Saturday, October 28, 2006

Student Press Freedom Bill

Download the Student Press Bill to learn more

Dave Upthegrove is serving his 3rd term in the Washington State House of Representatives, where he represents the 33rd legislative district—which includes Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac and parts of Kent and Burien. In the legislature, he serves as Vice-Chairman of the Natural Resources, Ecology & Parks Committee. He also serves on the Capital Budget Committee and on the Transportation Committee.

Prior to serving in the legislature, Representative Upthegrove worked on the staff of the legislature for seven years. He also served as Chairman of the 33rd District Democratic Party. He is one of the youngest members of the legislature and has worked closely with student governments to make sure that young voices are represented in the process.

A recent Knight Foundation Study showed that students who do not receive civics or journalism education in school are far less likely to understand or appreciate their first amendment rights. In the 2006 session, Representative Upthegrove was the prime sponsor of House Bill 2579, which requires classroom based assessments in civics. Unlike the WASL, these will be interactive project-based assessments scored by teachers in the classroom. Civics is already part of the required curriculum in Washington’s public schools. However, prior to passage of this bill, there has been no mechanism to ensure that students are actually learning the subject.

Outside of the legislature, Upthegrove serves as a member of the Council for Public Legal Education-- a group of community leaders who work to educate the public about their rights and responsibilities as citizens—and also is a regular volunteer with the "We the People" civic education program in the schools. He recently traveled to Warsaw, Poland to participate in an international civics education conference. One of the topics highlighted by that trip was the importance of a free press in maintaining democracy.

Rep. Upthegrove feels strongly that the first amendment rights of student press should be protected. He intends to introduce legislation in the 2007 session to prohibit censorship of student newspapers at public colleges and high schools.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Suggestions for postings on this site...

We'd love your feedback about this weblog - what would you like to have discussions about? Post your ideas here.

Journalism GLEs and EALRs

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) approved Washington State Journalism Curriculum Guidelines list them as Goals. Today, teachers must list them as either Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) or as Grade Level Expectations (GLEs).
This is just one example of the many resources WJEA
has to offer — consider becoming a member.

Design

Many of us have questioned the longevity of newspaper design and the "paper" papers. Read the thought-provoking study by Mark Friesen, a news designer at The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon for a true conversation piece :: http://newsdesigner.com/blog/

So many resources are available for design, but here are a couple of great sites to check out:

• Society for News Design :: http://www.snd.org/
• The Society of Publication Designers :: http://www.spd.org/

Journalism Advising Jobs in Washington

Know of a journalism position opening? Post it here!

High School Editor's Diary

This is a blogspot for your editors to exchange their ideas about any appropriate publication-related topics (thought they most likely will want to set up their own, if they haven't already).

Facing Censorship

While we always suggest contacting the Student Press Law Center, our pool of active advisers are all more than willing to lend an ear and offer resources to you. Feel free to post issues you're facing here.

Teach Free Speech

This is an area for advisers to offer suggestions about teaching freedom of expression to your students and colleagues. Ideas might include lesson plans, links, reflections about successful lessons, and so on.

Teaching Tools/Links

Just what the title says... Here are some great places to start. Please, add more.

American Society of Newspaper Editors
... And High School Journalism from ASNE
http://highschooljournalism.org/


Journalism Education Association

National Scholastic Press Association

Jteacher.com - http://jteacher.com/


Washington Journalism Education Association

Student Press Law Center

Poynter Institute

For Design:
Society for News Design

The Society of Publication Designers

Scholastic Events

Feel free to comment or follow up about events you plan to attend, have attended, and/or suggest events you'd like to see the WJEA consider hosting. To see information about the events themselves? Hey, you've gotta see wjea.net.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006