Publication is Power

CLASS OVERVIEW

Modeled on my experience as both a student in and instructor for the Young Emerging Writers Program, Publication Power is an elective project-learning-based course where students will take on the responsibility of managing and contributing to a professional-grade publication that features creative writing, art, critiques, op-eds, and local journalism. Students will learn to become journalists and activists through lessons modeled on resources from both the New York Times and the Pulitzer Center.

Publication Process

• Students will produce a new online issue of their magazine through Medium every month; every year, a print anthology highlighting the best work produced throughout the year will be professionally designed under my tutelage and printed in partnership with a local printer.

• Every student is required to create an article every quarter for the magazine. This can be in the form of a traditional print article, a podcast, or a video segment.

• Students will be encouraged to submit work to this publication in the form of creative work (such as poetry or short stories), investigative journalism, profiles of community members, and editorials/reviews/critiques of media/issues that are important to their place in time (such as movies, tv shows, albums, books, and video games) – where they practice their summarizing, analyzing, and argumentative skills. 

• Every article will go through a rigorous editing process helmed by our editorial committee to ensure it reaches our high standard of publication. Every student in our school will be able to use these articles will be available for students to use to distinguish themselves on college applications when they graduate.

Course Overview

Unit 1: It’s All Been Said Before: Introduction to Journalism

In this series of lessons, students will gain an understanding of what journalism is and why it is an important tool to understand local and global life in extraordinary times. Students will explore the push to “return to normal” following the Covid lockdown and critically analyze whether “returning to normal” was, in fact, the right course of action. Students will analyze whether “returning to normal” is the right course of action, and what opportunities for change there are instead.

Deliverable: Students will write an investigative article on the impact Covid had on their communities, their families, and themselves.

Unit 2: What’s Left Unsaid: Telling Underreported Stories

In this series of lessons, students will learn about the power structures that privilege some stories over others and how they can counteract injustice through the telling of underreported stories.

Deliverable: students will conduct interviews around an under-reported story in their community.

Unit 3: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: The Power of Photojournalism

In this series of lessons, students will begin exploring how the power of photojournalism helps tell essential stories.

Deliverable: Students will create a photo essay about their school or local community

Unit 4: