High Five 2012: The integrated language arts and journalism curriculum
The NAA Foundation, with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, developed High Five in an effort to address concerns about student achievement.
High Five provides an integrated, three-unit curriculum that includes reading, writing, journalism, grammar, linguistics and visual literacy. All materials are age-appropriate for middle-school students. The curriculum uses the daily newspaper as a textbook and information source.
High Five places special emphasis on schools with students who are majority-minority, low-income and/or primarily conversant in a language other than English. Further, it expands the reach of student newspapers, found most often in high schools, into middle schools.
Each unit, aligned to Common Core State Standards, is designed to be used as a stand-alone piece. However, the power of the curriculum lies in interrelated concepts presented in the individual units.
Download the units
A shorter version
Our Introductory News Literacy curriculum is an updated and condensed version of High Five. It uses some of the same material, but each the three units take only a week or two of class time to complete.