MICHAEL JANISZYN
English Teacher, Green Horn and Green Horn Live Advisor
National Board Certified Teacher
2010/2011 Schedule:
Broadcast Journalism
Advanced Journalism
Journalism
American Studies Honors
AP English Literature and Composition
Independant Study Broadcast & Advanced Journalism
146 Broadcast Journalism C306
Description of Course. Broadcast Journalism students, guided by the SAPA-TV Director, teaming with the journalism instructor, will produce Green Horn Live, the weekly SHS broadcast program. Students will learn the basics of camera operation and develop techniques for scriptwriting, interviewing, and filming. In the language portion of this course, excerpts from Mervin Blockís classic textbook, Writing Broadcast Journalism, will be used to instruct students about such broadcast reporting topics as lead-ins, lead-outs, voice-overs, simplicity, clarity, and diction. Students who excel in communication and speech will serve as news anchors and reporters. Students who develop strong technical skills will work as videographers, editors, and technicians. All students enrolled in the
class will cooperate to produce a final product which will display clear mastery of both journalistic writing and television production techniques. Broadcast students will create a regular weekly news show and will eventually work on documentary or magazine programs to be aired on SAPA-TV. In completing these projects, students in Broadcast Journalism will be expected to work before and after regular school hours to cover stories and to prepare and air programs.
Objectives and Specific Skills. Students will be asked to do college preparatory work in this course. They will be expected to write organized, accurate, and technically correct prose in true journalistic style. They will develop their interviewing techniques and use videocameras and other technology needed to produce the show. Finally, students will learn to work cooperatively to achieve journalistic excellence.
Assessments and Evaluation. Students will be evaluated in terms of their contributions to each broadcast of Green Horn Live. Whatever their assigned or chosen tasksófilming, interviewing, editing, writing, anchoring one of the main desks, or providing technical backup from the booth in the SAPA studioóeach student will be expected to be a positive, active, dynamic member of the broadcast team. Student journalists will be graded according to the success they display in meeting their duties and responsibilities as Green Horn Live is created and aired each week.
Student Responsibilities. Students will learn to get along and tolerate the diverse opinions offered by other journalists and various school members. They will accept guidance from peers and instructors with openness and a willingness to improve their communication skills related to broadcast journalism. Each Green Horn Live will be assembled according to a tight schedule. Therefore, it is important that broadcast journalists handle their tasks in a timely and intelligent manner. When students leave the room to interview or film, they are expected to go to their legitimate destination or return to the classroom. Broadcast journalists must conduct themselves with maturity and discipline when they are carrying out assignments. In the classroom, they are expected to contribute to the
exciting atmosphere that inspires the best journalistic coverage of Springfield High School and the Springfield community.
Resources. Students should keep a notebook for assembling news reports. They will rely on videocameras and the computer editing program Final Cut to assist with their broadcasts. Green Horn Live will be aired from the SAPA studio. For writing assistance, Writing Broadcast Journalism will be used to guide text and reports.
Teacher Availability. I am available most days after school for help. I have 4th and 5th period free. If needed, I can be reached at home (885-6443) or through email.
145 Advanced Journalism C306
Description of Course: This is a rigorous, demanding class open only to students who successfully complete Journalism. In this course, students will produce the SHS student newspaper, the Green Horn. Students will be assigned articles that must be handed in by established deadline days. Student journalists will be responsible for researching their articles, editing their copy through conferences with the teacher, and typing their articles in one of the computer labs at the high school. Often students will be asked to volunteer for extra duties such as photography, layout or printing; and students will often be asked to attend extracurricular activities in their role as journalist. Since the Green Horn will be printed roughly every three weeks, students who enroll in this class must have
a great interest in disciplined writing. They also must have an intense desire to contribute to a more positive school environment through responsible, mature reporting.
Objectives and Specific Skills: Students will be asked to do college preparatory work in this course. They will be expected to write organized, accurate, and technically correct prose in true journalistic style. Additionally, student journalists will learn and practice different forms of writing such as straight news, editorials, news features, and sports. They will grow in their interviewing and researching techniques, and they will develop the ability to work cooperatively to achieve journalism excellence. A broadcasting component of Advanced Journalism will continue this year. Some students may be asked to participate in this news reporting experience which is aired on the Springfield Area Public Access television station.
Assessments and Evaluation: Students will be evaluated in terms of their final writing product--lively, creative, and detailed articles have become the hallmark of the Green Horn. This sort of excellence in reporting will be expected throughout the year. Student journalists will also be assessed according to the success they display in meeting deadlines. Finally, their daily conduct in class (and out of class) will be a large feature of their evaluation. Students will be graded according to their positive, constructive attitude, which will be apparent as the year continues and they work with the teacher in an individualized relationship.
Student Responsibilities: Students will learn to get along and tolerate the diverse opinions offered by other journalists and various school members. They will accept guidance from peers and teacher with openness and a willingness to improve their skills and their understanding of the world. An assigned article must be handed in on the deadline day--this means it must be typed, revised, checked over by the teacher, and saved in the edition folder by the assigned due date. When students leave the room to interview, type, cover an event, or research, they are expected to go to their legitimate destination or return to the classroom. Student journalists must be careful to conduct themselves with maturity and discipline when they are carrying out assignments. In the classroom, they are expected to
contribute to the exciting atmosphere that inspires the best journalism.
Resources: Students should keep a notebook for assembling articles. They will also rely on computers for composing, revising, and saving their pieces of journalism. Mainly "human resources" will be vital to the Green Horn experience through interviews, observations, and conferences.
Teacher Availability: I am available after school almost any day for conferences. I have 4th and 5th periods free. I eat first lunch in C306 and you are welcome to join me if youíd like some help with your interviewing, planning, writing, or editing. If needed, I can be reached at home---my number is 885-6443.
144 Journalism C306
Description. Normally taken during sophomore year, but also open to students in grades 9-12, this course is a prerequisite for Advanced Journalism (145) which produces the Green Horn and Broadcast Journalism (146) which produces Green Horn Live. In this introductory course, students will develop grammar, punctuation, capitalization, vocabulary, and organization skills for writing. Additionally, students will work on activities that explore various journalistic forms of expression such as straight news, features, editorials, and sports writing. Finally, students in this class will work on techniques such as interviewing, note-taking, and writing leads which will make them superior journalists. The First Amendment will also be studied by students in this class. Successful completion
of Journalism (an average of 88 or better) will allow a student to enroll in Advanced Journalism 145 or Broadcast Journalism 146 the following year and work on the Green Horn or Green Horn Live.
Objectives, Specific Skills. Students in Journalism class will be required to meet the following standards:
-----Write accurate, organized, technically correct articles.
-----Show evidence of proofreading and editing skills.
-----Display critical reading and public speaking skills.
-----Work successfully with other classmates to complete projects.
Assessment, Evaluation. Students in Journalism class will be graded with the following types of assessments:
-----Writing assignments that are handed in on deadline.
-----Newspaper articles analyzed and presented in class.
-----Quizzes based on reading assignments.
-----Three major journalism books that will be read and discussed.
-----Group projects that will be used to study facets of journalism.
Responsibilities: Students in Journalism class will be expected to fulfill the following responsibilities:
-----Bring notebook, pen, or pencil to class every day.
-----Obey class rules about being on time, being positive,
practicing active listening, showing respect and tolerance.
-----Hand in edited, typed assignments when appropriate.
-----Finish reading selections when they are due.
-----Bring required books or articles to class when assigned.
Resources. Students in Journalism class must use the following resources in order to be successful learners during the trimester:
-----Computer.
-----Dictionary and thesaurus.
-----Newspaper.
-----Selections from On Writing Well. William Zinsser.
-----Selections from Journalism Today! Textbook.
-----Selections from The Elements of Style. Strunk and White.
-----Friday Night Lights (Bissinger), Black Hawk Down (Bowden), and
SchoolGirls (Orenstein).
Teacher Availability. After school most days. Fourth, fifth period.
520 American Studies Honors C210
American Studies is an advanced, interdiciplinary course that aims for a sophisticated appreciation and understanding of American thought and culture through a study of American history, literature, art, and music. A conceptual approach provides the focus for the four disciplines. Much emphasis is placed on expository writing, as well as on historical and literary analysis and synthesis. In addition, students will be expected to demonstrate a mastery of speaking and listening skills through panel discussions, role-plays, and student lectures.
Major Literature Units:
The Tempest,
Shakespeare (1611);
The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne (1850);
The Crucible, Miller (1953);
1776, Stone & Edwards (1968);
A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry (1959);
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Lawrence and Lee (1971);
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain (1885);
The Red Badge of Courage, Crane (1895);
Some of the additional writers who are studied through shorter selections:
William Bradford
Jonathan Edwards
Anne Bradstreet
Ben Franklin
Patrick Henry
Thomas Paine
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Washington Irving
Robert Hayden
Langston Hughes
James Baldwin
Nikki Giovanni
H.D. Thoreau
Ernest Hemingway
E.B. White
John F. Kennedy
Tim O'Brien
Rudyard Kipling
Jimmy Carter
Walt Whitman
Ambrose Bierce
Anthology Text:
Themes in American Literature, McFarland, Editor, Houghton Mifflin
Other Areas of Study:
American artists, American musicians.
Major Writing and Speech Units:
Each major literature unit includes either an in-class essay, a take-home essay, or a major speech project. Most of these essays are response to text, though they may include a personal essay. Oral presentations could include dramatic readings, debates, panel discussions, or group reports.
Additional, on-going studies:
Vocabulary development, reading comprehension, literary elements of plot, theme, character, setting, and stylistic elements of diction, imagery, figures of speech,syntax.
140 AP English Literature and Composition C306
Description of Course. AP Literature and Composition is designed for the well-skilled student who wishes an intensive final year of English study before college. The specific emphasis of the course will be significant literary works taken from a variety of cultures and time periods. The student will write expository assignments about the literature read. Class discussion and formal oral presentations will be expected also. Students will participate in activities to prepare them for the Advanced Placement exam in literature which will be given in the spring to students who register.
Objectives and Specific Skills. Students in AP Literature and Composition will be asked to do college level work. They will read prose fiction, poetry, and drama. They will grow personally and intellectually from a close and careful reading of these pieces. Students will develop a habit of taking notes about literature to ensure their reading for perception and critical understanding. Additionally, they will develop a vocabulary which will assist them in analyzing literature. Their sophisticated understanding of literature will be shown in writing that represents a sharpened and focused expression of thought and study. Students will also be expected to participate in daily discussions and share their writing with their peers. Eventually each student will lead the class in a
full-hour literature lesson, as well as team with other class members to present group projects. Where practical and appropriate, students in AP Literature and Composition will be invited to engage in field trips that will connect to in-class study. To encourage wider reading habits, all students will read a book of their own choosing during each school vacation or break, write about the book in a personal essay, and share their reading and reflection with the class after vacation has ended.
Assessments and Evaluation. Students in AP Literature and Composition will be graded on the writing, speaking, and reading skills they portray in assignments. All assignments for each learner will be collected in student folders and it will be the collection of work in the folder that will serve as the basis for student grades in this course. Studentsí daily classroom participation in the seminar-like atmosphere of the AP classroom will also be crucial to their grade.
Student Responsibilities. Students must come to each class session with reading and writing assignments completed. Papers must be handed in on time. Students will also be expected to practice active listening, and to add their own original reflections to discussion.
Resources. Besides a notebook for in-class discussions and close readings, students in AP Literature will use Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Fifth Edition (Roberts and Jacobs). Huckleberry Finn, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Slaughterhouse-5, Crime and Punishment, Pride and Prejudice, Antigone, Catch-22, and The Waste Land are among some of the titles that will be studied. The Elements of Style will be a writing resource throughout the year.
Teacher Availability. I can meet with you most nights after school with advanced planning. I have 4th and 5th periods free and I eat first lunch. My home phone number is 885-6443. Call if the situation becomes desperate.
English Department Introduction to Program of Studies
The English program offers sequential instruction in language skills to freshmen and sophomores and varied electives to freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Since four (4) years in English are required for graduation, students are expected to work to fulfill this requirement during each year of high school. Included in the study of literature are recognition of literary types, understanding of techniques of various styles, awareness of values and themes, and introduction to famous writers, past and present. Grammar and composition skills are reviewed and reinforced each year by the English teacher as needs are revealed in oral and written communication.
The English Department offers a strong program involving classic and contemporary literature from diverse voices that challenges students to think about timeless issues that shape our lives.
Students at all grade levels read a core of important works in many genres, including The Odyssey and Hamilton’s Mythology, and various selections of poetry and short stories. Students will also read Shakespearean plays (including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth or Othello, The Tempest, and Hamlet); Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter; Kate Chopin’s The Awakening; Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Sophocles’ Antigone; and selected writings of world literature. Other texts that students will read include The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crucible, and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their
Eyes Were Watching God. Additional classic and modern texts will be read along with these titles.
Through class study of these works, students will learn to read with greater insight. Students will also be required to write analytically, personally, imaginatively, and often. Ultimately, through the process of writing, students will focus, clarify, deepen, and expand their thinking.
Springfield High School English teachers believe that homework is a necessary and appropriate element of high school English instruction. Consequently, homework will be assigned in all courses offered by the department. The amount and frequency of homework will be determined by skills, goals, and objectives represented by each course.
The English curriculum also reflects and includes the Vermont Standards in the are as of reading and writing, and supports Springfield High School’s reading and writing Expectations for Student Learning that are embedded in the SHS Mission Statement. For graduation, students must pass Freshman and Sophomore English, successfully complete American Literature, American Studies, or AP English Language and Composition during junior year, and pass Senior English or an Advanced Placement course in their fourth year of high school. All classes that are not required will be given elective credit.
Springfield High School English Curriculum
State of Vermont Communication Standards
READING
Reading Strategies 9-12
1.1 Students use a variety of strategies to help them read. This is evident when students use a combination of strategies including: sounds, syllables, and letter patterns (e.g. phonological, phonic, and graphic knowledge); syntax,meaning in context, a range of cueing systems to discover pronunciation and meaning; self-correcting when subsequent reading indicates an earlier miscue;questioning; prior knowledge of the topic and sense of story; predicting skimming; following themes; previewing for book selection (e.g., for content,format, style); synthesizing across sources; using knowledge of word structure to extend vocabulary identifying transition words to help understand organization of text; adjusting rate of reading and strategy use according to purpose of reading and type of text, and use knowledge of word
origins and other resources to extendvocabulary development across all content areas.
Reading Accuracy
1.2 Students read grade-appropriate material, with 90%+ accuracy, in a way that makes meaning clear.
Reading Comprehension
1.3 Students read for meaning,demonstrating both initial understanding and personal response to what is read.This is evident when students: comprehend grade-appropriate materials; analyze and interpret features of a variety of types of text; make connections among various parts of a text, among several texts, and between texts and other experiences in and out of school; make/applications of a text; identify the textual structure and/or the technical, artistic, and literary conventions of text; and explain the meaning of various forms of representation (e.g.,narrative, graphical, cartographic, symbolic, mathematical), and analyze,interpret, and evaluate texts produced for a wide range of purposes and audiences, including their cultural, political, and aesthetic contexts.
Reading Range of Text 9-12
1.4 Students comprehend and respond to a range of media, images, and text (e.g., poetry,narrative, information, technical) for a variety of purposes (e.g., reading for pleasure as well as reading to develop understanding and expertise).
WRITING
Writing Dimensions
1.5 Students draft, revise, edit, and critique written products so that final drafts are appropriate in terms of the following dimensions:
Purpose-- Intent is established and maintained within a given piece of writing.
Organization-- The writing demonstrates order and coherence.
Details-- The details contribute to development of ideas and information, evoke images, or otherwise elaborate on or clarify the content of the writing.
Voice or Tone -- An appropriate voice or tone is established and maintained.
Writing Conventions
1.6 Students' independent writing demonstrates command of appropriate English conventions, including grammar, usage, and mechanics. This is evident when students: use clear sentences, correct syntax, and grade-appropriate mechanics so that what is written can be easily understood by the reader; use correct grammar; employ a variety of sentence structures; follow conventional spelling; use correct mechanics; display few errors or patterns of errors, relative to length and complexity, and make only intentional, effective departure from conventions.
Responses to Literature 9-12
1.7 In written responses to literature, students show understanding of reading; connect what has been read to the broader world of ideas, concepts, and issues;and make judgments about the text. This is evident when students: connect plot/ideas/concepts to experience, including other literature; go beyond retelling of plot by reflecting on what is read and making connections to broader ideas, concepts, and issues; and support judgments about what has been read by drawing from experience, other literature, and evidence from the text, including direct quotations; clearly articulate a point of view, or state a firm judgment about the piece to be discussed; engage the reader effectively and provide closure; and maintain a sense of audience by addressing the reader's
possible questions, and students willalso establish interpretive claims and support them.
Reports
1.8 In written reports, students organize and convey information and ideas accurately and effectively. This is evident when students: analyze a situation based on information gathered, and suggest a course of action based on the information; discuss a situation or problem, then predict its possible outcomes based on information gathered; engage the reader and develop a controlling idea; use appropriate organizing structures; use a range of appropriate elaboration strategies such as including appropriate facts and details, describing the subject or narrating a relevant anecdote; organize information gathered through reading, interviews, questionnaires, and experiments so that a reader can easily understand what is being conveyed; establish an authoritative stance on a
subject, and appropriately identify andaddress the reader's need to know; include appropriate facts and details, excluding extraneous and inappropriate information; and develop a controlling idea that conveys a perspective on the subject; use a variety of strategies to develop the report; and organize text in a framework appropriate to purpose, audience, and content.
Narratives
1.9 In written narratives, students organize and relate a series of events, fictional or actual, in a coherent whole. This is evident when students: recount in sequence several parts of an experience or event, commenting on their significance and drawing a conclusion from them; or create an imaginative story with a clear story line in which some events are clearly related to the resolution of a problem use dialogue and/or other strategies appropriate to narration; select details consistent with the intent of the story, omitting extraneous details; establish a situation/plot, point of view, setting, and conflict; develop characters through action, speech, relationship to others,etc.; use a range of narrative strategies;engage readers by creating a context that makes clear
the significance of the story and ofits central idea or tension; control both the movement(chronology) and the pace of the story; effectively use a range of narrative strategies; effectively use dialogue; and unify all narrative aspects of the story.
Procedure
1.10 In written procedures, students organize and relate a series of events, fictional or actual, into a coherent whole. This is evident when students: organize the steps of procedures clearly and logically; use words, phrases, and sentences to establish clear transitions between steps; provide instructions for the successful completion of an appropriately complex set of actions; anticipate what a reader needs to know in order to follow the procedures; make use, when necessary, of appropriate graphics to support text; and use a variety of design and writing strategies (e.g. headers,graphics, tone, imagery) to ensure the message is user-friendly.
Persuasive Writing
1.11 In persuasive writing, students judge, propose, and persuade. This is evident when students: clearly define a significant problem, issue, topic, or concern; make an assertion or judgment, or propose one or more solutions; support proposals,as appropriate, through definitions, descriptions, illustrations, examples from experience, and anecdotes; and engage the reader by anticipating shared concerns and stressing their importance, discussing the pros and cons of alternatives, addressing the reader's potential doubts and criticisms; take an authoritative stand on a topic; support the statement with sound reasoning; and use a range of strategies to elaborate and persuade.
Personal Essays
1.12 In personal essays, students write effectively. This is evident when students:
reflect on personal experience, or the experience of an imagined character, using patterns of cause/effect, comparison, and classification; relate personal experiences to concepts, patterns, and ideas; trace the process of reflection, making connections between thoughts and experience; establish a commonplace, concrete occasion as a context for reflection, and maintain a thoughtful voice and style.
Poetry
1.23 In writing poetry, students use a variety of forms. This is evident when students: write poems with a purpose and an awareness of audience; use words for their sounds and textures, as well as their meanings; write poems in a variety of voices for a variety of audiences; use figurative language and descriptive words and phrases in their poems; write poems using dialogue, character, setting, and plot; write poems that express mood, thought, or feeling, and write poems that include the observance and intentional non-observance of conventions.
LISTENING
Clarification and Restatement
1.13 Students listen actively and respond to communications. This is evident when students:ask clarifying questions; restate, and respond through discussion, writing, and using art forms.
Critique
1.14 Students critique what they have heard (e.g., music, oral presentation).This is evident when students: observe; describe; extend; interpret; and make connections.
EXPRESSION
Speaking
1.15 Students use verbal and nonverbal skills to express themselves effectively. This is evident when students: share information; use accepted conventions of the English language (e.g., grammar, usage, word choice, pronunciation) in formal settings (e.g., class presentations, job interviews); show awareness of an audience by planning and adjusting to its reaction; make effective use of such devices as pace, volume, stress, enunciation, and pronunciation; use language expressively and persuasively; constructively express preferences, feelings, and needs, and assume roles in group communication tasks.
FIELDS OF KNOWLEDGE STANDARDS
Critical Response:
Eras and Styles
5.1 Students demonstrate understanding of the historical eras, styles, and evolving technologies that have helped define forms and structures in the arts, language, and literature.
Times and Cultures
5.2 Students demonstrate how literature, philosophy, and works in the arts influence and reflect their time and their local and regional culture.
Universal Themes
5.3 Students discover universal themes by comparing a broad range of cultural expressions from various times and places.
Aesthetic Judgment
5.4 Students form aesthetic judgment, using appropriate vocabulary and background knowledge to critique their own work and the work of others, and to support their perception of work in the arts, language, and literature.
Point of View
5.5 Students develop a point of view that is their own (e.g., personal standards of appreciation for the arts, language, and literature).
Critique and Revision
5.6 Students review others; critiques in revising their own work, separating personal opinion from critical analysis.
Audience Response
5.7 Students respond constructively as members of an audience (e.g., at plays, speeches, concerts, town meeting).
LITERATURE AND MEDIA
Types of Literature
5.8 Students read a variety of types of literature, fiction and nonfiction (e.g., poetry, drama, essays, folklore and mythology, fantasy and science fiction, and public documents, such as newspapers and periodicals).
American Literature
5.9 Students interpret contemporary and enduring works of American literature, and understand how important themes of American experience have developed through time.
Diverse Literary Traditions
5.10 Students interpret works of diverse literary traditions including works by women and men of many racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in different times and parts of the world.
Literary Elements and Devices
5.11 Students use literary elements and devices including theme, plot, style, imagery, and metaphor to analyze, compare, interpret, and create literature.
Literate Community
5.12 Students participate as members of a literate community, talking about books, ideas, and writing.
Responding to Text
5.13 Students respond to literary texts and public documents using interpretive, critical,and evaluative processes. This is evident when students: make inferences about content, events, story, characters, and setting, and about the relationship(s) among them; explain the differences between various genres; analyze the impact of authors' decisions regarding word choice and content; make inferences about themes and styles; describe how linguistic structures and the diverse features of language can influence interpretation of texts; identify the characteristics of literary forms and genres; explain the effects of point of view/bias; evaluate literary merit; make thematic connections between literary texts, public discourse, and media; evaluate the impact of authors'
decisions regarding word choice, style,content, and literary elements; and interpret the ambiguities, subtleties, contradictions, ironies, and nuances.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Changes in Language
5.16 Students demonstrate understanding of the ways in which the English language evolves and changes (e.g., word origins, impact of major events).
Dialects
5.17 Students respect diversity in dialects.
Structures
5.18 Students demonstrate an understanding of the structures of the English language (e.g., sentence, paragraph, text structure).
| 
