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BEGINNING JOURNALISM
BEGINNING JOURNALISM
Recommended Placement: Concurrent with College Prep-English- Grades 9-11 only
Credits: 10
When people think of Journalism, they usually just think of writing. While writing is a core part of what we do, this class covers much more than just putting words on a page. It’s a comprehensive look at how we communicate in today’s world—from the legal and ethical "rules of the road" to the visual design of a finished product.
This course is the required prerequisite for any student who wants to join the staff of our school newspaper, El Vaquero, but the skills you’ll learn here apply to almost any field you might go into.
Course Overview
Students will gain hands-on experience in several distinct areas:
The Skill of Media Literacy: We spend time looking at how the media actually works. You’ll learn to analyze how mass media impacts our society and how to stay informed on current events. We also dig into the ethics and laws that journalists have to follow to keep their work credible.
Diverse Writing Styles: Learn to write in proper journalistic form across multiple formats, including news, features, sports, opinion pieces, reviews, and editorials.
Reporting & Research: Develop skills in conducting professional interviews, identifying newsworthy material, and using primary and secondary sources for research.
Journalistic Law & Ethics: Beyond just "telling the truth," there are specific laws and regulations that govern the press. We study the rights protected by the First Amendment, the ethics of responsible reporting, and the legal boundaries of what can and cannot be published.
Production & Design: Beyond writing, students will learn to write headlines and captions, study page layout and design trends, and practice photojournalism and editorial cartooning.
Final Project: As a class, students will apply their skills by producing a complete "Beginning Journalism" issue of El Vaquero.
ADVANCED JOURNALISM
ADVANCED JOURNALISM
Recommended Placement:: Beginning Journalism completed / Interview process
Credit: 10
College Prep Course
UC/CSU approved
Advanced Journalism produces El Vaquero, a fully student-run newspaper that publishes online every quarter. Covering campus news, sports, feature stories, and opinion pieces, our award-winning publication brings our community the news it needs. If you have a passion for local engagement and a talent for writing, photography, or graphic design, check out our work here and apply to join our tight-knit team today!
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION
Recommended Placement: 77% or higher H. English 1 or H. English 2.; & Teacher Rec.; Jr./Sr. standing
Credits: 10 (Weighted Grade)
College Prep Course
UC / CSU approved
The AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing.
The goals of the AP English Language & Composition course are diverse because the college composition course is one of the most varied in the curriculum. The course does, however,
Provide students with opportunities to write about a variety of subjects and to demonstrate an awareness of audience and purpose
Enable students to write effectively and confidently in college courses across the curriculum and in their professional communication as well as in personal and reflective writing
Foster the development of writing in any context
teach students that the expository, analytical and argumentative writing they must do in college is based on reading, not solely on personal experience and observation
Teach students to read primary and secondary sources carefully
Synthesize material from texts for use in their composition and to cite sources using conventions recommended by professional organizations such as the Modern Language Association (MLA)
Enable students to read complex texts with understanding and to write prose of richness and complexity to communicate effectively with mature readers
Help students move beyond such programmatic responses as the five-paragraph essay
Encourage students to place emphasis on content, purpose, and audience and allow this focus to guide the organization of their writing.
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
AP ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
Recommended Placement: 77% or higher in H. English 2 or English 3 or 70 % or higher in AP English: Language and Composition, & Teacher Rec.; Sr. standing
Credits: 10 (Weighted Grade)
College Prep Course
UC / CSU approved
Designed for those in roughly the top 10% of the senior class, the course prepares students to earn college credit by passing the Advanced Placement Examination. Selected readings from a college reading list, research and reports on various representative literary figures and subjects are required. Test-taking skills, thinking skills, English usage, vocabulary, writing techniques and selected novels, plays, essays and poems are studied. Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to:
Earn college credit by passing the AP Test.
Write college level compositions & utilize an improved vocabulary.
Demonstrate knowledge of major writers and analyze and discuss a poem, short story, play, essay or novel.
Demonstrate knowledge of the structure of drama, poetry, novel and short story.
Utilize research techniques.
Utilize acceptable forms for the analytical/expository essay and effectively use the conventions of written English.
Analyze and apply literary criticism in expository and analytical essays.
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