have to depend on bookfinder.com and other sites -which make it very hard to peruse the books...If you have a recommendation or two I'd be grateful...basic texts.... writing in simplistic terms (think 3rd grade vocabulary), This guideline really got me thinking....Over here, the headlines on the fliers on the boxes which hold newspapers for sale - tend to have words I've never heard of...I mean just one of the words in the headline will be completely new. And I think my vocabulary in French must be higher than 3rd grade level. Now these aren't the tabloid type which definitely have simpler titles...But I'm wondering if one of the ways they pique interest here, is to use words that people don't know to get them to buy the paper to find out what that word means.....I wonder if this is a French thing to do that. It's been ages since I've noticed fliers on newspaper boxes in the US - in fact, I don't think they have them...you can just see the headlines through the grill if I remember correctly. So now you've got me wondering about cultural differences in journalism - have you ever heard of any? https://www.newsu.org/courses#table This has a TON of free online lessons on different topics for Journalism. There is a LOT there - thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaissance Mom Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Cultural differences? Probably. But a good journalist writes to the level of his/her intended audience. I've written freelance articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Each one has it's own demographics and own style. Daily newspapers vary greatly! I have always taught that clear, concise language is more important than a certain vocabulary level. While I would use a word like eponymous in an editorial in our local daily newspaper, I probably wouldn't use it in an entertainment piece in the same paper. Learning to adapt your reporting and writing to your audience is part of learning journalism. A fun semester would be for her to explore all the various writing needs in a newspaper or magazine -- hard news, editorials, local news, ad copy, etc. she could mock up her own newspaper and fill it with her own work illustrated with her own photos and political cartoons. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanda7 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Joan, it has been a while since I was in school, and I'm sure my texts are outdated. However, I'll try to dig them out and see which ones I liked best. Renaissance Mom is completely right about writing for the intended audience. For instance, the language of the New York Times is very different than USA Today. I think I would still shoot for 3rd grade level for articles because you ARE looking for something different to offer her. It was very challenging in college switching between writing for an academic audience and writing for a general (and sometimes uneducated) audience. It is a simplistic goal to shoot for, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orelbeilinson Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Our Introduction to Journalism class uses "Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why, And How", and our teacher reports that it's good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 I really appreciate the ideas since I have no experience! Cultural differences? Probably. But a good journalist writes to the level of his/her intended audience. I've written freelance articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Each one has it's own demographics and own style. Daily newspapers vary greatly! I have always taught that clear, concise language is more important than a certain vocabulary level. While I would use a word like eponymous in an editorial in our local daily newspaper, I probably wouldn't use it in an entertainment piece in the same paper. Learning to adapt your reporting and writing to your audience is part of learning journalism.A fun semester would be for her to explore all the various writing needs in a newspaper or magazine -- hard news, editorials, local news, ad copy, etc. she could mock up her own newspaper and fill it with her own work illustrated with her own photos and political cartoons. :) Those are good ideas! I see your point about writing changing even within one newspaper...and it does seem like a very good exercise to practice writing to different audiences. I remember when I had just left high school and had to write my first paper for college, an older friend commented that it was like I was just talking...I hadn't changed to a more official format. It's actually a serious point in French writing...there were lots of questions about the different 'registre de langue'...so even at Jr Hi level, they had to learn to adjust vocabulary and phrasing. But it's only just now that I think of applying that to English in the same way.... Joan, it has been a while since I was in school, and I'm sure my texts are outdated. However, I'll try to dig them out and see which ones I liked best. Renaissance Mom is completely right about writing for the intended audience. For instance, the language of the New York Times is very different than USA Today. I think I would still shoot for 3rd grade level for articles because you ARE looking for something different to offer her. It was very challenging in college switching between writing for an academic audience and writing for a general (and sometimes uneducated) audience. It is a simplistic goal to shoot for, anyway. Now I'm wondering how to grade this type of writing....I guess if I'm reading newspapers online I'll be able to get a better picture...We get the International New York Times so probably as you say, the language is different already. Yes, please let me know if any of your books look like a good fit... Our Introduction to Journalism class uses "Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why, And How", and our teacher reports that it's good. Thank you for the idea. I've looked at the student handbook for a course description and found this: •First Year: Reporting and Writing (FY), Media and Society (S), Journalism Ethics (S), 2 Workshops (S) but I'm not sure if it's a 1/2 credit course which is all she has time for...Also I'd like to see a better description of the course. But don't worry about doing it for us because I don't want this to be a course that she has to keep a certain pace so we wouldn't be signing up....She will have other courses which are stressful and will need to be able to fit this one in on weeks that the load is lighter in the others. But your comment did get me looking at the UNESCO Journalism curriculum since the handbook says your course is based on it, which has some useful ideas such as: Compare news coverage of any selected issue or content in two or more newspapers or media channels or news outlets. Analyse differences in coverage and reasons why. Ideally select one national, one global, and one local news outlet... Thanks all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanda7 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Some word processors will give you an analysis of your document that includes reading level (Flesch-Kincaid grade level with Microsoft Word). I bet there are other tools on the Internet that would do the same. Shooting for 3-5th grade level or so would be good for simplistic writing. Keep in mind we are talking about sentence structure/length in addition to vocabulary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted June 28, 2014 Author Share Posted June 28, 2014 Some word processors will give you an analysis of your document that includes reading level (Flesch-Kincaid grade level with Microsoft Word). I bet there are other tools on the Internet that would do the same. Shooting for 3-5th grade level or so would be good for simplistic writing. Keep in mind we are talking about sentence structure/length in addition to vocabulary. I never knew such an analysis existed - that's very helpful! thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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