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Introduction to Journalism Curriculum

“A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself,” Arthur Miller

Course Description
Introduction to journalism is an exciting, fast-paced orientation into the highly
competitive field of journalism. This course will give students a chance to work in
an upbeat environment where you will improve writing, interviewing and
photography skills, work with programs like Adobe InDesign and Premiere Pro and
learn to use equipment such as digital cameras, video cameras, sound recorders
and lighting equipment. Students will learn their civic responsibility through a
close examination of the First Amendment with specific attention placed on the
Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech.

Curriculum Map/Planning
A scholastic journalism curriculum should be created and based on your school’s
needs and local requirements. It is suggested that Standards 1-8 be followed
somewhat chronologically and that Standards 9-15 should be integrated
throughout and/or used as independent units and lessons as needed.

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference

The Utah Core Standards are cross-referenced with the Introduction to Journalism
standards in order to provide a clear connection between a journalism course and
the Core. Students completing a journalism curriculum following these guidelines
will have fulfilled Language Arts standards and could qualify to receive Language
Arts credit for the course.

9/04/2012 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA: This license lets others

remix, tweak, and build upon work non-commercially, as long as they credit author and license their
new creations under identical terms:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode

ADA Compliant: 4/21/2020

JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Table of Contents

Standard 1. JOURNALISM WRITING BASICS – pp. 3-14

Standard 2. INTERVIEWING – pp. 16-22

Standard 3. HEADLINES – pp. 23-25

Standard 4. NEWS WRITING – pp. 26-33

Standard 5. FEATURE WRITING – pp. 34-40

Standard 6. SPORTS WRITING – pp. 41-45

Standard 7. EDITORIAL WRITING/SOCIAL ROLES OF THE MEDIA – pp. 46-

Standard 8. OPINION, COLUMN AND REVIEW WRITING – pp. 56-59

Standard 9: LAW & ETHICS – pp. 60-74

Standard 10. PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND ETHICS – pp. 75-80

Standard 11. VISUAL DESIGN, TYPOGRAPHY & LAYOUT – pp. 81-86

Standard 12. STAFF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT – pp. 87-99

Standard 13. ONLINE PUBLICATION – pp. 100-105

Standard 14. ADVERTISING (If permitted at your school) – pp. 106-111

Standard 15. JOURNALISM IN THE USA – pp. 112-114

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Standard 1. JOURNALISM WRITING BASICS

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - (Grades 9-10) RI.3, RI.5, RI.8, RH.2, RH.5

Vocabulary
Subjective Reporting – based on opinion; when the writer’s opinions can bias the result
Objective Reporting – based on fact; when the writer’s states the facts with no bias
Elements of News:
Rarity – How odd, different or unusual the event or situation is
Emotion – A story that has an effect on the reader’s emotions
Impact – How many people are affected by the event or situation
Proximity – Closeness, either related to geographic reasons or relational
Action – Showing that something is happening, changing or moving
Human Interest – A story, event or situation that is interesting as a reflection of
human nature.
Prominence – The importance of the main people in the story, how well known.
Conflicts – Any time there is a struggle; war, elections, sports, etc.
Timeliness – How recent was the event or situation?
Change – An event or situation that displays progress for the betterment of
mankind.

Primary Source – a person or persons that can provide firsthand knowledge of an event
Secondary Source – usually a document or article that provides analysis, evaluation or commentary of
the event after the fact.
Stakeholders – persons that have a direct connection or interest in a story because they are involved
or connected in some way and have concern for the outcome of the situation
Lead – The first paragraph or first several sentences of a newspaper story. (Also spelled lede)
Summary Lead – Summarizes the story by telling the most important of the 5W & H in usually 35
words or less.
Variation Leads – Any variety of creative ways to begin a news story
Nut Graf – Usually used with variation leads to provide the summary lead immediately after in order to
get all of the most important aspects of the story early.
5 W’s and H – Who, what, when, where, why and how
Story Patterns - The structure of a story.
Writing Process including Editing and Revision
Transitions – words and passages used to connect one paragraph to another
Associated Press (AP) – A cooperative news organization that provides news for newspapers, TV and
Radio stations

Resources

Harrower, Tim. Inside Reporting: A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism. Ch. 2-5. New York: 2007.

Hall, Homer L. and Logan Aimone. High School Journalism.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 1

Students will learn the differences between journalistic writing and English class
writing including the following major differences:

Citations and Attribution

Understanding Fact vs. Opinion

Subjective vs. Objective Reporting/Conflict of Interest

Lesson Plans/Activities

Objective 2

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Students will learn how to generate news and where to find stories for a scholastic
news medium.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Story Ideas Assignment

DUE ______________________

1. Come up with 5 original story ideas for your newspaper. Write a 1-

paragraph explanation of your story idea.
2. List AT LEAST two News Judgments for each idea with a defense of why that
news judgment applies to the story.
3. List 2 Primary Sources with full names and contact information, i.e, class
schedule, phone number, email address, etc.
4. List (Print and attach) 1 Secondary Source for research and backup
information on the story.
5. For each Primary Source, write 5 GOOD interview questions.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 3
Students will learn to evaluate newsworthiness based on the 10 basic news values
as defined by rarity, emotion, impact, proximity, action, human interest,
prominence, conflicts, timeliness, change.

Objective 4

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Students will learn to identify sources for a story by identifying stakeholders and locating and
identifying primary and secondary sources and learn to validate sources for credibility and
integrity.

Lesson Plans/Activities
6 Steps of Skeptical Knowing Activity/Assignment

Skeptic - a person who questions the validity or authenticity

of something purporting to be factual.

Teacher Modeling:
Read or listen to President Eisenhower’s full farewell speech with the class and then ask them to work
in pairs or triads, responding to the following 6 steps/questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWiIYW_fBfY

1. What kind of content am I encountering?

2. Is the information complete; and if not, what is missing?

3. Who or what are the sources, and why should I believe them?

4. What evidence is presented, and how was it tested or vetted?

5. What might be an alternative explanation or understanding?

6. Am I learning what I need to?

Pair-Share Work:
As journalists and citizens you need to approach all of your research with a skeptical outlook and use
the above questions to decide on the validity and credibility of your source. You and your partner
should choose any of the following current issues and find 1 blog, 1 twitter or Facebook post, 1 article
and 1 video news story about the issue. You should answer the above 6 questions for each source you
find on a separate sheet of paper and be prepared to discuss your findings with the class about the
credibility and validity of the information you gathered from each source.

Current Events:
GOP Primary Elections
War in Afghanistan
Costa Concordia Cruise Ship
Olympic Champion, Sarah Burke, fatal accident
Strange Winter Weather 2011-12 in Utah
Any other current event that you clear with your teacher

Homework:
Write a 1-page response about how the 6 steps of skeptical knowing would make for a better society
and how it would change consumers of news.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 5

Students will learn the pattern of news articles as headline, lead, body and identify
a number of news story patterns including but not limited to: inverted pyramid,
storytelling format, chronological order, kabob.

Lesson Plans/Activities

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 6
Students will learn and practice summary and variation leads for news stories.

Lesson Plans/Activities

LEAD WRITING Exercise – 5 W’s 1 H

Below are examples of 5W’s and 1H to use in creating practice leads. Read
through the six elements. Then rank them filling in the numbers 1-6 in the spaces
to the left. Using your rankings, now write a lead keeping the most important
elements of your lead first.

Lead #1
_____Who: Principal of YOUR SCHOOL
_____What: was chosen as Principal of the Year
_____Why: grades at YOUR SCHOOL had increased dramatically – from 2.5 to 3.5
average GPA at school
_____Where: YOUR SCHOOL
_____When: June 1, 2012
_____How: The National Principals’ Association made the official announcement
Friday.

Write Lead #1 here:

Lead #2
_____Who: YOUR SCHOOL’s student, Alan Brown
_____What: Was offered a major record deal from Sony Music - $15 million, same
producer as Justin Bieber
_____Why: He invents a new style of music, half rap, half techno
_____Where: YOUR CITY
_____When: Last Week
_____How: His music video was found by Sony on YouTube

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Write Lead #2 here:

Lead #3
_____Who: Teacher (make up name)
_____What: Sets the school on fire
_____Why: smoking in his classroom – left cigarette he thought was out in trash
can
_____Where: T-ville
_____When: Late last night
_____How: the fire spread thoughout D and E halls before being contained
Write Lead #3 here:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________.

This assignment is provided by Mary Seal, Taylorsville High School. Feel free to
edit and use as you see fit.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 7
Students will learn the process of writing as writing, rewriting, revision and
editing.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Name____________ Date Submitted_ Class Per. ____

Assignment Title_________________ Section_____________

Rough Draft Check List

_______ I have talked with either a photographer or graphic designer about
planning a visual image to accompany my story.

Their signature ________________________________.

Date_________________.

_______My story has a LEAD (Who, What, Why, Where, When and How) with the
most important or intriguing information used first in the paragraph. It is NOT a
question lead. A 10 point deduction is possible for errors in lead writing.

_______ Unless I am writing an Editorial or Review, my story does NOT contain

my opinion and is unbiased, using quotes and information that fairly represents
both sides of the story, or all groups involved.

Up to 25 points will be deducted for opinion in news, feature, etc.

_________All facts have been reviewed. Up to 50 points will be deducted. You

must be accurate.

_______ My story does NOT use personal pronouns: You, My, I, Me, We, Our, etc.
It is written in third person. Up to 20 points will be deducted if this rule is broken.
Exceptions granted only by Editor-in-Chief.

________ Names in the story (including teachers) are used correctly and spelled
correctly. The first and last names are used on the first reference to the person,
the last name only is used on all future references. Up to10 points will be deducted
if this rule is broken.

_______ I have had at least 5 people read through my rough draft and offer me
suggestions. Their signatures and suggestions are on the back of this paper. I

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

have made changes to the article to correct their identified errors. Up to 20 points
will be deducted if this step has not been completed.

________ My story contains quotes from the person in authority on this subject
(Coach, teacher, police, principal, etc.. Up to 10 points will be deducted for this
error.

________I have interviewed at least 3 people for this story and have interesting
quotes included in the story. My quotes are in correct tense. If the movie or
activity happens before the newspaper will be published then all quotes and the
story is in PAST tense.

_______ If my story is a review of either a book or a movie, I have researched

and found interesting details about the actors, making of the movie, director,
author, awards won, etc. My review is NOT just a summary of the plot and
contains no more than 2-3 sentences describing the plot. I understand that I
MUST be telling the reader something new. It can’t be a random string of students’
opinions about the movie. Quotes MUST be from someone who has SEEN the
movie if it is already in theatres. 10-25 points will be deducted for this error in
writing.

_______ My story focuses on something that is vital and immediately connected to

students of Taylorsville High School. It contains all research, facts and substance
needed to support a story on the subject. If the story is a national interest story, I
have tied it to Taylorsville with reasons why this will impact the school or student
quotes about how/why this matters to the school. Up to
25 points may be deducted for this error.

________ I have reviewed this checklist thoroughly and it is completely filled out.
-10 points.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

PAPER FOR EDITING REMARKS – REQUIRED!

Peer Editors: Your job is to actually READ this story and to give significant
feedback for the writer. That means to offer real ideas for improvement. “It’s
Good” is not significant feedback. Offer instead suggestions for what might be
added to the story to make it more interesting, suggestions for lead improvement,
people who should have been interviewed, etc. LOOK for typing errors. If your
signature is below it indicates that you REALLY looked for ways to help this
author improve their story. I will be taking 5 points off of your story’s grade if you
miss obvious errors in your editing.

1. Name:_________________________________________________________
Suggestions:_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

2. Name:_________________________________________________________
Suggestions:_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

3. Name:__________________________________________________________
Suggestions:_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

4. Name:_________________________________________________________
Suggestions:_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

5. Name:_________________________________________________________
Suggestions:_______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Name________________________ Date Submitted___________ Class Per.
________
Assignment (ex. Jan. 1st story FD) __________________ Story Section
____________
Final Draft Check List
_______ There are two valid headline suggestions included with my story; one a
shorter version and one longer. A ten point deduction is possible for not writing
headlines.
_______ I have talked again with the photographer or graphic designer about
planning the visual image to accompany my story. Their signature
___________________________________ Date_______________.
______All requirements for the rough draft have been met on this final draft. Up
to 25 points deducted.
_______I have provided interesting statistics to go with this story that could be
used to make an alt. press info-graphic. Up 25 points deducted.
_______The lead I have written is interesting and includes 5 W’s and 1 H. It is
written with the most important elements first. Up to ten points deducted for poor
leads. The lead is not a question.
________All corrections indicated on the rough draft have been made. Up to a 25
point penalty is possible for this error, depending on how much work was not
completed or corrected. If the rough draft is not attached, the maximum penalty
will apply.
_______ The story is saved on the Google docs as last name, section of
newspaper, one or two word title (Example: SmithSportsGirlsBasketball. Ten
points will be deducted if this step is not completed. The story is shared on Google
docs to [YOUR EDITOR HERE] as:
___________________________________________________________.
______The story has been read by three students who were looking for typing
errors (students’ names, comments on back). All indicated errors have been
corrected. Ten points will be deducted if there are not three student signatures
on the final draft. Up to 20 points will be deducted if their corrections have not
been made. Both the corrected (perfectly clean final draft) and uncorrected
(student marks all over it) versions of the final draft are attached.
_______All names in the story are spelled correctly. Twenty points will be
deducted for each person whose name is spelled incorrectly.
_______All information on this check list is completed: 5 points deducted per
blank space.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

SEE REVERSE OF PAPER FOR EDITING REMARKS – REQUIRED!

EDITS: Students who edit this story will have points deducted from their own
assignment if there are obvious spelling, grammar or typing errors that were not
corrected.

Student
Signature__________________________________________________________

This check list is provided by Mary Seal, Taylorsville High School. Feel free to use
and edit as needed.

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Standard 2. INTERVIEWING

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - SL.1.C, SL.1.D, SL.2, SL.3, SL.4
Identify appropriate sources for journalistic interviews; demonstrate appropriate
quote gathering and interviewing techniques; use appropriate style when inserting
quotes.

Vocabulary
first-hand account - From the original source, directly
attribution - The act of attributing; the ascribing of a quote, picture, or article to
a particular person
direct quotation - A report of the exact words of a source.
indirect quotation - Information that is close to the way the source said it, but
not exactly. Quotation marks are not used.
Paraphrase - Restating the meaning of a text, passage or quote. Not in
quotation marks.
off the record - Not meant for quotation. Usually information shared with the
reporter by a source with the intent to give background.
confrontation interviewing - Asking questions in a manner that will likely make
the interviewee uncomfortable. Used to uncover information or reveal
uncooperative sources in an investigative news piece.
Probe - An attempt to find out the truth about an issue, problem, or accident
through interviews and research.
Source - A person, publication or other record or document that provides timely
information.
spot news - The latest, unexpected news that is reported immediately.

Resources:
Hawthorne, Bobby. The Radical Write. Ch. 7. United States: Jostens, 2003.

Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of
Information Overload. Bloomsbury. 2010.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 1

Students should be able to identify first-hand account versus second, third,

etc. Students should be able to set off a quote, using the appropriate
punctuation marks and attribution of title. Students should be able to
identify appropriate interview sources when provided with a story idea.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 2

Students should be familiar with appropriate interview terminology.

Students should be able to create appropriate questions to put subject at
ease (confrontation interviewing), asking leading questions, follow-up
questions, and building evidence.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Prepare a list of individuals who would make realistic interview candidates

for students. Put the names in a jar and have students draw out a slip of
paper. Have students pair up and interview each other, taking turns role-
playing the potential interviewee. Review the process by asking students if
they spelled the name of the interview candidate correctly. Proceed to ask
students how they knew what questions to ask the candidate. The
discussion process leads to an understanding of the importance of preparing
for the interview. Now, give the students a story scenario and have
students re-interview the candidate with this new perspective. Review the
discussion process by examining the differences and similarities between the
two interviews.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 3
Students should be able to identify expert sources for their articles and
stories.

Lesson Plans/Activities

What’s the Scoop?

Scavenger Hunt Activity

Purpose: This activity is to help students understand that there may be

multiple sides to a story and that teachers and administrators can abuse
their power and use language that is manipulative and can create confusion
around any given topic. Students are to follow the scavenger hunt schedule
and receive whatever information they can from the different stations that
they have been assigned to contact as sources.

Activities:

1. Explain to students that they are being tasked to get to the bottom
of a breaking story and will be sent to meet with different sources
that will give them some information about the story they are to
cover.

2. Create the topic ahead of time based on something that is plausible

to have happened in your school community. For example, the
building of a natatorium for a school. This story could include
financial, political, and other elements that could quite possibly be
emotionally charged and have multiple opinions based around it.

3. The key is to have the sources give the students information that
could be plausible but that doesn’t quite pan out. Information that
sounds believable because they are adults and trusted teachers and
administrators, but that they probably should verify and question
through other independent sources.

4. Make sure to speak to the “sources” ahead of time and give them
some guidelines on what they are supposed to say and let them in
on the secret.

5. Create a scavenger hunt for the students to go out and move from
source to source to gather all of their information. You could
stagger the sources to make sure that students are flowing around

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

the building differently and not all hitting one teacher or source at a
time.

6. Put the quote by Douglas McGill on the board for when the students
return. “When journalists don't fully understand how power shapes
language to serve its own ends, they inevitably become pawns to
those who do. Power then takes the wheel of society, and drives it
where it will."

7. Ask the students to sit down and begin synthesizing the information
they received from their sources and try to figure out and make
sense of the information. Groups will probably return at different
times but hopefully fairly close to one another.

8. The key to the activity is to make sure the information given by the
sources is barely believable. It should be information that can be
verified or unverified by simply contacting one additional source or
doing a little research to find out.

9. The teacher may have to guide and prod the students at this point
in time to be more skeptical about the information they have in
front of them. If you hear students in their groups questioning
something ask them what they can do to verify that information,
was the teacher a believable source, why do they feel that way, etc.
Keep prodding them with your questions toward being skeptical
about the source and what maybe the sources motives or biases
are in the situation?

10. Hopefully through key questions and guidance from the teacher you
can get all of the groups to see through the information they have
been given to realize that it is a hoax. When they are all finally on
board (or at least the majority of them), explain to the students
that the story is not real after all and have a discussion about the
quote on the board and what it was that made their sources
believable. Were there one or two sources that they believed more
than another? Why? What made one source more believable than
another? Was it personality, position, power, or the way they
distributed their information? Were there any sources that you
didn’t believe from the first moment? Why?

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

11. Wrap up the discussion with a focus on the quote on the board and
have the students write a concluding journal about the quote and
how they feel about the activity as it pertains to the quote.

Creating standards/policies for using Expert Sources

Lesson Plan

1. Have students read, highlight and annotate pp. 85-87 of Blur by Bill
Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel about Expert Sources and Analysts.

2. Students should write down on a note card one major concept that
they feel is crucial about what they read and be prepared to share it
with the class during discussion.

3. Conduct a class discussion about expert sources and the information

from Blur.

4. Show the “Name that Bias!” slideshow and ask students to identify
what bias each potential source would have for a story in which they
were asked for an interview.

5. After watching and discussing the slideshow, have students write down
3 things they believe a good reporter should make sure to expect from
and what to ask of a potential expert source.

6. Put students into groups of 3-4 and have them share their 3 ideas and
come up with 3 for their group after narrowing, combining and
evaluating each group member’s ideas.

7. Each group will send 1 scribe up to the board to write down their 3
ideas. Once all groups have written down their ideas ask the students
to discuss each one and compare them to see if there is any overlap
and to create a list of standards and a policy about the use of expert
sources.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Standard 3. HEADLINES
Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - L.1.B, L.3

Headlines entice readers to pick up and read your publication. Teach and
review basic headline rules in order to provide an understanding of how to
hook readers and engage them; teach active vs. passive, full sentence
versus grammar exceptions, repetition, and two-step with subhead, etc.;
briefly review font, type size in relation to lay out and importance of story;
emphasize headline style used by your school publication.

Vocabulary

Banner - A headline spanning the width of a newspaper. Also, a front page

news story.

subhead - Headings that break up long articles into sections.

active voice - The subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in
the verb.

passive voice - A verb form in which the subject receives the verb’s action.

kicker - A piece of additional information printed as an accompaniment to a

news headline. It is a subordinate clause and comes in present tense. The
point size is usually smaller and is placed on top of the headline.

Resources

Links: http://web.ku.edu/~edit/heads.html,
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling,

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 1
Students will write grammatically correct and appropriate headlines when
presented with a story.

Objective 2
Students will use and understand headline vocabulary.

Lesson Plans/Activities

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 3

Students will have an understanding of how font and type size are used in
relation to headlines.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Put students in groups of three and hand them a headline from a newspaper
article. Have the students guess what the article is about from looking at
the headline. Then have students share their findings as a larger group.
Next, hand groups the articles associated with the headlines. Make sure the
groups do not receive the article associated with their headline. Have
students guess which headline that has been shared goes with the article.
Discuss whether or not the students feel the headlines were appropriate or if
they would make changes.

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JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Standard 4. NEWS WRITING

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.7, W.8, W.2, W.4, W.5, W.6

Explain solid news writing, emphasizing news values; provide examples of

good news writing versus human interest; teach and review the 5w’s, lead,
and inverted pyramid news structure; review investigative reporting as in-
depth, long-term news reporting; discuss the role and use of news briefs;
explain the role of news beats and the emerging importance of specialists.

Vocabulary
Beat - A subject area that a reporter is assigned to cover
news values - The general guidelines or criteria that guide the organization
and development of a story
hard news - news that deals with formal or serious topics and events,
usually written in inverted pyramid format with a summary lead.
spot news – News reported of events as they occur
stringer - Freelance journalist or photographer who contributes reports or
photos to a news organization on an ongoing basis but is paid individually for
each piece of published or broadcast work.
5w’s - Who, what, when, where, why - The basic questions that should
become the basis for all news stories
lead - The first paragraph or first several sentences of a newspaper story.
(Also spelled lede)
inverted pyramid - The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists
and other writers to illustrate the placing of the most important information
at the top of the story with the least important information at the bottom of
the article.

Resources
Hawthorne, Bobby. The Radical Write. Ch. 6, 8, 11. United States:
Jostens, 2003.
Osborn, Patricia. School Newspaper Advisor’s Guide. United States: Jossey-
Bass, 1998.

Links
The BBC online news page has several lessons available for teaching news
writing. Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sc to find a complete lesson plan
with video, worksheets and activities.

www.newsu.org

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Objective 1
Students will understand the vocabulary associated with news writing.

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Objective 2
Students will be able to locate the 5w’s in a news story and construct a solid
lead, using the 5w’s.

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Objective 3
Students will differentiate between a news story and other writing such as
feature or human interest by practicing writing hard news with summary
leads.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Hard News Story Assignment

Intro to Journalism

The editor just handed you a story and told you to write a hard news,
summary lead story by Friday. You don’t know anything about the topic;
you’re not even sure you’ve heard of it before. What do you do? Do you
panic? Where do you begin?

Step #1 – Background Research – Be sure to fill out your 5 W’s and H for
the story. (Write in pencil as they may change as you go..)
 Ask questions – lots of questions, but be sure to double check all facts
and information
 Look up information on the Internet to learn and cross-reference your
sources – don’t just trust the first one you come to
 When all else fails, ask the editor for some more information and
clarification
 Collect all of the 5 W’s and H
o Who:
o What:
o When:
o Where:
o Why:
o How:

Step #2 – Setup and Conduct Interviews with Stakeholders – You need at

least 2 interviews for your story!
 Identify my stakeholders…
o Stakeholder #1 –
 Interview time and place -
o Stakeholder #2 –
 Interview time and place -

Step #3 – Write Interview Questions – Type or write your questions and

staple them to this paper when you are finished with your story.

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 5-10 questions for each interview; Leave space to write in the answers
 Use a recorder if you are concerned about getting it right!
 Ask to clarify good quotes
 ALWAYS double check the spelling of their name and the correct name
of their position or title

Step #4 – Organize story and quotes – Be careful, this part may be messy!
 Write the lead making sure to include as many of the 5 W’s and H as
possible
 Review interview notes and choose good quotes to support your story
 Don’t forget the L-Q-T format; flow the story alternating between
quotes and transition paragraphs
 Don’t forget to use Inverted Pyramid format

Step #5 and 6 – Write your 1st draft, revise and write your 2nd draft – Your
first draft should be typed and double spaced for easier editing. Bring your
1st draft on ______________ and your 2nd draft on
_______________.
 Your article should be anywhere from 250-400 words
 Try as hard as you can to make it as complete as possible
 Be prepared to be critiqued by many people – peers, advisers, editors
(that is their job, after all!)

Step #6 – Rewrite, Revise, Redo!! – Email a copy of your final to

__________________ by __________________

 Take your edited 2nd draft and correct all mistakes. Type up a clean
copy that is double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font.

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Objective 4
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the difference between beats
and specialists.

Beats Game
One of the most critical parts of high school journalism is making sure that
we cover the news of ALL of the students at the school – not just friends and
favorite clubs, sports, teachers. Take a few minutes and brainstorm below a
list of different student groups, clubs, sports, activities, events etc. that
happen here at school. We will be playing a game with this list – you need to
come up with as many as possible within the time allotted.

1. _ 29. _

2. _____________________________ 30. _____________________________
3. _____________________________ 31. _____________________________
4. _____________________________ 32. _____________________________
5. _____________________________ 33. _____________________________
6. _____________________________ 34. _____________________________
7. _____________________________ 35. _____________________________
8. _____________________________ 36. _____________________________
9. _____________________________ 37. _____________________________
10. _____________________________ 38. _____________________________
11. _____________________________ 39. _____________________________
12. _____________________________ 40. _____________________________
13. _____________________________ 41. _____________________________
14. _____________________________ 42. _____________________________
15. _____________________________ 43. _____________________________
16. _____________________________ 44. _____________________________
17. _____________________________ 45. _____________________________
18. _____________________________ 46. _____________________________
19. _____________________________ 47. _____________________________
20. _____________________________ 48. _____________________________
21. _____________________________ 49. _____________________________
22. _____________________________ 50. _____________________________
23. _____________________________ 51. _____________________________
24. _____________________________ 52. _____________________________
25. _____________________________ 53. _____________________________
26. _____________________________ 54. _____________________________
27. _____________________________ 55. _____________________________
28. _____________________________ 56. _____________________________

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57. _____________________________
58. _____________________________
59. _____________________________
60. _____________________________
61. _____________________________
62. _____________________________
63. _____________________________
64. _____________________________
65. _____________________________
66. _____________________________
67. _____________________________
68. _____________________________
69. _____________________________
70. _____________________________
71. _____________________________
72. _____________________________
73. _____________________________
74. _____________________________
75. ____________________________

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Teacher Instructions: Give students 8 minutes to add as many items as possible to

the list above. After the time is up, have one student stand up and read all items from
their list. While someone writes each item listed on the board, the other students must
cross out each item listed by the reading student off of their own list if they had written
it down as well. The students must raise their hand for each item. If no hand is raised
for any of the items on the reading student’s list, they can circle that item. Call on each
student in turn to read out any items that were not mentioned on their list. By the end
of this process each student should have a short list of ideas that no other student had
listed or all names should be crossed out on their paper. Award prizes as you choose to
student with most unique items, or top three students or a piece of candy for each
unique item, whatever you choose.

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Standard 5. FEATURE WRITING

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W. 2, W.9, W.10

Vocabulary to know:

Feature News Values

Emotion
Relationships
Action
Rarity
Change

Feature/Variation Leads
Question
Quotation
Narrative
Anecdotal

Feature Story patterns

Chronological
story telling
kabob

Angle - the point or theme of a story that makes it unique or different than other
stories that have a similar topic.

In-depth Reporting - Reporting that probes the topic in greater detail than
conventional deadline reporting.

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Objective 1
Students will understand the difference between Hard News and Feature Writing

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Objective 2
Students will recognize the Elements of News that pertain specifically to Feature Writing
as well as the variation leads that create the style of feature writing

Lesson Plans/Activities

The Lead Lab Assignment at Newsu.org is a great way to introduce students to different
kinds of lead options. It can be found at the following link:
https://www.newsu.org/courses/lead-lab

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Objective 3
Students will learn and practice different story structures by writing and practicing
feature story articles on various subjects.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Story Ideas Assignment

DUE ______________________

1. Come up with 4 original feature ideas (one for each type of feature) for Your
Newspaper Name. Write a 1-paragraph explanation of your story idea.

2. List AT LEAST two News Judgments for each idea with a defense of why that news
judgment applies to the story.

3. List 2 Primary Sources with full names and contact information, i.e, class schedule,
phone number, email address, etc.

4. List (Print and attach) 1 Secondary Source for research and backup information
on the story.

5. For each Primary Source, write 5 GOOD interview questions (that is 10 questions
total, 5 for each source).

6. List and explain two possible angles for the story.

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Feature Story Assignment

The editor just handed you a story and told you to write a feature, variation lead story
by Friday. You don’t know anything about the topic; you’re not even sure you’ve heard
of it before. What do you do? Do you panic? Where do you begin?

Step #1 – Background Research – Be sure to fill out your 5 W’s and H for the story.
(Write in pencil as they may change as you go..)
 Ask questions – lots of questions, but be sure to double check all facts and
information
 Look up information on the Internet to learn and cross-reference your sources –
don’t just trust the first one you come to
 When all else fails, ask the editor for some more information and clarification
 Collect all of the 5 W’s and H
o Who:
o What:
o When:
o Where:
o Why:
o How:

Step #2 – Setup and Conduct Interviews

with Stakeholders – You need at least
2 primary interviews for your story
as well as a minimum of one
secondary source.
 Identify my stakeholders…
o Stakeholder #1 –
 Interview time and
place -
o Stakeholder #2 –
 Interview time and
place -

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Step #3 – Write Interview Questions – Type or write your questions and

staple them to this paper when you are finished with your story.
 5-10 questions for each interview; Leave space to write in the answers
 Use a recorder if you are concerned about getting it right!
 Ask to clarify good quotes
 ALWAYS double check the spelling of their name and the correct name
of their position or title

Step #4 – Organize story and quotes – Be careful, this part may be messy!
 Write the nutgraph making sure to include as many of the 5 W’s and H
as possible
 Write a variation lead or two that grabs the readers attention
 Review interview notes and choose good quotes to support your story
 Decide the story structure for your feature. Modified L-Q-T, Plot Bell
Curve, Kabob, Chronological, etc.

Step #5 and 6 – Write your 1st draft, revise and write your 2nd draft – Your
first draft should be typed and double spaced for easier editing. Email to
(your teacher) and save your 1st draft by the beginning of class on
_____________ and your 2nd draft on ____________.
 Your article should be anywhere from 300-500 words
 Be prepared to be critiqued by many people – peers, advisers, editors
(that is their job, after all!)

Step #6 – Rewrite, Revise, Redo!! – Email a copy of your final to

________________ by ___________________.
 Take your edited 2nd draft and correct all mistakes. Type up a clean
copy that is double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font.

Extra Credit Option: Create one alternate story form or sidebar to go

with your story. For helpful ideas on ASF’s and sidebar options, see
NewsU.org course “Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Creating
Alternative Story Forms

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Objective 4
Students will understand the importance of an angle to a story and be able
to identify a newsworthy angle for a story that will connect with their
audience.

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Objective 5
Students will learn in-depth reporting and covering a broad topic with
multiple levels of information and news including feature stories, ASF’s,
graphics, photos, etc.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Lesson Plan
1. To introduce the concept of Alternative Story Forms have students
complete the Newsu.org self-directed course titled “Beyond the
Inverted Pyramid: Creating Alternative Story Forms.” Students
should take notes on the course and send a course report when
they are finished to the teacher.
2. Students are to create 3 story ideas each in a different format
suggested in the course and write up a story proposal to share on
the brainstorm/hot seat day with the staff.
3. When the staff/class is ready to conduct the hot seat / brainstorm,
have each staff member share their best option for discussion with
the rest of the staff. Students should discuss the format for the
story and whether that will truly best represent the story and tell
the story in the best way possible.
4. Students should be sure to discuss all aspects of the story from
ethics to journalistic credibility and whether the story is important
to tell; however, the main focus should be on whether the format or
ASF chosen is the best way to tell the story.
5. After brainstorming is finished, students are to work on creating a
first draft of their ASF by working on gathering, researching,
interviewing and creating the story in the format selected.
6. Students should follow the process for the staff in which they write
for revision and editing of their story.
7. When the stories are finished, students should share with one
another and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of writing in
a different format than the Inverted Pyramid. Students should
identify the difficulty with writing more “creatively” and discuss
whether that adds to or subtracts from their paper’s credibility and
respect as a news outlet for the school.

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Standard 6. SPORTS WRITING -

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W. 2, W.9, W.10
CTE Standards Cross Reference - DGM1-S08:02

Vocabulary

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Objective 1
Students will understand the difference between the game story and the
feature sports story

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Objective 2
Students will identify with and understand the timeliness issue with sports
writing and realize the difference between online vs. print sports reporting in
scholastic journalism.

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Objective 3
Students will learn the use of the AP Style Book and the sports section for
assistance with sports terms and correct usage.

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Standard 7. EDITORIAL WRITING/Social Roles of the Media -

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W.1, RI.1-10

Vocabulary
Roles of the Media
watchdog reporting – the media acting as a protector or guardian against inefficiency
in matters of pubic interest.
muckraking - American journalists, novelists, and critics who in the first decade of the
20th cent. attempted to expose the abuses of business and the corruption in politics
investigative reporting - A form of reporting where journalists deeply investigate a
single topic of interest through multiple sources and fact checking. Also referred to as
“just good journalism.”
Editorial Policies - The guidelines and policy statements set forth by the editor(s) or editorial
board of a publication.
Staff Box – also known as the masthead, lists the staff members as well as other legal and
policy information
Staff Editorial – an editorial or opinion that is agreed upon by the staff and represents the
opinions of the entire staff/program
Political Cartoons – a drawing that describes an event or situation that usually expresses the
cartoonists’ opinion.
Mirror vs. Candle Theory – The media acting as a mirror and reflecting for society or acting as
a candle and lighting the way toward answers.
Civic Literacy - The knowledge and skills needed for effective participation in the community,
government and politics
Journalism of Verification – When journalists verify their information against multiple sources
Journalism of Assertion – When journalists assert their own opinions and beliefs into the
story.
Journalism of Affirmation

Resources

Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information
Overload. Bloomsbury. 2010.

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Objective 1
Students will learn the different roles of the media and identify a role for their scholastic product.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Citizen Journalism Club

Rationale

Creating a club at the school for students that may be interested in writing and reporting for the
school paper, website and broadcast has always seemed like a daunting task. However, having
a club would allow students that do not have room in their schedules to participate. This is a
group of students that will learn the basic elements of their social role in society and get an
opportunity to practice those rights by freelance writing for the school newspaper and website.

Mission

The mission of the project is to advertise, organize, promote and begin a club by hosting a first
meeting to see how many students are interested in the club for the upcoming year.

Detailed Outline of Process

1. Invite interested students to a tutorial meeting on a specified date to learn more

information about starting a club for interested students that would be a citizen
journalism club.
2. Have the current editors create a video like the one at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFxtI0WBOA that will represent what
they believe learning and understanding journalism does for their school, for students
and for the community. Note: I have had my students start working on their video, but
it isn’t ready just yet.
3. The following note was sent out to all students that have already shown an interest in
joining the staff, read over the intercom during announcements, added to the end of the
D-TV newscast that aired this week during advisory, and was sent to all English teachers
to read to their classes to try to encourage students to attend the meeting.

Note: Are you interested in journalism, photography, writing, design, art, or

video editing? Do you have an opinion you would like to share with the student
body of Davis High School? If you do, then come to a tutorial/meeting afor all
those students interested in participating in Davis High’s own broadcasting
program (D-TV) and/or Dart Staff (the newspaper). We will discuss the formation
of a new journalism club, options for registering for the right class and answer
questions about involvement in the journalism staffs at DHS. The tutorial will be
Wednesday April 25 in room 2800.

4. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday the 25th during our weekly tutorial class
period. This is a time when students can attend meetings, go to teachers where they
need help, and generally get things done that they need to do.
5. During the meeting I plan to try to recruit students to my program and let them know
what they will need to do in order to join the staff, but I am also wanting to find out how
many students would be interested in freelance writing, photography and reporting

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during the upcoming school year. I will also have them get out their phones and add our
school media to their Twitter and Facebook accounts or to at least write down the
names and links to both and join/friend them later.

Assessment

The assessment of this project will be difficult to attain. I will know how well the advertising was
for the meeting after next Wednesday when I see if anybody shows up for the tutorial. I am
nervous that no one will be there! As for getting a club going at the end of the school year, that
is definitely not the best idea, but I am doing this more to see what type of interest there is in
such a club. Even if 10 kids come at this time of year, I will be happy!

********************

Mukraking and Watchdogging

Does it Belong Here?

Look up and define the following terms:

1. Investigative Reporting –

2. Watchdog Reporting –

3. Muckraking –

4. I-team Reporting –

Can any of the above terms be part of a scholastic media? If yes, identify which ones and how
they can be part of our journalism program here at Davis.

Are any of the concepts better applied to the paper? The broadcasts? Explain how you think
they can and should be applied?

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Objective 2
Students will write and review editorial policies that should be written into a staff manual each
year.

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Objective 3
Students will learn the concept of the mirror vs. the candle and use the concept to write staff
editorials that provide a light for their community.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Let’s Light the Way!!

Mirror versus Candle Theories Explained:

Mirror – Reporting as only a reflection of what we see right in front of us - surface

level reporting.

Candle – Lighting the way for better understanding and knowledge on key subjects
and issues.

Read the article at the following link:

http://www.jeasprc.org/?p=1530

Discuss with the editorial board your thoughts and opinions about the article.

Choose a couple editorials from local news sites at the following links and read them together
discussing how the articles provide a candle rather than a mirror on an issue in the community.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=237

http://www.sltrib.com/Opinion

Take your chance at lighting the way!

Discuss and choose a topic that you believe is or should be important to your student body and
plan and write a staff editorial in which you take a stand, make a call to action or clarify the issue
in your opinion. Remember you are lighting the way and being the candle for your readers by
giving them your belief and opinion on the issue.

Before you begin writing the article, each member of the board should write their own beliefs on
the issue first in order to be able to come to a consensus on what stance you will take as a staff
on the issue.

Don’t forget to pre-write/outline and revise and edit your article.

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Objective 4
Students will understand the role the media has on their community and establish their role as
journalists within the community in which they write.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Leadership Blitz Project

Rationale

Taking a leadership role in the community is honestly not something I have thought about as an
advisor of the school journalism programs, until now. I can definitely see the benefit of taking a
more pro-active approach to helping the community, the administration and the student body to
understand and appreciate the role of leadership that is partially granted, partially earned and
partially worked for by the scholastic journalists in my program. This idea is a week-long blitz
with multiple aspects that will address various groups within our community about the purpose
and intent of the newspaper and the D-TV, and the leadership that the journalists in these
programs will take.

Mission

The mission of the project is to focus the students in the journalism program on addressing their
purpose with all of their readers, including the student body, the community and the teachers
and administrators.

Detailed Outline of Process

6. Have editors and staff members to identify a week in which they would like to conduct
their community leadership blitz.
7. Work on creating a presentation to be used for the community and one that will be used
for the student body about their purpose, and their leadership role in the community.
Students will also create a 3x5 mail flyer that would go out to all students and parents
within the school. Be sure they address the importance of their credibility, their focus
on FA rights, their intent to always be thorough and fair in their reporting and their role
as a watchdog of their community. They should also highlight the role they believe and
expect from the community in support of what they do.
8. Task students with: contacting and scheduling the presentation with the various
groups, preparing and practicing the presentation, and creating a follow-up survey to
assess the success of the presentation.
9. Another group of students will work on the flyer and mailing, along with a portion of the
website that could be dedicated for further information and follow-up questions.

Community: The students will be asked to prepare a short 5-10 minute presentation for
community leadership groups about the importance of the scholastic media at their school.
They will be charged with the task of contacting, arranging and presenting to 5 groups within the
community.

 Davis High Community Council

 Davis Chamber of Commerce
 Kaysville Rotary Club

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 The Davis County School Board

 One other group of their choosing

Student Body: The student body seems to be the easiest to contact and communicate with;
however, the sometimes apathetic spirit of the teenager could make this group the most difficult
to convince about the importance of the school media. During the week of the blitz, students
will schedule to meet with each class of advisory group by splitting up and scheduling with
teachers to present their journalism standards editorial and give students their presentation for
their purpose and leadership within the student body of the school.

As a follow-up, students can leave the following 10 possible activities for teachers to use during
advisories to encourage students to read the paper and view the D-TV broadcasts.

1. Pass out a copy of the paper or watch the D-TV broadcast during your advisory. Have
the students choose 1 article or story that they are interested in and then write a 1-page
written response to the article. Students could choose to agree or disagree with the
article or simply comment on what they learned.

2. Ask students to choose a page of the school newspaper or a broadcast package and
revise and edit all mistakes that they find in the story.

3. Choose any article from the paper or package from D-TV and have the students read or
watch the story and identify on a separate piece of paper the following questions: Who?
What? When? Where? Why? Which of these is the most important?

4. Choose an article or story from the opinion and editorial section and identify if the
information in the article is fact or opinion. Have the students circle the facts or label
them with an F and underline the opinion or label them with an O.

5. Go through the newspaper and make a “survival vocabulary list” of words

that a person would need to know to be a good responsible citizen in
today’s world. Be sure to list the legal terms you find that we assume all
people understand.
6. Agree or Disagree. Go through all of the articles in one section and write a big A or a D
over any complete story, paragraph or quote that you agree or disagree with. For each
A write why you agree with the statement or quote and what makes it believable, and
for each D write why you disagree with the statement and what makes it not believable.

7. Write a journal about why a society should be encouraged and allowed to have a free
media and whether they think that should apply to high schools as well.

8. Discuss the First Amendment of the Constitution and ask students to identify which of
the 5 freedoms they feel is most important. Either have a class discussion about all 5
freedoms or ask students to write their reasoning for feeling the way they do.

9. Ask the students to write an editorial about any issue that they think is
important within their community. Collect all editorials and submit them
to the school newspaper.

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10. Share the school media’s Statement of Purpose (below) with your class.
Ask them to write what they think about the statement and what stands
out as being important to them as a member of the student body that the
paper and D-TV represent.

Your Publication Name serves the community, faculty and student body of (Your School Name) as an Open
Public Forum for freedom of expression as established by the First Amendment. The adviser and staff
members strive to report school news and issues professionally and with a focus on journalistic integrity and
credibility while maintaining concordance with the (Your School Name) Mission Statement. Your
Publication Name will be printed 4-10 times throughout the school year.

Assessment

There are multiples aspects to the assessment for this project. First of all, the students would
be assessed for their work on completing the project, and we would also need to create a way
to track the effectiveness of the blitz on the community. The students could create a survey that
would identify how well people understood their presentation.

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Objective 5
Students will learn the difference between journalism of verification, assertion and affirmation.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Look Up and Define:

1. Journalism of Verification –

2. Journalism of Assertion –

3. Journalism of Affirmation –

Synthesize:

1. Does our school newsroom have one, two or all 3 of those types of journalism? Explain
and defend your answer.

2. On the newsroom diagram attached, identify where the three different types of
journalism may be found and why you believe that way.

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Editor-in-Chief Life/Clubs Editor

Advisor Copy Editor

Website Editor News Editor

Administration Sports Editor Photo Journalist Layout and

Graphics Designer

Entertainment Opinions Editor

Editor

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Standard 8. OPINION, COLUMN AND REVIEW WRITING

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W.1, RI.1-10

Understand the differences and similarities between an editorial, column and review; include the
use of guest columns and cover war, politics, civil rights/liberties, crime, humor, local voices and
sports; emphasize the critical differences between a regular and student review (sensitivity to
younger personalities); explain the value of all three writing pieces in effectively covering school
news.

Vocabulary
Columnist - A journalist who writes for a publication in a series, creating a unique style or voice.
Column - A recurring article in a newspaper.
Sarcasm - The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.
Editorial - A newspaper article written by or on behalf of an editor that gives the opinion of the
publication on a topical issue.
editorial board - A group of people at a publication who decide the editorial tone of the
publication.
Review - An article that offers a critical perspective on a number of subjects, including books
and movies.

Resources
Cappon, Rene. The Associated Press Guide to News Writing. United States: Peterson’s, 1999.
Hawthorne, Bobby. The Radical Write. Ch. 14, United States: Jostens, 2003.

Links
Several lesson plans with video and activities are available online at The New York Times
learning blog http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/journalism.

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Objective 1
Students will understand the difference between an opinion piece, column, and review. They
will be able to name at least two characteristics of each writing style.

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Objective 2
Students will demonstrate an understanding of sensitivity when writing student reviews.
Students will understand the process of an editorial board and recognize the difference between
a personal opinion and a factually supported editorial.

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Objective 3
Students will be able to explain the necessity of all three writing styles to the validity of a school
publication.

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Standard 9: LAW & ETHICS

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - RI.9
CTE Standards Cross Reference - DGM1-S02:06
TV1-S09:01, 03, 04, 05

Vocabulary
Bias - A particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced
consideration of a question; prejudice.
Censorship - The supervision of manners or morality of others; in the case of scholastic
journalism, censorship is usually practiced by administration
Conflict of Interest - When a reporter in involved or has a vested interest in the topic they are
reporting on.
Copyright - a concept that gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to the item.
Fabrication - When a reporter fakes or makes up events or people for a news story
Fair Use - the conditions under which you can use material that is copyrighted by someone else
without paying royalties.
False Light – writing something untrue about someone in a way that sheds a false light on them
with the public
Invasion of Privacy – the intrusion into the personal life of another without just cause
Libel - printed or written defamation of character
Plagiarism - An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of
another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own,
as by not crediting the original author.
Prior Review - administrative review of publications before approval is given for either printing
or broadcasting.
Slander - spoken defamation of character

Resources

www.splc.org
1) We've gathered the links to the best lesson plans by other organizations here on the SPLC
website:
http://www.splc.org/teach/teach.html

2) The most popular teaching tool we have on the website is this First Amendment quiz — it's
not something you could actually insert into a handout, but you certainly can share the link with
people:
http://www.splc.org/falawtest/

3) This is our model publications governance policy that restores the balanced Tinker level of
protection to student publications instead of the out-of-balance Hazelwood standard:
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=6

4) We have a lesson plan about the First Amendment and video games on our site, which I think
is pretty cool:
http://www.splc.org/presentations/lp-videogames.pdf

5) I wrote this piece for the Alabama Scholastic Press Association that I think is a pretty nice
summation of the law and of the practical realities governing student publications — feel free to
re-use as much as you like:

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http://aspa1.ua.edu/2011/11/guest-post-splcs-attorney-frank-lomonte-on-school-censorship/

NSPA Code of Ethics - can be found at

http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/pdf/wheel_modelcodeofethics.pdf

Utah Scholastic Press Law Handbook for New Advisers -

http://empoweringthefuture.wordpress.com/utah-jea-plc-info/

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Objective 1
First Amendment - The Bill of Rights guarantees journalists, (including student journalists)
certain rights and privileges.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Lesson Plans/Activities

First Amendment History Assignment

1. Read the First Amendment History information at the following link:
http://www.illinoisfirstamendmentcenter.com/history.php
2. Read and review the Cornell Notes Instructions and complete one page of Cornell Notes
about the First Amendment History.
3. Go to the following link and complete the First Amendment History Quiz:
http://www.illinoisfirstamendmentcenter.com/activities.php. Make sure you are honest
about the quiz results and put your score in the upper right hand corner of your Cornell
Notes.
4. Choose one element from the First Amendment History from step #1 and complete some
further Internet research on that person, event or topic and write a one-page
synopsis/summary about that topic. Be sure to identify the link and topic you chose in your
synopsis. Be prepared to share what you learned with the class.

First Amendment Assignment Rubric

After our discussion of First Amendment’s impact on journalism in schools, it is now your
assignment to look at current issues in the news that relate to the first amendment in schools.
When you have located an article that interests you, print a copy, staple it to this worksheet and
then complete the following questions referring to the story.

1. Summarize what has happened in the story.

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Intro to Journalism – Using Online Legal Sources WebQuest

The First Amendment and My Rights and Responsibilities

Setting the Scene…

Your school newspaper is established as an Open Public Forum with a Statement of Purpose
that reads as follows:

The Davis Dart and Davis Television (D-TV) will be referred to together as The Davis High Media.
Both media programs serve the community, faculty and student body of Davis High School as an
Open Public Forum for freedom of expression as established by the First Amendment. The
adviser and staff members strive to report school news and issues professionally and with a focus
on journalistic integrity and credibility while maintaining concordance with the Davis High School
Mission Statement. The Davis Dart will be printed 4-10 times throughout the school year, and the
D-TV broadcasts will be aired once a week during the advisory/tutorial class period.
In your most recent issue there is an article covering the issue of hazing at DHS. The reporter
did a thorough job and practiced good journalism in writing the story. In the story a few of the
star football players are named for hazing and a particular incident is reported in detail. When
the principal reads the articles, he has all of the papers (that have already been distributed)
confiscated and refuses to allow them to be distributed to the student body. The editors of the
paper bring a lawsuit against the administration for violation of First Amendment rights. After
completing this Webquest/assignment, you will need to decide if you believe the editors of The
Davis Dart would win their First Amendment case in Utah or if the courts would rule in favor of
the administration and why.

1. Go to www.splc.org. Once there look around the site and identify what the purpose of
this site, what they offer to student journalists, and in what ways could you utilize this
site?

2. Search to this page of the SPLC website by either clicking this link:
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=3 or going to the “Know
Your Rights” page and select “high school faq”. Read all of the questions and answers
and choose the one that you found the most interesting and comment on why.

3. Across the top there is a scrolling/rolling message bar. One of the stories is called
“What’s the State of your State?” Click on that story or use this link -
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/statelegislation.asp and find out what additional
protections student journalists in Utah have for free speech. List those here.

4. Now select “Know Your Rights” and the Law Library page or this link -
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/law_library.asp. Select one of the cases listed
(not Hazelwood or Tinker) and read the brief description. Below write a summary of the
case and be prepared to share it with the class next class period.
5. Review the Colorado Free Expression Law at this link -
http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/law_library.asp?id=7 and explain how it
supports high school journalists in Colorado. What other states have a statute that
supports high school journalism and First Amendment rights?

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6. Search the web to see if you can find any First Amendment cases in Utah as it pertains to
high school journalism. List anything that you find here:

7. Using the chart below, decide if the Hazelwood or Tinker standard applies to our school
and our newspaper. Be prepared to discuss your decision in class next time.

8. Now, take a look at the scene listed at the beginning of this WebQuest and make a
decision as to how you think that case would turn out. Do you think Hazelwood or

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Tinker would prevail in a case like that? Do you think the case would be different in
different states in the country?

First Amendment Assignment Rubric

5. Summarize what has happened in the story.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
6. Describe the arguments on both sides.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
7. What potential impact could this have on future court rulings?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
8. What potential impact could this have on student journalism?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________

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Objective 2
Students will understand the impact of significant Supreme Court Cases - The Supreme Court
interpreting the constitution has rules in many cases that involve press rights. Press rights have
both expanded and been limited through these rulings.
a. Study the ruling and its impact for the following Supreme Court Cases: Tinker v. Des
Moines Independent Community School District (1969), Bethel School District No. 403 v.
Frazer (1986), Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988), Dean v. Utica Community
Schools (2004), and Morse v. Frederick (2007).

Lesson Plans/Activities:

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Objective 3
Censorship vs. Prior Review - School districts, principals, administration and advisers all can
legally require prior review of student publications. This means that they can legally require
students to submit their work to the administration before publishing. That in itself is not
censorship. Censorship is when the person conducting the prior review tells the student that he
or she may not print an article.

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Objective 4
Press Legal Dangers - When professional and student journalists break the law, typically it is for
one of the following actions: plagiarism, libel, slander, fabrication or invasion of privacy.
Students, publications, advisers, principals, schools and even school districts can be sued in
certain cases for publishing content that violates the law in these areas.

Lesson Plans/Activities:

Introduction to journalism
Ethical dilemma presentations
1. Groups will be assigned by the teacher.

2. Begin by reading your ethical dilemma and discuss and take notes. Make your notes specific
and make sure that you are prepared to bring something to the table when you get together
as a group. For example, refer to the vocabulary and be sure to discuss what elements of
the NSPA Code of Ethics apply in the situation.

3. As a group, share, discuss and decide what information is the most important. Take a stand
as a team and then defend that stance with knowledge of the NSPA Code of Ethics

4. Make sure the class understands not only the overall concept of the information, but also the
little details that make the ethical situation interesting and informative.

5. You must create your presentation in a visual format, i.e., PowerPoint, Photoshop, InDesign
layout, create a short video in Premiere, etc.

6. Presentations are not to exceed 3 minutes and will be conducted on February 24th.

Sample Ethical Situations

Let’s say you are the sports editor of the school paper. You also are on the basketball team.
Should you write the news story about the basketball team?

The board of education in your town is considering whether to ask the people to approve a bond
issue to build a new school. The new school would cost several million dollars. You are a
reporter for your school paper and you are assigned to cover the board meeting on the evening
the board decides on the issue. During the meeting, the president of the board says to you, “I’m
sorry, but this is meeting is closed to the press. I must ask you to leave.” What should you do?

You are a reporter for your school paper, and you are interviewing a faculty member. In
response to a question, the faculty member offers to give you an answer only if it’s off the
record. What should you do?

In a report on a Student Council meeting, the student newspaper reports that Student A voted
against a resolution. When the story appears, Student A comes to the journalism office and
says she did not vote against the resolution. She says that in fact she voted for it. What should
the newspaper do?

A rock group stages a concert in your town, and a reporter for the school writes a review. The
review is very critical and negative, saying that the performers were untalented and that the

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show was a waste of time and money for those attending. Angered, the musicians sue the
paper for libel. Who would win the case?

In conducting research for an editorial, you read a national magazine about the topic. One
paragraph of the article appeals to you so you insert it in your editorial without credit to the
magazine. Your journalism adviser tells you that you have flunked the journalism class. What
do you think of the situation?

You are a sportswriter for the school paper. After a hard-fought, close football game that your
school loses, you interview the football coach. He is angry about the loss, and in your interview
uses profanity. Should you quote him?

An assistant principal asks to see you. He says he is resigning to go into private business.
During the conversation, he is extremely critical of the principal, and he says he is resigning
because he cannot stand to work for her any longer. He says she is incompetent and “shouldn’t
be allowed to continue as principal.” You write a story and hand it in. The editor gives it back to
you and tells you, “this story isn’t finished.” Why did the editor say that?

You are the editor of the school newspaper. One of the reporters turns in a story about another
student who was caught cheating on a test. Should you print the story? Why or why not?

Understanding Libel Activity/Assignment

You are the editor of the Your Publication Name. The following was recently printed in your first
issue of the paper for the 2010-2011 school year:

A reporter wrote a hard news story about crime at your school. The article had quotes and
information about how many crimes are committed at the school, what the most prevalent
crimes are that are committed and a little bit of information about drug use at the school.
The layout editor couldn’t find a graphic or picture to go with the story but needed something to
fill the space, so he decided to use a picture of the Student Body President from the assembly
that was a week earlier.

The theme of the assembly was “sneaking into the year” and the picture is of the Student body
president (in his letter jacket) descending from the top of the stage as a “villain” attempting to
sneak into the year. It shows a spotlight on the SBO and is clearly from the assembly. The
layout editor also clearly writes the 5 W’s and H into the caption in a hope that it won’t confuse
the reader into believing the Student body president is a criminal or has anything to do with
crime at the school.

Other than the fact that the picture and the story clearly have nothing to do with one another,
does the placement of the picture with the article meet the standards for libel?
Using the handout on libel, decide on the back of this sheet if the elements of libel have been
met and whether this case would qualify as libel or not?

Publication – Yes, the picture and the article were published.

Identification – The Student Body Officer is clearly identified in the picture; however, there was a
clear identification of the picture being from the assembly and no indication that the president

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was involved in any crime at the school. The bottom line, however, is that the SBO is clearly
identified, but there is not identification as it pertains to committing any crimes.
Harm – The decision as to whether the SBO was harmed by the picture would be a difficult thing
to prove. I think the biggest point here is whether a reasonable person would associate the
picture with the actions of crime at the school. I don’t think there can be any proof that students
would say that the SBO was a criminal because the picture was posted with that article. The
caption clearly labels the SBO as being in the assembly and does not connect the student body
officer with the story in any way. While the placement of the picture was irrelevant to the story, I
don’t think it caused any reasonable harm to the SBO.

Falsity – The information that was printed was all based on fact. The picture was clearly
captioned and indentified for what it truly was and the article was well written. Again, the two
really didn’t have anything to do with one another and is more an example of poor choice on the
part of the layout manager, but doesn’t qualify for any falsity claim. If the layout manager had
left the caption off or written a caption that insinuated the Student body president was involved
in any criminal wrongdoing in the picture, then there might be a claim of falsity.

Fault – The fault, if any, would not lie on the reporter in this situation but on the layout manager
and possibly the editor-in-chief. I think that this is actually the easiest to prove in this situation
since they made a conscious decision to use that picture with the article.

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Anonymous Sources Policy

The Davis High Media, which includes The Davis Dart and D-TV, will practice accurate and
credible reporting by not allowing the use of anonymous sources in the articles, video packages
and online blogs that are created by all staff members. The staff believes that transparency in
all reporting is essential to maintaining a quality scholastic media program.

Activity for Anonymous Sources Policy

1. The purpose of this activity is to give each new staff at the beginning of the year the
opportunity to discuss and adjust (if necessary) their policy for anonymous sources.
2. Copy and hand out the following reading selections and have students read, highlight
and annotate them prior to a class discussion:
a. Pages 195-198 of Journalism Ethics: philosophical Foundations for News Media by
John C. Merrill about Using Anonymous Sources.
b. The Using Anonymous Sources with Care article on the JEA website by HL Hall – can
be accessed at the following link:
http://www.jea.org/pressrights/pressrightscurriculum/anonymoussources.html
3. Another option (although time consuming) prior to discussing this would be to watch
All the President’s Men.
4. After students have read and highlighted the articles and possible watched the movie,
have a discussion about the appropriateness of using anonymous sources. Have the
students discuss why they would and why they wouldn’t use them.
5. Put the students/staff into small groups of about 3-4 and have them take the current
policy and rewrite it. If they believe anonymous sources should be allowed, they should
include why and how that decision is to be made in their policy. If they don’t believe
they should be used, they should simply rewrite the policy into their own words.
6. Each group should share their policy and the staff should come to a conclusion about
what they think the policy should be for the year and have one person on the staff type
and finalize the policy.

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Objective 5
Copyright and Fair Use - Copyright is the creator or author’s protection to their own work giving
the author or creator sole rights to recreate, reprint, etc., their invention or creation. They do not
have to file for a copyright be established. For an author’s rights to their writing for example
begin the moment they start writing, not after the book is published.

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Objective 6
Ethics - Journalists’ ethics determine their credibility. Bias, burning sources, ignoring conflict of
interest, fabrication, deception, are all practices that are considered unethical and are grounds
for losing your credibility in the world of journalism.

Lesson Plans/Activities:

Hack Heaven and Shattered Glass Lesson Plan

1. After JI students finish their first news article, discuss with them the importance of
maintaining their own and the staff’s credibility. Talk about the importance of fact-
checking and verifying information for other staff members as well as their own articles.
2. Hand out a copy of the Hack Heaven article with the top portion indicating it was
fabricated blocked out. Have the students highlight all of the parts that should/could be
fact-checked and write out in the column what should be done to verify those facts and
who should be contacted for verification.
3. Discuss together what they came up with and complete an informal assessment of their
ability to identify items in the story that seem unreal or far-fetched and should be
verified.
4. Identify the situation surrounding the article and explain to them that Stephen Glass is
notorious in the field of journalism but not for very good reasons.
5. Have the students watch the movie and then in small groups of 3-4 have them research
a reporter or news source that has lost credibility and explain why.
6. Have students prepare a short presentation (PowerPoint, Samples, etc.) to explain the
“fall from grace” and what mistakes were made.
7. Plan time for students to work on their presentations and then to give presentations to
the class.
8. Grade presentations easily based on thorough explanation of their subject and why or
how they lost credibility. Students should be able to identify where the reporter or
news agency went wrong and how they could or should have changed the outcome.

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Hack Heaven and Shattered Glass Lesson Plan

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Standard 10. Students will understand the core principles of photography and the ethics
of editing.
Utah Core Standards Cross Reference -
CTE Standards Cross Reference - DGM1-S09:01, 02, 03; S10:01, 02, 03
TV1-S01:01, 02, 03, 04, 05; S07: 01, 02
Vocabulary
Aperture or Setting the Iris
Exposure
Focus
White Balance
Rule of Thirds
Shutter Speed
Photo Illustration - When a photo has been altered past basic corrections of color and clarity,
where the content itself has been changed, it is called a photo illustration
Pan
Truck
Dolly
Arc
Pedestal
Tilt

Resources

Hall, Homer L. and Logan Aimone. High School Journalism. p. 43.

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Objective 1
Students will understand exposure and how to control light and motion on a camera by using
ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

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Objective 2
Students will learn how to compose quality photographs, using the concepts of composition, rule
of thirds, lead room, nose room, headroom and shot selection, over-the-shoulder, establishing,
wide or long, medium, close-up, cross shot.

Photography Practice Competition - Group

Names____________________________________________________
Students in this
group___________________________________________________________________________
Directions: You will have the period today to go out and take one of each of the photos listed below. You
can have people in your group be in the photo if needed. You can take pictures of anything in and around
the school, but you can not interrupt other classes. Be back in the classroom 20 minutes before the
period ends with your photos. Upload your photos to the class shared folder under your group name. We
will evaluate them as a class next time we meet. Each photo is worth 10 points, the extra credit photos
are worth five points each.
1. Take a photo using a low angle: points
earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________
Brief description of the
photo:___________________________________________________________

2. Take a photo using a high angle: points

earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________
Brief description of the
photo:___________________________________________________________

3. Take a photo from a worm’s eye view: points

earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________
Brief description of the
photo:___________________________________________________________

4. Take a photo using a bird’s eye view: points

earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________
Brief description of the
photo:___________________________________________________________

5. Take a photo using a framing technique: points

earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________
Brief description of the
photo:____________________________________________________________

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6. Extra credit if you can take a photo with cool lighting or shadows: points
earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________

7. Extra credit if you can take a photo with leading lines: points
earned:__________
(Student Assigned) ______________________________(Saved Photo
Name)_____________________

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Objective 3
Students will understand the ethics involved when editing photo content and the use of the term
Photo Illustration.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Photojournalism and Ethics Final Assessment

Would you run it in your high school media? Under what conditions? Why or why not?

Would it make any difference if the dead person was a current student?

What is your criteria for making your decision? What if your students wanted to run the photo?

If you were to run it, how would you react to this spread? What changes, if any, would you
make?

Final Assignment:
Write an argumentative essay establishing whether you would use the photo or not. Be
sure to take a stand and defend your side with proof from the ethics unit.

Grading Rubric:
Students will be graded on their ability to take a stand on the issue and support it with
proof from a minimum of one ethical philosophy as discussed during the ethics unit.

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Standard 11. Students will understand and use the elements of Visual Design,
Typography & Layout -
Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W.1, RI.1-10
CTE Standards Cross Reference- DGM1-S03:01, 02, 03; S04:01, 02, 03

Vocabulary
Alternative Story Format - a different way to tell a story that is usually more graphic. It can
include anything from charts and graphs to maps or diagrams.
Dominant Image - Largest image on the page, which should be the first thing on the page to
draw the readers’ eye
Hierarchy - An arrangement of items in a particular order by a determined value.
Modular Design - system of design where story packages are designed in modular
Style Sheets (See appendix B under style sheets for an example and lesson plan on how to
develop these for your staff)
Typography
Typeface
Serif
Sans-serif
Decorative
Script
Text Layout
Leading
Kerning
Tracking
Alignment
Symmetric
Asymmetric
Design Elements
Space (positive, negative)
Shape
Contrast
Balance/Alignment
Unity
Rhythm
Color
Emphasis

Resources
Harrower, Tim. The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook. Ch. 8, New York, New York: McGraw
Hill, 2008.

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Objective 1
Students will learn about modular design using a grid. Text and graphic elements should all flow
within a grid on the page, creating equal columns and giving the page a framework.

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Objective 2
Students will learn about style guides which set the design standards for each publication,
including rules about what fonts will be used where and in what size, about white space, about
headline size, etc. This standardization gives your publication its own look.

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Objective 3
Students will learn about hierarchy on a page - by placing the most important stories at the top
of the page and giving them the biggest headline, the designer is telling the reader that this
story is the most important.

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Objective 4
Students will learn about dominant images. There should always be a dominant image on the
page,that leads the reader into the most important story on the page. It is important that other
images and graphics are not as large or eye-catching as the dominant image. It is also
important that the dominant image be in the top ½ of th page, above the fold.

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Objective 5
Students will learn the simplicity principle of graphic design. Just because you have 100 fonts,
does not mean that you should use them all, all body copy should be the same font, headlines
the same font, captions the same font, don’t crop every photo just because you can, etc.

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Standard 12. STAFF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, SL.4, SL.5 and SL.6
CTE Standards Cross Reference- DGM1-S07: 01, 02
TV1-S04:01, 02, 03, 04; S05:01

Vocabulary
Roles/Responsibilities of staff members - Guidelines for appropriate behavior by student
journalists. See staff manual.
Staff Manual - A guidebook for the newspaper staff with everything from font sizes to ethics.
Staff Policies - A manual that summarizes policies for a student newspaper staff.
Staff Motivation - Keeping the newspaper staff engaged and upbeat about discovering and
writing the news.
Distribution and calendaring
Editorial Board - A group of people at a publication who decide the editorial tone of the
publication.

Resources

Kidder, Rushworth M. How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of
Ethical Living. Harper: New York, 1995.

Merrill, John C. Journalism Ethics: Philosophical Foundations for News Media. St. Martin’s
Press: New York, 1997.

Links

Sample Staff Manual:

http://dhmstaff.wordpress.com/policies-and-staff-manual/

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Objective 1
Students will understand the roles and responsibilities in a newsroom and learn to function as a
team under those guidelines.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Staff Description/Application [Your Newspaper, News

Site]:
Staff Positions are a serious responsibility. Do not sign up for a position just because the
title sounds good. Understand that by applying you are making a contract commitment to
the sixty students of the [YOUR NEWSPAPER] staff for 2010-2011. The paper will not be
made great by the commitment of one or two students or one very enthusiastic and
demanding teacher. It will only be great if we as a community are willing to make the
effort to do the work required. Editor positions require a great deal of responsibility, but
they also look great on college transcripts and can even turn into college scholarships if
they are done right. Ask [ADVISER] if you have questions about any of the positions.
Newspaper:
Editors-in-Chief (2) - The Editors-in Chief of the newspaper are the people who really make the
decisions for the newspaper. They manage all staff (reporting to [adviser] as needed), assign
deadlines, check deadlines to see that they are met, edit all stories, choose paper content (look
through school calendar and generate unique ideas as well working with all section editors), get
messages (reminders and updates) to the staff, respond to criticism from administration and
public, motivate staff, organize parties, recruit concessions volunteers, and in general manage
the production on the newspaper, delegating duties as needed to the Asst. Editors. The
management of the newspaper is the responsibility of the students, who should seek advice
from [Adviser] when there are questions, concerns or problems. Editors-in-Chief should expect
to write 3+ stories per issue and design one or two pages of the newspaper. Ideally, Editors-in-
Chief will take journalism for both class periods so that they can be in communication with the
entire newspaper staff. On deadline week, the Editors-in-Chief need to set the hours that the lab
will be open and one or the other of the two Editors-in-Chief need to be present for all open lab
hours.
Asst. Editors -in-Chief (2) - The Assistant Editors-in-Chief will rotate up to Editor-in-Chief
position when needed. They serve as support staff to the Editors-in-Chief taking delegated
assignments as needed. Asst. Editors-in-Chief should expect to write 2 stories per issue and
design one page or write three stories without designing or design two pages without writing.
This person should have skills with delegating tasks and encouraging the best efforts of others
and should be available for at least two of the days of production week.
Section Editor (5-6) – The Section Editors (News, Feature, Sports, Entertainment and Editorial)
hold sole responsibility for their section of the newspaper although they will delegate to their
Assistant Section Editors as needed. From idea generation, to copy editing, from photo
assignment to design, the Section Editor must manage all aspects of this section. The Section
Editor should plan to write three stories for their section and Design 1-2 pages for their section
or they may choose to design 2-3 pages with no writing duties. They will need to discuss the
decisions about how to assign the work for their section with the Asst. Section Editor. Section
Editors report to the Editor-in-Chief regularly and to seek problem resolution as this is a student
newspaper and decisions whenever possible should be made by the students. The Editors-in-
Chief will then take issues that need help with to [adviser]. This postion requires skill with
delegating tasks, managing assignments to other editors (photo, info-graphic, art) and

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encouraging the best efforts of others. This person should be available for most days of
production week – all days until their section is completed.
Section Asst. Editor (5-6) – The Assistant Section Editors take on duties as needed by the
Section Editors. They may at times be asked to take on the role of Section Editor if needed for a
particular time frame. They must meet with the Editors-in-Chief regularly to keep them up to
date on any needs of their section. Section Editors report to the Editors-in-Chief who report to
[adviser] for help when needed. This person should have skills with delegating tasks and
encouraging the best efforts of others and should be available for at least two of the days of
production week.
Reporters – Reporters’ sole responsibility is to write for the newspaper and the web news site.
Each reporter will be required to produce three newspaper stories per issue, and to edit these
stories down into a web-friendly version for the web news site. Additionally, when needed,
reporters should be willing to take on an additional last-minute story. No design work is required.
Web:
Editor-in-Chief (2) – The web Editors-in-Chief will select the newspaper stories that they would
like to see run on the web, help trim the stories down to appropriate web length, come up with
unique web content, review photos and stories submitted by the public, and report and web staff
issues , concerns, or questions to [ADVISER]. The web news site will be student run with final
publishing approval for each item uploaded by [ADVISER]. After school work will be necessary
for just a short amount of time several days a week in order to post new web content.
Asst. Editors (2) - The Assistant Editors-in-Chief will rotate up to Editor-in-Chief position when
needed. They serve as support staff to the Editors-in-Chief taking delegated items as needed.
After school work will be necessary for just a short amount of time a few days per week in order
to post new web content.
Video Editor (2) - The Video Editor should have a working knowledge of video and video
editing software – Sony Vegas and iMovie. Their responsibility is to get out to the games and
events (at least 4 events per month) and create a video package to be published on the web.
They are required to produce at least one video package per week for grading. After-school
work will be necessary for just a short amount of time a few days per week in order to post new
web content.
Newspaper and Web Positions:
Copy Editor (2) – Copy Editors are responsible for knowing AP style and applying it to the
stories of the newspaper and web news site. Their sole job is to proofread each story each
before publication. After school lab work is not required.
Art Editor – The Art Editor meets with the Editors-in-Chief to discuss what art is needed at the
beginning of each issue and again at mid-issue, they also regularly meet with the web editors to
discuss web needs. They are responsible for assigning artwork to the artists and for making
sure that it is produced on time. When needed the Art Editor would also be the one to help out
with last-minute emergency art needs.
Artists – Artists are each required to produce one piece of art per week for grading and to meet
the deadlines set by the Art Director. Artists must be willing to take direction from Editors
regarding content for the art produced. After school lab work is not required.
Photo Editor – The photo editor organizes and assigns the photos, organizes them prior to
production, checks deadlines for photos and captions and is also the head photographer. The
Photo Editor should meet consistently with the Editors-in-Chief of both the newspaper and the
web news site to be sure that all photos get taken. The Photo Editor should expect to participate
in after school lab work to take whatever last-minute photos are needed.
Photographers – Photographers should expect to be assigned to cover one event each week.
They will then need to bring the photos back to school, write captions for the photos, crop where
needed, grayscale one copy of each photo and have all photos and captions for each issue in a

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folder on the section computer to which the photos are assigned, waiting for design editors
before production week begins. After school lab work is not required.
Graphic Design Editor – The Graphic Design Editor manages the info-graphics, advertising
and column header designs. Good graphic design skills, organizational skills and willingness to
spend time in quality development are essential. This person should have skills with delegating
tasks and encouraging the best efforts of others and should be available for at least two of the
days of production week.
Graphic Designers – The Graphic Designers accept assignments from the Graphic Design
Editors. They may be designing ads, info-graphics, newspaper pages or column headers. After
school lab work is not required for info-graphics or advertising design, but will be necessary for
newspaper page design.
Ad Manager – The ad manager organizes all ad contracts, makes sure that all ads are
scheduled for the issue they are assigned to and communicates with the businesses that
request advertising, mailing newspapers to the advertisers after their ad has run. After school
lab work is not required.

Application:
Student Name___________________________ ________________________ Grade
Level______
First off, why journalism? What is your motivation for taking the class? What can I expect from
you on our staff next year? My approval is required for you to take this class. Why should we
want you on the [your newspaper] staff?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________
Positions student is applying for in preferred order:
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________

Answer the following questions about each of the positions that you are applying for:
Why do you feel that you would be the right student for this staff position? What skills, training or
talent do you bring to this position?
1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________

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3. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________

If the position you are applying for requires production week participation, what after school
commitments do you have that might interfere?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Would you be willing to come in for a week-long summer training in order to learn skills for your
position on staff? We will have a photo week and a design week offered at the school during the
summer from approximately 10 am to 3 pm. ________.
Parents – please take a look at the position that your student is applying for. Journalism
students need parent support for after school commitments. Please sign below indicating that
you believe your student has the time necessary to take on the positions for which they are
applying.
Parent Signature______________________________________________________
Date_____________
Anything else you would like to add?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________

This staff description and application was provided by Mary Seal, Taylorsville High School.
Please feel free to copy, edit and use as needed.

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Objective 2
Students will read and evaluate a staff manual and all policies in the manual each year in order
to understand their policies as well as adjust them as necessary from year to year.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Sample Staff Manual provided by Terri Hall from Davis High School:
http://dhmstaff.wordpress.com/policies-and-staff-manual/

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Objective 3
Students will learn to work together with other students in a positive atmosphere where
individuality is encouraged and celebrated while exhibiting the ability to work together toward a
common goal.

Lesson Plans/Activities

15 motivational Quotes

There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.

Henry Ford
Thought is the seed of action.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. 
Robert Collier
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. 
Helen Keller
A man who dares waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. 
Charles Darwin
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.
Mother Teresa
Some days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.
Emory Austin
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter
don't mind.
Dr. Seuss
Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde 
Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.
Liz Smith
Goals are dreams with deadlines.
Diana Schart Hunt
Of all things you wear, your expression is the most important.
Anon
Be Silly. Be honest. Be kind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

5 Ways to Motivate Students

1. At the beginning of the year I go out and get people to sponsor the media program. Many of
the companies give monetary investments (which is very crucial), but even more companies are
happy to give discount coupons for free items that I can use as giveaways to the students. I use
the giveaways randomly at the beginning of the year when I see students doing what they are
supposed to be doing to reward them for the diligence they give on a daily task. I also give one

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away to each staff, broadcast and newspaper, on distribution day to the “story or package of the
month.” It is amazing to see what the kids will do when they know that I have the giveaways
out and in my hands ready to reward good behavior! Even though it may only be a free Jamba
Juice, they will get right to work.

2. This may be a strange one but I truly believe that giving feedback in the form of critiques on
their work is very beneficial to their motivation. Even if the critique I give them isn’t all positive,
and I give them some suggestions to make their project better, I have found that if they know
that I am going to view, read, and grade their stories and packages, they work harder on them. I
think that sometimes in the past I have gotten so busy during the class that I haven’t made time
to grade and critique their work. This year I have made that a priority, and I have noticed a
marked difference in their level of attention to what they are doing. I also incorporated a
detailed grading rubric that I use for grading that lets them know exactly what they are
struggling with. (Thanks to Janet Kerby and the Teaching Broadcast class!!) That has made a
huge difference with my broadcast students in order to let them know what they can do better
next time. They appreciate the help and like knowing what direction they need to go to improve
their own work.

3. On distribution days we have pizza or donuts and celebrate a job well done. We distribute once
a month, and I have found that if I give them a chance to let their hair down and take a day of
rest that they are ready to get back into the work mode next time they meet. Food is always a
great motivator! In fact, I keep my small classroom refrigerator stocked with food items and
many of the students will come in at lunch and get something to eat. There is a money basket
on my desk that they can donate to when they take something from the fridge. Many times
they put more in then they take, but I use the money to go buy more food. Most of my staff will
come to my room for their lunch, and many times they naturally work on their projects while
they eat their lunch. I have never told them that they had to work; they just naturally begin
talking and working.

4. Also on distribution days while we are eating and celebrating all of the hard work, we have a
share and praise. The students will view one another’s work and give praise for things that are
well done. At the beginning of the share and praise, I make sure that the students are giving all
positive feedback about things that were done well in the newspaper or broadcast. It is
extremely important that the discussion focuses on positive comments at first, as nobody wants
their hard work to take a slam right at the beginning. Nothing will make a student bristle faster
then someone knocking his or her work before praising it. Also, if a student does have a critique
for another student’s work, they most give the critique and then suggest a way to fix the
problem. They cannot just give a negative and not offer a solution. That way the students are
always working to find solutions to problems and be problem-solvers.

5. This is not a specific motivational tool, but I have found that if I have passion and energy and
model for my students that I truly care about the program and what they are doing, they are
motivated to do the same. My students will be a direct reflection of my actions and behaviors. I
make sure every day that they know I care tremendously about the media program, and I care
and have a passion for what they are doing and learning.

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Journalism Survivor’s Kit

Journalism class is not for the easily defeated or the faint of heart. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of
effort, and some real teamwork to be a successful staff.

This kit is to help you survive and even thrive in journalism class.

1. A band-aid – we need to remember to take care of each other and help out when someone is
in need of our help. We are a team. When one of us is struggling we are all struggling.

2. A pencil eraser – to remind us that each of us will make mistakes this year. We need to learn
from them and move on, not get upset or remember the person’s mistake forever.

3. A mint – to remind us that we are all on a team. It is critical that we be pleasant to each other
(that includes smelling nice!) We need to be aware of the impact that we have on each other. Make
your impact positive.

4. A rubber band – journalism will stretch all of us at times. Sometimes what we have to do can
be outside of our comfort zone. Maybe it’s hard to interview someone, or to try and establish a
business contact, or to write a story or whatever. We have to be elastic and willing to try new things.
Stretching ourselves helps us to grow.

5. A popsicle “stick” – to remind us all to “stick” with it. There is not much that we can’t
accomplish as individuals and as a staff if we are determined to make it happen. The efforts of such
a talented group are almost unstoppable.

6. A tootsie roll – to remind you to keep on rolling, even when it is tough. There is no way to quit
without stopping first, so if we just keep going we will eventually make the goal.

7. A gum ball – sometimes, as a journalist, you need to chew and gnaw your way to a good story.
Take the time to ask the extra question and conduct the extra interview, as that kind of perseverance
will make you an award-winner.

8. A piece of chocolate – because chocolate makes everything better.

9. Paper “Tuit” - Cut out a paper circle and write TUIT on it. The kids will ask, "What is
this?" My reply, "You always say you would do the assignment when you got around to
it. Here is your round TU-IT. Now you can meet every deadline because you have one!"

This Activity or Resource was submitted by Mary Seal, Taylorsville High School. Please feel
free to use, or edit to meet your own needs.

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Objective 4
Students will learn to work within deadlines and together as a team to meet goals, deadlines
and other staff requirements in a timely fashion.

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Objective 5
Students and advisers for a scholastic media program will learn to build relationships with the
community, the administration, each other and their student body and overcome personality
struggles for the greater good of the paper.

Lesson Plans/Activities
Preparing for an editorial statement
Core Values and Audience Expectation

1. Read the article titled "Values Reside at the Core of Journalism" and highlight
key concepts as they pertain to what you believe to be the mission of D-TV
and The Davis Dart.

2. Discuss together, as members of the editorial board, how the basic core
values can and should be portrayed in your work.

3. Finally, as the editorial board, prepare a written statement that answers the
following question: "If student media is to be part of a cornerstone of
democracy, what should their readers and audience expect in terms of
coverage?" Use the responses you gave for the Light the Way activity as well
as the concept of loyalties as discussed during the last editorial board
meeting to help frame your response.

4. Also, write a statement identifying your loyalties, as you perceive them.

5. And finally, identify and fully describe 3 ways to express this message to your
community, including teachers, administrators, students and all other
interested parties. You must explain how you will create all 3 messages and
what form of media you will utilize to express your beliefs as the editorial
board for the Davis High Media program.

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Objective 6
Students will learn to discuss through BOK’s method or other right v. right discussion models to
come to difficult decisions and conclusions about ethical dilemmas.

Lesson Plans/Activities

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Objective 7
Students will create scheduling and deadline calendaring to work together as a staff to create a
periodic news source such as News Magazine, Online News Site, Newspaper, Yearbook,
Broadcast, etc.

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Standard 13. ONLINE PUBLICATION

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.6
CTE Standards Cross Reference- DGM1-S11:01; S12:01

Differentiate between online news writing and social media; discuss the use of twitter and
Facebook by online journalists; evaluate the challenges journalists face maintaining ethical
standards while meeting the needs of edgy social media; discuss the challenges of membership
and payment for services; introduce and discuss the skip and scan reading style used by online
news readers and how it dictates writing style.

Vocabulary
online news - News that exists in a publication on the World Wide Web or Internet
social media - Web-based and mobile based technologies which are used to turn
communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals.
skip and scan reading - A technique employed by most newspaper readers who will skip and
scan news articles, looking for main points and bypassing details.
user generated content - (UGC) covers a wide range of media content available in a wide
range of communications technologies. It’s used for applications including problem processing,
news, gossip, and research.
Crowdsourcing - The practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting the
online community.
podcast - A multimedia digital file made available on the Internet for downloading to a portable
media player, computer, etc.
vodcast - A video podcast (shortened to vodcast) includes video clips.
Vlogs - A blog that contains video content
Moblogs - A mobile blog
photoblogs - A form of photo sharing and publishing in the format of a blog.

Resources

Harrower, Tim. The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook. Ch. 8, New York, New York: McGraw
Hill, 2008.

Kanigel, Rachel. The Student Newspaper Survival Guide. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2006.

Links

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/10/the-history-and-evolution-of-social-media.

bbc student news website

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Objective 1
Students will understand the differences between online news writing and social media.
Students will describe the difference between at least two major social media sites and how
journalists use them.

Lesson Plans/Activities

Using social media Activity

This lesson/activity is designed as a quick mini-lesson at the beginning of a staff class period. I
am always looking for quick activities that I can have my kids do by tasking them with something
at the beginning of class and then having them share at the end. It is usually something that
they can do very quickly and with minimal effort but gets them thinking “outside the box.”

1. During staff meeting at the beginning of class explain to the students that they will be
required to report back at the end of class with their findings from the activity and
instructions.
2. Discuss briefly with them the concept of the 5th Estate and social or new media and its
potential in the world of journalism.
3. Discuss the fact that even the professional media are confused and not sure what to do
with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and blogging, etc.
4. Tell the students that they are to come up with 2 different ways to tell the story they are
currently working on in new media platforms. They should identify what platform they
would use and how they would use it.
5. At the end of class have all students gather and stand and present their findings.

Less is Good Game

Lesson Plan

1. Teacher – “Today, boys and girls, we are going to play the game of LESS IS GOOD – or is
it??!!!”

2. Have students get into groups of 3-4 and place a 3x5 note card face down on their desk.
Each note card will either have Facebook (optimal is 140 characters but can go up to
420), Twitter (140 character limit), Inverted Pyramid Lead (35 words or less) or Photo
Caption (1 SVO sentence) printed on it.

3. Give students the first story (you can find stories online or in your local paper) on the
overhead for them to read and review. Once all students have read and understood the
story, they must turn over their card and attempt to write the story into the format that
is written on their card. For the photo caption they must identify what they envision in
the picture.

4. Have students mix the 3x5 cards up and reshuffle them out or pass them to their
neighbor if you want them to try every type of story format. Then show the students the
next story and have them turn over their cards and try the next story in the smaller
format.

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5. After you have tried all the forms or you think the students have gotten the point, ask
them to answer the following questions and then discuss their responses as a whole
class, as a group or hand in their responses for credit.

a. What was the hardest part of writing the story into a smaller social networking or
short-form story format?
b. Which format was the easiest to write?
c. Which format seemed to lose the most information?
d. Were there some stories that were easier to write in a short format? Can you see
that some stories are good for this type of format and some just won’t work?
e. What are the risks of using this shorter form of writing?
f. What are some of the advantages of using this shorter form of writing?

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Objective 2
Students will briefly explain the obvious ethical challenges journalists face when pushing for
shorter deadlines and more timely news.

Lesson Plans/Activities

The Future of Journalism:

Pose Question: What is the future of journalism. Think about blogging, online news sites, etc.

1. Watch: EPIC Video - http://robinsloan.com/epic/

Discuss what you see in these videos:

What are some of the concerns with blogging and online news sites that are
published by Joe Public? What are some of the advantages of everyone having an
ability to publish?

2. Social Media Revolution -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQrwa2I17B0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

What does this tell us about how fast technology changes? How does journalism
adapt to these changes? How can we as a high school news source, use this kind of
rapid change to reach our students audience?

Lesson provided by Mary Seal, Taylorsville High School. Please feel free to use and edit as you
see useful.

Think-Pair-Share Assignment for Ethical Issues and Digital News

1. Hand out Think-pair-share worksheet for groups to complete as they work on their set
of questions.
2. Put students into partner groups and hand out a set of questions based off the ethical
issues mentioned in the article “Creating Ethical Bridges from Journalism to Digital
News” by Jan Leach found at the following link:
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101899/Creating-Ethical-Bridges-
From-Journalism-to--Digital-News.aspx . The questions can be divided into as many
different sections as are needed based on class size. The information that should be
divided from the article is as follows:
 How will journalists and/or news organizations approach the issue of
posting stories on personal or company Web sites or blogs? If a reporter
covering a local business posts negative information or complaints about the
business on his news organization’s site, does that compromise the
reporter’s objectivity?
 Is it appropriate for reporters to publish on a personal blog their opinion
about a source, an event, or a story?
 Does the posting of personal opinion compromise a reporter’s fairness?

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 If opinion is discouraged, does that infringe on free expression? Does it

“dehumanize” the reporter?
 In an environment where anonymity rules, how is the accuracy of user-
generated content such as tips, articles, photos and video, to be determined?
And how are consumers to be alerted?
 When news organizations invite and feature citizen contributions, does
publishing these stories on their site transfer “authority” to information that
may be biased or incomplete?
 Posted without any moderation, comments about articles often stray off
topic or, worse, devolve into name-calling and ugly slurs. Does the
anonymity of the Web culture encourage animosity? If so, is moderating
essential for a news organization? Or is churlish online debate simply the
price to be paid for increased online traffic?

3. Ask the students to reflect on the question(s) they received and post their own response
first on their handout.
4. After they have answered their question on their own, have them discuss together with
their partner what they think about the topic and then they are to decide what is going
to be shared with the rest of the class.
5. Finally, have the student complete their share presentations and discuss as a whole
class as you go.
6. Should make a great class discussion!!

Page 104
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 3
Students will demonstrate a broad understanding of the challenges publications face with
payment for services. Students will explain the skip and scan reading style and how it dictates
writing style for online publications.

Page 105
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Standard 14. ADVERTISING (If permitted at your school)

CTE Standards Cross Reference- DGM1A-S06:01a, 02a

Vocabulary
Bandwagon –
Appeal to Authority
Emotional Appeal
Humor Appeal
Scarcity Appeal
Rational Appeal
Endorsement Appeal
Rate Sheets

Page 106
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 1
Students will learn about advertising as a primary source of funding for publications. Students
will also learn about other funding sources for their publication and activities.

Your School Name

Advertising Agreement Contract

Publication Name is an excellent opportunity for any business targeting high school age students to reach the student body of over 2300, as well
as local community hot spots. When the paper is published, we will send you a copy of the paper with the bill. Please make all checks payable
to ______________________and send to attention _______________. Thank you for your time and interest in placing an ad in the paper. If you
have any further questions, please call ________________ at ____________________ or email - ____________________ Thank you for your
interest in this extremely beneficial program. Your support of the (Publication Name) is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,

Company Name _________________________________________________

Contact Name ___________________________________________________

Company Address _______________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code _____________________________________________

Billing Address (if different) _______________________________________

Phone Number and Contact Information ______________________________

Email Address __________________________________________________

Ad Size (Circle or Mark One):

1/8 Page ¼ Page ½ Page Full Page Full Page (Color)

$50.00 $75.00 $100.00 $125.00 $200.00

Do you want us to design your ad? (One time $50 set up fee applies)

_____ No, my ad is attached with this contract.

_____ Yes, I have attached a logo and other graphics as well as instructions for my ad design.

Choose Issues for Advertisement Placement (Circle or Mark all that apply):

Distribution Date Ad Submission Deadline

September 29 September 24
November 3 October 28
January 19 January 14
March 23 March 18
May 25 May 19

Ad Information: Discount for full and half year contracts will include the following:

Bonus 1: 10% off - Half Year 20% off - Full Year

Bonus 2: All ads will receive a free run on the Commons Center Jumbo-
Tron that runs throughout the day in the main Commons Area
Bonus 3: An advertisement ticker at the bottom of all newscasts and
broadcasts.

Page 107
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

The Advertiser acknowledges full and complete understanding of the terms contained herein. Advertiser
further acknowledges they have the authority to participate and upon signing this contract, they have not
relied on any promise, statement or representation other than contained herein. Advertiser hereby
acknowledges receipt of the contract. The ad is non-cancelable by advertiser during the contract period.
Reimbursements on any errors in the final product will be subject to our school’s policy.

____________________________________ ____________________________________
Advertiser Signature Date

Staff Use Only: # of Issues _____ Ad Design _____ Full or Half Year Package _____ Total Cost
_____

Page 108
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 2
Students will learn about the basic appeals being made to the reader in advertising, such as
Bandwagon, Appeal to Authority, Emotional Appeal, Humor Appeal, Scarcity Appeal, Rational
Appeal, Endorsement Appeal, etc. Students will examine which of these appeals might be most
effective for teen students and for the publication.

Page 109
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 3
Students will create a rate for the publication and learn about advertising sales. Students will
learn about pricing advertising and the decline in advertising in professional journalism.

Lesson Plans/Activities/Examples

____________________________ High School’s

__________________________ Newspaper and Website Advertising Contract 2012 - 2013
Student’s Name_________________________________
Business_________________________________________________
Contact Name ________________________ Address ______________________________
E-mail ________________________________________________________
Phone_______________________________________
Months to run ad (please circle) September October November December
January February March April May
Size of ad Please circle in chart below:
Size Dimensions* Price Per Issue**
Business Card (black and 4” X 2” $25 per month
white)
1/8 Page (black and white) 5” X 4” $35 per month
1/4 Page (black and white) 5” X 8 “ $50 per month
1/2 Page (for color add $50) 10” X 8” $75 per month
Full Page (for color add $75) 10“ X 16” $150 per month
Website ad 2”X2” $25 per month
Warriorledger.com
Color is included

Total number of Months ___________ X Cost of each ad _________ = total due ______________. Web
add $25/ month.
There is a 10% discount for all ads that run for more than 2 issues. There is a 20% discount for
advertising in all issues. Payment is due with the contract.
Payment is due with the contract. Please make all checks out to Taylorsville High
School/journalism.
ADVERTISING INFORMATION
1. The ___________________________________ newspaper is a student publication. From time to time, errors in
print or design will occur. An ad also may fail to run in the issue contracted. No refunds will be
offered, but a replacement of the ad in a future issue of the newspaper will be offered at the business
owner’s request. A repeat of the ad is the limit of the liability for _________________________ High School,
its staff and students.
2. The business owner is responsible for getting the ad materials delivered on time. All ads must be
received by the last day of the month prior to the run month for the ad. For example, an ad running in
October must be received no later than September 31st. Ad information should be sent as a pdf or
Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign file to_____________________________________. If you do not receive a
confirmation of the ad being received please contact Mrs. Seal to verify receipt of ad.

Page 110
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

3. Ads are charged per publication of ad. Price of ad multiplied by the number of publications will be
total charge. A V.I.P. discount of 10% will be given to any business purchasing an ad in all 9 issues of
the newspaper this year.
4. All Ads MUST be camera ready PDF files or an existing ad that can be scanned. Color advertising is a
high fee with the printer. We can do VERY limited business card size ad design for a fee of $15 if all
you are looking for is text treatment. We do not own stock photos with copyrights, so images are not
available for ads that we are creating for the customer.
5. Issues of the newspaper will be distributed at the end of the month assigned. Please time the
expiration dates of any coupons or special offers accordingly. Coupons are a great way to track the
effectiveness of an ad and are highly recommended.

Signature of agreement to all terms above:

___________________________________________________ Date_____________

******************************

Advertisement Assignment

Each member of staff will be assigned to get one advertisement per term. If you secure
a run of press ad (meaning all year), you will have this assignment done. The only way to
receive full credit on this assignment without an ad is to have 5 of these forms signed by the
company advertising manager, or like person, stating that they are not interested in advertising.
This will let me know that you tried to contact at least 5 companies and none were interested.

Contact the company and set up an appointment to visit with them. It is usually best to go in to
see them, but if you feel comfortable with the person or the company than you may be able to do
it over the phone. Make sure you get the contact person’s name, so you will always remember it.

Company Name______ Phone #

Address __________________________

City, Zip Code __________________________

Contact Person______________________________________

Signature___________________________________

NOTES:

Page 111
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Standard 15. Journalism in the USA.

Students will study the role of journalism in America, including its history and impact.
Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - RI.7-9

Vocabulary:
Penny Press - Penny press newspapers were cheap, tabloid-style papers produced in the
middle of the 19th century.
Yellow Journalism - A type of journalism without legitimate newsgathering and ethics.
Muckraking - American journalists, novelists, and critics who in the first decade of the 20th
century attempted to expose the abuses of business and the corruption in politics.
Watchdog for Democracy (Watergate, etc.) - Another term for journalism that provides
oversight and disclosure of abuse.
Pulitzer - An award for an achievement in American journalism, literature, or music. There are
thirteen awarded each year.

Page 112
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 1
Students will briefly study the evolution of journalism in America from the Penny Press
newspapers that were the primary source of information in the colonies, to the political impact of
newspapers and online media today.
a. Students should understand the following terms in journalism history: Penny
Press, Yellow Journalism and Muckraking.
b. Students will examine the role of journalism in democracy, both as a forum for
the publication of public opinion, and as a leader in challenging societal
injustices.
1. Students should briefly study the Boston Massacre and political cartoons,
and Woodward and Bernstein’s reporting on the Watergate Scandal.

Page 113
JOURNALISM CURRICULUM: Hall, Seal, Pons, and Greenwood

Objective 2
Students will look at the increasing move from the printed newspapers to online news sites and
the role of the blogger in modern news delivery.

Lesson Plans/Activities

The Changing Face of Journalism Activity

Lesson Plan:
1. Students should already have an understanding of the early stages of journalism and the
importance journalists have played in American society before the emergence of the
Internet.
2. Discuss with students what impact they think the Internet has had on journalism since
its inception. Help students to understand and discuss everything from blogging to
Twitter and Face book. The concept of citizen journalists should be discussed as well.
3. Give the students a current news topic such as the death of Gadhafi and have them
research 4 news stories about the topic – one from each of the following: Twitter, Face
book, one large news site such as CNN, and a personal blog. Students should write down
the time and date the story was posted as well as whether the story would be
considered a breaking news piece or a verification and synthesis of the story.
4. Complete the above assignment as homework or give them time in class to gather the
information and then return to small group discussions.
5. Once students have gathered their 4 news stories, show the video by Jeanne Moos at the
following link: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/10/20/pkg-moos-
gadhafi-reax.cnn to discuss the confusion of the breaking news.
6. Then have them get into small groups (3-5) to discuss the following:
a. Which news “source” got the information about Gadhafi’s death out the quickest?
b. Which news “source” bypassed the breaking news concept and went straight to
verification and synthesis of the story? What angle did they take and which angle
did you like the best? Why?
c. How has the face of journalism changed due to Twitter, Face book and other citizen
journalist blogs?
d. What is the impact on scholastic journalism? Can you utilize these types of news
sources for your own stories?
7. Once the groups have had a chance to discuss the above questions, have them come
back to the large group and share their thoughts and opinions. Have students turn in
their list of 4 stories as well as complete a closing journal in which they focus on any of
the above questions that were discussed during small group. They can elaborate on
their opinion of any of the posted questions.

Page 114

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Introduction To Journalism PDF

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Introduction To Journalism PDF

Uploaded by

Introduction to Journalism Curriculum

“A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself,” Arthur Miller

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference

9/04/2012 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA: This license lets others

ADA Compliant: 4/21/2020

Standard 1. JOURNALISM WRITING BASICS – pp. 3-14

Standard 2. INTERVIEWING – pp. 16-22

Standard 3. HEADLINES – pp. 23-25

Standard 4. NEWS WRITING – pp. 26-33

Standard 5. FEATURE WRITING – pp. 34-40

Standard 6. SPORTS WRITING – pp. 41-45

Standard 7. EDITORIAL WRITING/SOCIAL ROLES OF THE MEDIA – pp. 46-

Standard 8. OPINION, COLUMN AND REVIEW WRITING – pp. 56-59

Standard 9: LAW & ETHICS – pp. 60-74

Standard 10. PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND ETHICS – pp. 75-80

Standard 11. VISUAL DESIGN, TYPOGRAPHY & LAYOUT – pp. 81-86

Standard 12. STAFF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT – pp. 87-99

Standard 13. ONLINE PUBLICATION – pp. 100-105

Standard 14. ADVERTISING (If permitted at your school) – pp. 106-111

Standard 15. JOURNALISM IN THE USA – pp. 112-114

Standard 1. JOURNALISM WRITING BASICS

Hall, Homer L. and Logan Aimone. High School Journalism.

Citations and Attribution

Understanding Fact vs. Opinion

Subjective vs. Objective Reporting/Conflict of Interest

Story Ideas Assignment

1. Come up with 5 original story ideas for your newspaper. Write a 1-

Skeptic - a person who questions the validity or authenticity

1. What kind of content am I encountering?

2. Is the information complete; and if not, what is missing?

4. What evidence is presented, and how was it tested or vetted?

5. What might be an alternative explanation or understanding?

6. Am I learning what I need to?

LEAD WRITING Exercise – 5 W’s 1 H

Write Lead #1 here:

Write Lead #2 here:

Name__________________ Date Submitted___________ Class Per. ________

Rough Draft Check List

Their signature ________________________________.

_______ Unless I am writing an Editorial or Review, my story does NOT contain

Up to 25 points will be deducted for opinion in news, feature, etc.

_________All facts have been reviewed. Up to 50 points will be deducted. You

_______ If my story is a review of either a book or a movie, I have researched

_______ My story focuses on something that is vital and immediately connected to

PAPER FOR EDITING REMARKS – REQUIRED!

SEE REVERSE OF PAPER FOR EDITING REMARKS – REQUIRED!

Students should be able to identify first-hand account versus second, third,

Students should be familiar with appropriate interview terminology.

Prepare a list of individuals who would make realistic interview candidates

What’s the Scoop?

Purpose: This activity is to help students understand that there may be

2. Create the topic ahead of time based on something that is plausible

Creating standards/policies for using Expert Sources

3. Conduct a class discussion about expert sources and the information

Banner - A headline spanning the width of a newspaper. Also, a front page

subhead - Headings that break up long articles into sections.

kicker - A piece of additional information printed as an accompaniment to a

Standard 4. NEWS WRITING

Explain solid news writing, emphasizing news values; provide examples of

Hard News Story Assignment

Step #2 – Setup and Conduct Interviews with Stakeholders – You need at

Step #3 – Write Interview Questions – Type or write your questions and

Step #6 – Rewrite, Revise, Redo!! – Email a copy of your final to

1. _____________________________ 29. _____________________________

Teacher Instructions: Give students 8 minutes to add as many items as possible to

Standard 5. FEATURE WRITING

Utah Core Standards Cross Reference - W.4-8, W. 2, W.9, W.10

Feature News Values

Feature Story patterns

Story Ideas Assignment

6. List and explain two possible angles for the story.

Feature Story Assignment

Step #2 – Setup and Conduct Interviews

Step #3 – Write Interview Questions – Type or write your questions and

Step #6 – Rewrite, Revise, Redo!! – Email a copy of your final to

Extra Credit Option: Create one alternate story form or sidebar to go

Name____________ Date Submitted_ Class Per. ____

1. _ 29. _