-Language Mechanics-

The learner will be able to:

• edit for correct use of quotation marks.
• identify and correct incorrect uses of standard written English.
• understand the connection between sentence punctuation and sentence meaning.
• proofread a series of sentences for punctuation errors.

The learner will be able to:

• distinguish between fact and opinion.
• apply techniques of persuasion in order to sell a product.
• identify persuasive techniques.
• recognize propaganda, various propaganda forms and strategies, and analyze the motivations behind specific acts of propaganda (in politics, advertising, history).
• comprehend the characteristics that differentiate news, feature, editorital, and sports stories.

The learner will be able to:

• edit for correct spelling.

The learner will be able to:

• understand the role and responsibilities of the press in a free society.
• understand the meaning of a student journalist's rights and responsibilities under the law.
• understand the need for editorial policies to guide publications morally, legally, and ethically.

The learner will be able to:

• develop an advertising campaign to finance the publication.
• prepare an advertisement.
• identify the steps necessary to produce a newspaper, including planning, reporting, writing, designing, and producing camera-ready pages.
• create a unique identity for publication by using the design elements.
• master the essentials of page/spread design including a columnar grid system with consistent margins and columns, creating order and organization through the placement of headlines, copy, photographs/artwork, and captions.
• deal with businesses as advertisers and consumers.
• understand how publications are financed.
• understand the criteria for a good photograph and be able to write appropriate outlines.
• assume the financial responsibility for the publication, including sale, promotion, advertising, bookkeeping, and distribution.

The learner will be able to:

• show sensitivity to sexism, and the physical and cultural biases inherent in certain vocabulary words.

The learner will be able to:

• write to persuade a given audience on a given topic utilizing word choices, language expressions, examples, and other persuasion techniques.
• engage in prewriting strategies such as mapping, listing, and clustering ideas.
• understand the drafting stage of the writing process and how to write drafts using ideas generated in the prewriting stage.
• understand the revising stage of the writing process, and how to approach drafts with specific goals for revisions.
• understand the rewriting stage of the writing process as an opportunity to apply peer and teacher input, to add to the content, to improve the style, and even to begin a new draft (incorporating the input received in previous writing stages as prewriting exercises).
• understand the editing stage of the writing process, and how to apply editing skills to his/her own written works and to the written works of peers.
• prepare and present written works to be shared with others.
• write collaboratively.
• write, proofread, and revise stories to assure accuracy and readability.
• support beliefs by using concrete reasons and factual information in articles.
• express differences of opinion in writing without antagonizing or alienating specific groups.
• use the five W's and the H to write a lead for a news story.
• write a variety of leads and be able to choose the most appropriate form for a given story.
• write stories using a variety of structures including inverted pyramid, chronological order, and composite.
• use writing skills to write various types of stories.  These will include straight news, a meeting, a speech, sports stories, feature stories, columns, reviews, and editorials.
• write opinions without editorializing by stating facts accurately and completely.
• develop and use a style sheet.
• identify the function of headlines and learn to write and use them as a design element.
• lay out pages of a newspaper.
• use quotations, partial quotations, and paraphrases in writing a story.
• edit to produce correct copy and prepare it for typesetting.
• identify techniques for writing and designing headlines.

The learner will be able to:

• use one-on-one interviewing skills.
• work in a team situation to solve problems, to practice decision making, and to show a commitment to a group effort.

The learner will be able to:

• use a desktop publishing program to compose, edit, and revise news stories.
• use the light table to create layouts.
• use a camera to capture pictures that tell a story.
• words processing program on the desktop publishing system for writing, editing, and typesetting.
• use a desktop publishing system to design and paginate a publication for camera-ready submission to the printer.
• use graphics design program and create components, such as logos, headlines, and advertisements.

The learner will be able to:

• formulate questions which require an individual to clarify meaning, analyze, and synthesize information.