Journalism Day -- the Beginning

On a sunny day in early June 2011, 120 eager 4th grade students from Cantara Street Elementary School boarded a big yellow school bus for their first taste of High School Journalism. Their visit to our campus marked the first of three Daniel Pearl Magnet High School Journalism Days completed so far, and the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing tradition.

To an elementary school student, high school can seem very scary and very different from what they're used to. They hear about (and so fear) the long classes and the homework, but don't get to experience it firsthand. The topics discussed were:

• Video Editing -- editing cartoons down to a specific time without losing the overall story
• The First Amendment -- what rights student journalist have in commenting about school and society
• Chemistry -- the need to accurately and completely record and report what goes on in a chemistry experiment, using journalistic conventions
• Math Stories -- stories can be used in math, and writing is just as important as adding and subtracting in order to describe what is done in a problem

In addition, students got to experience other aspects of life in high school, such as

• Food!
• Changing classrooms for the first time!
• PE!
• Actually blowing stuff up in chemistry class!

The Cantara students got to experience all of these in just one visit.  And at the same time, Cantara faculty had the opportunity to observe how the journalism curriculum can be integrated into the elementary school classroom.

Journalism Day, Round II

In January of 2012, the journalism class from Portola Middle School visited our campus for their own version of Daniel Pearl Magnet High School Journalism Day. Again, students got to test the high school waters while exploring their understanding of their own First Amendment rights and writing about what they blew up in chemistry class.

Students from both DPMHS and Portola interacted with each other, and learned that they shared more similarities than differences, despite the immense two-year age difference. DPMHS students showed how fun journalism and other academic subjects could be at a small school, and this re-invigorated them and their teachers.

Journalism Day -- the Sequel

To see the photoslide show, enlarge the screen and hit play. Click on "Show Info" if captions don't appear.

Once again, on another sunny day in June 2012, the same students from Cantara returned to Daniel Pearl Magnet High School  for a follow-up Journalism Day..

This year, they were leaned about:

• Video Cameras -- students shot a sort film based on a nursery rhyme of fairy tale, and brought their own props and scripts. They learned about different camera angles and shots, and the skill of "editing in the camera".
  
• Physics -- Just-in-time teaching, which is the use of current events (current as in happening right now!) Using the Internet, students got a chance to learn about the transit of Venus that was happening the day of the visit, and learned how refracting and reflecting telescopes worked.
  
• Math Humor -- humor has a place in the classroom, and especially so in the math classroom. Through wordplay, puns, and riddles, students learned that mathematics is just another language, and one that can be included in all manner of jokes.
  
• Library Research -- a good journalist knows that they must get good, reliable data about their subjects, and that not everything on the Internet is reliable. The DPMHS teacher-librarian showed students how to look things up at trusted sources, and demonstrated the importance of fact-checking.