Journalism (3008): Grades 9-12
Content Standard:
The student will understand and utilize oral, written, and visual communication.
Goal Statement:
The primary goal of any journalism program should be for students to improve oral and written
communication skills. Many high school students seek opportunities to explore career possibilities in the
media. Journalism programs should offer students many opportunities to excel in a variety of areas.
Learning Expectations:
Oral
• Demonstrate speaking, listening, and research skills which will facilitate interviewing and other
oral communication activities.
• Demonstrate appropriate language skills, demeanor, and attire to cultivate success and good
public relations.
• Demonstrate appropriate interviewing techniques.
• Apply terms and expressions common to the industry to speaking, listening, and writing
activities.
• Apply legal and ethical journalistic standards to all journalism activities.
Written
• Demonstrate appropriate language usage skills and research techniques.
• Demonstrate appropriate journalistic writing style for various media.
• Recognize the difference between fact and opinion and its appropriate use in media production.
• Use computers (if available) to compose, edit, and revise work for publication.
• Write for an intended (prescribed) audience, recognizing the importance of ethics in information
gathering and reporting.
• Demonstrate editing and revision techniques to produce work suitable for publication/
production.
Visual
• Exhibit a working knowledge for roles and procedures of management and production of various
media.
• Demonstrate knowledge of business management including advertising, circulation, and/or
bookkeeping procedures.
• Understand and utilize standard principles of related areas to enhance visual appeal.
• Create visual effects by utilizing graphic designs, either technologically generated (if available)
or original work.
• Demonstrate knowledge of layout and design procedures by incorporating consistency of style
using a desktop publishing system (if available), traditional methods, or a combination of both
techniques.
Note: These learning expectations for journalism reflect student performance requirements for grades 9-
12. Students in grades 6-8 may participate in programs with similar learning expectations with minor
adaptations.
