Curriculum Library
The JEA Curriculum Initiative shares lesson plans across 12 different content areas, complete with learning outcomes, assessments, evaluation guides, models and alignment to standards including the Common Core and Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Today, we proudly offer hundreds of weeks worth of lessons to complement high school journalism classrooms across the country. This content is available exclusively to all JEA members.
There are many free resources available to the public on the Anywhere JEA page, and some other curriculum falls into groups easily navigated using Curriculum Maps.
Thank you for checking out the JEA curriculum library. JEA updated our website Sept. 11. We appreciate your patience as our curriculum team continues to update links to some of the downloads and activities throughout the library in the coming weeks. Email staff@jea.org the name of the lesson (include the URL) you are trying to access as we may be able to send it to you directly.
Free
Weekly Lesson
Each week, we share a free curriculum lesson on a timely topic. These lessons are free to everyone for a limited period of time. After that, the lessons live in the curriculum library which is accessible only to JEA members. Click here to learn more about membership.
Developing a student leadership portfolio
Students will accumulate samples of their work and other necessary materials suitable for a leadership portfolio that could prepare them to enter their state and possibly national JEA student journalist of the year competition.Curriculum Library
Examining Racial Bias in Mainstream Media
This lesson provides students an opportunity to discuss how racial bias impacts news coverage in mainstream media outlets through a short video about multidisciplinary artist Alexandra Bell.Expanding the First Amendment: State Laws and Student Voice
This lesson is intended to help students gain a better understanding of how state laws may expand student press rights beyond the First Amendment, as limited by Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Students will use SPLC.org to research their state’s status to see if it already has a New Voices law or an active New Voices campaign.Protecting Student Voices Trivia
Get your students competing to test their knowledge of specific laws, court cases that shape their speech and publication rights at school and the resources available to them.Protest and the First Amendment
In this lesson, students will be able to review examples of protest coverage and best practices and apply this knowledge to a variety of protest coverage scenarios.Voting, Voice and the Constitution
This lesson provokes analysis of primary documents (including historical newspapers), challenges students to consider voting rights in contemporary contexts, and encourages them to consider relationships between voice, activism, the press and voting.Analyzing Media Coverage and Finding Factual and Unbiased News
This lesson focuses on teaching media biases through the scope of identifying and analyzing media coverage.Election Coverage
This lesson on election coverage moves students through critical-thinking and decision-making processes, then prompts them to cover stories communities need.Re-examining the Student Media Staff Manual
Staff manuals provide student journalists with resources and guidance. Now is the perfect time to evaluate and review your guidelines.Understanding the First Amendment and Student Press Rights
This lesson provides details and background on Freedom of Speech Rights, what rights student journalists generally possess, gives resources for understanding how any local policies affect those rights and supplies scenarios and links for further discussion.Copyright Basics
This online lesson helps students independently learn the basics of copyright law and the exceptions to it. After a brief tutorial, students will then either draw or create an online infographic explaining what they have learned.Basic Libel Law
This online lesson guides students through the basics of libel law and the specifics of how it applies to real-world situations. It includes a brief instructional video, a quiz for understanding, and a discussion/writing prompt.JEA Curriculum Chat Podcast
Listen to the most recent episode.
About Curriculum & The Team
In May 2013, the Journalism Education Association began work on its curriculum initiative, creating lesson plans across 14 content areas, complete with learning outcomes, assessments, evaluation guides, models and alignment to standards including the Common Core and Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Over the course of the next 11 months, JEA worked with 14 of its members — identified as national leaders in their area of expertise — to develop nearly 200 weeks worth of lessons to complement high school journalism classrooms across the country. Helping them were dozens of other JEA members, professionals and student journalists who volunteered their own ideas, materials and examples to benefit scholastic media advisers.
As important as this electronic resource is, it’s merely a portion of JEA’s curriculum initiative. Just as important is the ongoing commitment the organization is making to the effort. Curriculum leaders keep the curriculum current and dynamic by providing updated lesson plans and examples that reflect the newest trends and technology. They collaborate with other JEA committees such as certification and Career & Technical Education to ensure that the organization is at the forefront of defining 21st century journalism. They coordinate with our national Professional Advisory Committee to ensure our student learning objectives align with industry standards. They showcase their curriculum and lessons at national conventions and conferences. And they host online chats to not only discuss implementation of their module, but to coordinate discussion of best practices that will guide future development.
We welcome your feedback, suggestions, plaudits and corrections. Please feel free to email mfromm@d51schools.org, or contact specific curriculum leaders directly.