JournalismThis course is designed for young journalists, and any journalist will tell you that being on a journalism staff requires you to take risks, be creative, stay flexible and have fun on this wild ride.
PCM Journalism is a student led class at Prairie City Monroe High School in Monroe, Iowa. Journalism students are responsible for multiple publications including: The Outlook (a weekly newspaper that is published through the PCM Explorer), ThunderTV (a weekly student broadcast channel), and The PCM Outlook Website (published daily and archives all publications throughout the year). Students will practice the journalism publication skills of page layout and design, interviewing, digital editing, /writing, photography, and business skills such as selling ads to local businesses. Computer skills (photo editing, page design, sound editing, etc.) are taught through practical application. The class requires a large degree of participation and maturity on the part of the students. All students need to be self-starters, flexible, organized, and committed, and ready to work hard. This sometimes requires coming in early, staying after school when necessary, and covering events after school (some of which begin as late at 8:00 p.m.). Students must be able to overcome frustrations and setbacks inherent in production classes, and they must be able to work effectively and efficiently with others, often without direct adult supervision. The workload runs in cycles. You will have main deadlines and mini-deadlines throughout each main deadline for each publication. You are expected to keep up with the work so that you are not caught trying to do everything at the last minute. I am here by 7:40 a.m. and you are welcome to come in early if you need to. There is no excuse for not keeping up! |
Focus:
Deadlines are an important part of our journalism experience. Because we publish weekly, we have many deadlines - - that’s that nature of the business. These deadlines MUST be met and are sacred to the world of journalism. Students have assignments due every week, and we will discuss and post deadlines weekly. Deadlines are also posted in our Google Classroom, which should be regularly checked. Students will lose Accountability points (10% of the students overall course grade - totaling 10 points each deadline - all or nothing) immediately. If deadlines are missed; stories and photos that miss publication deadlines will NOT be published in local papers - which puts the entire staff in jeopardy. Students are expected to develop and maintain self-responsibility and determination. |