Journalistic Writing

Instructors:  Ms. Elaine Peterson and Mr. Chris Sloan

School year: 2008-2009

Course Information

Journalistic Writing is a course for students who want to write for publication. This class shares the goals of the other ninth grade English courses at Judge; the main difference is that your writing in Journalistic Writing is geared for publications at school (like the school newspaper, JMTV, radio, website) and for publications outside of school (like blogs on Youth Voices, newspapers, newsletters, and magazines).

By taking this class you can expect to:

    • improve your writing both technically and stylistically
    • sharpen your word processing skills
    • develop your desktop publishing skills
    • expand your vocabulary
    • hone your critical reading skills

The projects you’ll work on represent some sophisticated, yet attainable, journalistic writing because the process will be broken down into manageable steps. Here are some of the types of writing projects you will complete.

    • The Representative Profile
    • Informed Opinion
    • Personal essays and column writing
    • Photo essay
    • Judge History Project
    • Informational Graphics
    • Podcasting collaboration with students from around the country

As in the other ninth grade English classes the goal of this course is to help you to become a better writer. In the process of becoming a better writer, you will become a better thinker and learner, and that will help you in high school and beyond. At the end of the year, you will be familiar with many different approaches to writing—from short personal pieces to an extensive research project, and from creative writing to more objective, journalistic writing.

Keep your written work from class in a writer’s notebook (a regular spiral notebook will work, but there are other composition books that you might want to check out). You must bring something to read and write with every day to class; the first 15 minutes are individual reading/writing time. Always have a free-reading book with you.

Academic honesty. The work you do for this class must be your own. If you cheat or plagiarize, you fail that assignment.

How to do well in this course:

    • Prepare to learn. Bring your binder, paper, assignments, and books.
    • Act appropriately. In whole group activities, raise your hand to speak, and listen actively. In small groups, function as a team member. For individual work, read and/or write silently.

    • Respect everyone and everything in the room.

Homework Policy: Each day an assignment is late, there’s a 10-point deduction. Assignments turned in after the class’s has been returned are no longer accepted.

PowerSchool: grades will be updated the 1st and the 15th of each month.

Contact info: It’s a lot easier to get in touch with me via email through my school address. I’m usually at school until 3:30 p.m. every day.