JEA is seeking applicants for the third year of its ongoing curriculum initiative, which involves leading a national journalism professional learning community and maintaining full-fledged curriculum materials – including learning outcomes, lesson plans/activities, applicability to Common Core State Standards, formative and summative assessments and evaluation guides.

Curriculum leaders are needed in the following content areas:

• Design (principles, elements: type, color, space, structure)
• Photojournalism (history and ethics, composition basics, caption writing, tips and tricks, sports photography, portrait photography, photo editing, working with reporters/editors, photography and social media, image workflow/organization, preparing a portfolio)
• Web (defining an audience, budgeting, information design, basic HTML, online writing, staff structure and workflow, advanced Web skills, creating a design style guide)
• Writing (basics of journalistic writing, revision, using quotes, headlines, feature writing, news writing, opinion writing, sports writing)

Curriculum leaders serve in a high-profile role within their respective content area. As such, they are expected to be productive both in curriculum development and engagement with professional development opportunities. Specifically, leaders must:

• Develop at least one lesson plan a month to supplement or replace existing lessons, including developing a lesson plan each semester in conjunction with the National High School Journalism Convention “One Story” program.
• Attend and lead sessions at JEA Advisers Institute, July 11-14, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Travel and lodging are paid for by JEA.)
• Lead professional learning community in content area with an online chat at least once per quarter.
• Collaborate with JEA committees on certification, contests and scholarships as needed to integrate learning objectives into other JEA programs.

It must be stressed that all curricular material must be original, and JEA must obtain reprinting rights for any examples used as part of the curriculum. The distribution of these materials greatly limits the ability to claim fair use of copyrighted materials, so a strong or exclusive emphasis on original content is key.

Any teacher/adviser member is eligible to apply for a one-year curriculum leader position. Leaders must be detail-oriented, able to work individually and as part of a team and able to meet deadlines consistently. In addition, curriculum leaders must be proficient with Google Drive. Familiarity with WordPress content management system is a plus. All lesson plans and related materials must use templates from JEA to ensure applicability to standards and conformity across modules.

Curriculum leaders will receive a $1,000 stipend to help offset their expenses and in consideration of their time. JEA currently does not provide subsidies for curriculum leaders to attend the National High School Journalism Convention.

Applications should be completed using this online form, and must be submitted by Jan. 22, 2016. If you have questions, please email curriculum@jea.org.