How am I allowed to use the curriculum?

JEA grants its current, paid members full license to use, remix, tweak and build upon any curricular materials for classroom use. Materials should not be redistributed outside of the classroom or used for conference presentations. Occasionally, teachers are asked to post their lesson plans to a school or district website for other teachers’ use, but please do not do this either.

JEA does not require attribution of our materials used in the classroom, but we love it when it happens. A line such as “Adapted from the Journalism Education Association Curriculum Initiative” would be appropriate.

Do you have a curriculum map I can follow?

Because every high school journalism program is different, we have not created a prescribed sequence to follow. Instead, the curriculum is designed to work like a buffet — allowing you to take variable-length modules that will fill your needs while accommodating your skills, technology and teaching philosophy.

That said, we receive requests regularly for a sample syllabus or curriculum map. During the summer of 2016, curriculum leaders put together samples for advisers to consider. Each curriculum map shows how one journalism teacher uses various lessons from each module in the JEA Curriculum Initiative for a one-semester course.

If you are using the curriculum, we would love to hear which modules (and which time lengths) you use — as well as your impressions of that structure — so we can share that with other members. Email sarahjnichols.sjn@gmail.com.