New Journalism 105 class encourages students to write
The course Journalism 105 teaches students how to write features. ( (CC BY 2.0))
Journalism 105 will be starting in the spring semester, allowing students to have a unique and hands-on experiential class that is not only in the classroom but online.
The class is a feature writing course, meaning there will be several different topics that the students will write about, topics include subjects from movies to restaurant reviews.
Aspiring writers can sign up for the class and learn how to write different types of features, some even having the opportunity to become published in the local area.
The students will also have the chance to go out to restaurants and movies to write reviews with the entire class.
What makes this class so unique is the aspects it brings to a class environment, and the idea of including out of the classroom experiences.
“The next-to-last class session we’d all meet at a restaurant, but before we do that you’d research how to write a food review, and we’d all meet at the same restaurant and look at the menu, and then we’d order different stuff and then you’d write a review on the restaurant,” said Michael Reed, a journalism instructor and department chairman at Saddleback.
There are many opportunities to hone your writing skills and if a student writes well and follows the type of career the class encourages, they can become published and write for a living.
“In the 25 years of building the program here at Saddleback, I’ve told students every semester, that those who can write are worth their weight in gold,” Reed said. “If you’re a really good writer you’re going to be able to make money.”
A class like Journalism 105 is for the writers who are determined to use their writing and enhance abilities to write features, reviews, and several types of publishable writings.
“Taking a feature writing class is going to certainly help [students] achieve that goal because our emphasis is on ‘show me the money,'” Reed said. “So we’re going to show you ways to make your writing pay.”