PEP High School Journalism Syllabus I August 31 to October 5, 2007 Teaching Leader: Mrs. Debbie Conover

ATTENTION PARENTS: Materials your student needs to bring to class each week: a dictionary, a thesaurus, notebook paper, at least two sharpened pencils, a colored pencil or pen and their journalism folder and small notebook (the last two items will be passed out on Aug.31).

Note: A detailed class work and homework assignment sheet will be given out monthly. Please see this sheet for more details, including the weekly homework assignment. It is imperative that each student has this assignment sheet every Friday. The first sheet is free but your student will have to pay 25 cents for a new sheet if he does not have the correct copy each week. The money is donated to PEP. This is to teach responsibility!

The goals of this class are to educate each student in effective written communication, to learn how to follow directions and have fun as students prepare for their future writing assignments in college. The class will be introduced to the basic elements of high school journalism and will spend two to three weeks on each type of article or story. They will also participate in writing a PEP NEWSLETTER. In order to accomplish these goals, each week we will try

to follow this schedule:

1.Pray, take roll, share and then collect or check the homework (H/W). 2. Introduce spelling and grammar tips. 3. Introduce the article or magazine feature. 4. Explain the writing assignment. Go over examples on the board and discuss the assignment sheet. 5. Explain the H/W assignment. Most of the descriptions in Week 1 and 2 will be the normal routine for all the rest of the journalism class sessions Week 1: Aug.31- Open with prayer. Introduce the teacher, class procedures and the types of articles this class will be practicing. Explain the fundamentals or basics of good writing: Think or Brainstorm, Organize, Write (rough draft), Revise /Edit and Rewrite. Explain the journalism format that this class will use. Share examples of news articles and feature stories. Activities: Pass out an “article” and break the class into four or five small groups to answer the questions about the article. Work on clarifying the news article. Carry on a class discussion and brainstorming session on the week’s featured article; (these discussions will be weekly rituals). The students will practice writing a news article in class. Homework (HW): Finish the class-work and also write a current event article based on a news story from the local paper or a weekly magazine. Bring in the story or article. See assignment sheet for details. Over

Week 2: Sept. 7-Prayer- Review procedures from week one and check the HW. Explain the dynamics of editing and revising an article or news story. Activities: Class discussion and brainstorming session on editing and writing news articles and feature stories. HW: Rewrite, revise and edit your news article or story. The final copy is due next week, Sept.14. Be prepared to share it in class. ______

Week 3: Sept.14 -Prayer-Check and orally share the HW. Collect and grade later. Review procedures and writing basics from lessons one and two. Activities: Brainstorm ideas for feature stories. H/W: Bring in an example of a well written but short feature story from a magazine or newspaper. Begin writing your own feature story. The final copy is due Sept.28. ______

Week 4: Sept. 21- Prayer. Collect the HW. Review all writing basics. Activities: Thesaurus Drill. Review editing and revision techniques. Brainstorm on how to improve our writing. Pass out the practice news article/ feature story worksheet. HW: Due Sept.28- Correct, edit and revise your feature story. Final copy and rough draft are both due next week. ______

Week 5: Sept. 28- Prayer. Class will read their feature story if time permits. Collect the stories. Review all journalism terms. Activities: Brainstorm-How to improve our journalistic writing skills. Look at professional stories from well-known magazines and newspapers. HW: Due Oct. 5- Write a story or article of your choice. This will be a rough draft See assignment sheet for details. ______

Week 6: Oct. 5 -Prayer. Clear up any problems. Activities: Review all types of stories and articles studied so far. Have an oral contest/quiz. Pass out an article worksheet. This will be graded. Go over the procedures for finishing and editing their next story. HW: Due Oct.12: Edit your story carefully. Final copy and rough draft are due on Oct.12. ______

NOTE: Parents, this syllabus is subject to change so please read the monthly assignment sheet for more up to date information. Please contact me if you have any questions (305) 598-1976).