Seminar Pacing Part 2: Journalistic Learning Initiative

A few years ago, I was saddled with the school's dying newspaper/journalism program. Long story short, cuts to electives were being made, that teacher was leaving, and if I hadn't stood up for what I believe i.e. the power and importance of student journalism (ugh, stupid morals) gone would have been that program. But after 1 year of teaching it, I was like "I'm not good at this." Yet. Growth mindset or w/e.

Over the summer, after that first year, I took a chance on a program called the Journalistic Learning Initiative. What I experienced floored me. Not only I was given a stipend, I was given among the best professional developments I've ever received and certainly THE BEST virtual PD. JLI gave me a curriculum to use with my journalism classes that lasted most of the first semester and every support you could imagine. Each and every lesson came with a short podcast from a pair of educators that explained the purpose of the lesson, potential adaptations, and hurdles. There were worksheets and pre-made PowerPoints and everything else you could ask for. There were tons of things I didn't even use because they didn't fit with my teaching style but NEVER gaps in what I did need. I told a teacher friend of mine that it felt like reading my own lessons plans. I would start thinking of an idea for what to do next, then log in to JLI and the idea I had was there waiting for me.

JLI centers around a student-initiated and student-led interview with an expert. Once my journalism students identified the issue in our community that mattered to them and conducted research (all lessons that were provided by JLI), they would locate an expert and request an interview. This was like having students bring in guest speakers, except those guest speakers were interviewed by my students in front of their peers! Suddenly the school newspaper went from articles where they ask a random kid in the cafeteria about the new Taylor Swift album to in-depth coverage of hurricane Milton damage, gas prices, inflation, the impact of self-checkouts on the disabled, beach clean-ups, pet euthanasia, and the school's air conditioning malfunctions. Their sources for those stories? A city council member, a AAA spokesperson (who turned out to be a former producer for NBC nightly news!), a professor of economics, a disability rights advocate, the co-presidents of a non-profit, the head of our county pet and resource center, and the assistant superintendent. All of these individuals Zoomed into my classroom and spoke with my students who had e-mailed them, prepared questions, and conducted themselves professionally with zero interference from me.

I'm no longer the school's journalism teacher (someone else took up that mantle), but I'm proudly adapting the JLI curriculum for use in AP Seminar. What better way to show students the real-world impact of research than for them to take on specific, often local, issues and connect with an expert in that field? What better way to prepare them not just for AP Research where they often find themselves in dialogue with the academic community but also REAL LIFE where sending e-mail and reaching out to people to network and connect is a vital skill for success beyond the classroom?

My desire to do this came after several years of 100% pass rates but flagging interest in the class. AP Seminar can be a stressful addition to a student's workload and teaching strictly to the test turns a difficult course into a boring, difficult course. For a long time, I'd been distressed by how much I taught to the test and to the rubrics, something I've never believed in (those pesky morals again). JLI gave me the answer.

Below is how I adapted my AP Seminar pacing to include interviewing experts, creating podcasts and more. Was it successful? Yes, in every way. My pass rate suffered not at all and my enrollment for the following year DOUBLED. Some of the lessons and ideas you'll see repeated from my Vanilla Pacing Guide, but again, if you see something you want me to post detailed lessons for, say so in the comments. And if you're really interested, I cannot recommend JLI highly enough.