leads - the most important of any article...

taken from Bobby Hawthorne

Remember to avoid cliches

Kinds of feature leads:

Literary allusion - relates a person or event to some character or event in literature
Historical allusion - relates a person or event to some character or event in history
contrast - compares extremes
Miscellaneous freak leads - employ ingenious novelty to attract the reader's eye
pun - a novelty that uses a pun to quirk the reader's attention
one word - uses a blunt, explosive word to summarize the most newsworthy
parody lead - mimics as well-known proverb, quotation or phrase
starting statement - consists of a single powerful statement meant to startle the reader
description - sets a tone and puts the reader inside a place, situation or shows a person
capsule or punch lead - uses a blunt, explosive statement to summarize teh most newsworthy feature
anecdotal lead - uses an event to represent teh universal experience
then and now - shows progress
twist of fate - reveals an odd turn of events or unusual twist on an old story.
question -serves best when a problem with reader appeal is the crux of the story.
quote - as a general rule, avoid quote leads.  When used, the quote should be dynamic and capture the theme of the story.

Good Feature Article

Hey guys just putting this link of an excellent feature article I found on the Times yesterday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/us/26runaway.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=kid%20runaways&st=cse

College applications... this is a great website

http://www.collegeessaywhiz.com/

Olivia Fundraiser... taken from Facebook...

Ok guys ms.mcgrath had some ideas to raise money for Olivia one that a bunch of people agreed on was mr.tesler's band would have a concert one night in november and he would charge $10 a ticket. that's going to happen later on but this week we are planning on having a bake sale during parent teacher confrences.

thursday around 5 bring anything you could bake or coffee or things like that and if you can do the same for friday but the confrences start earlier i will get the full details but we were just asing a few things from you uys

1. if you could print out any pictures you have of olivia or with her by monday

2. if you could let me, monica, or ms.mcgrath if you are going to bake anything or bring something this week


that it and please let everyone know so we can raise a lot of money for her family!

feature writing

http://www.squidoo.com/feature-article#module32608402

this one outlines structures and language... breaks it down...

What is sidebar?
a typographically distinct section of a page, as in a book or magazine, that amplifies or highlights the main text. (according to dictionary.com)

Mainbars vs sidebars:
http://journalism.about.com/od/reporting/a/mainbar.htm

Feature writing and revision

Remember while writing feature, you are writing an extended analysis of some topic...

It should be objective, and extensive
It should provide sidebars/pictures
It should have primary and secondary research
It should be applicable to readers
Timeliness shouldn't be an issue...

http://www.connorsgradstudent.com/learn/index.html

http://www.anthologiesonline.com/Articles/12%20Point%20Checklist%20for%20Writing%20Feature%20Articles.htm - checklist

3rd issue - due dates

First draft - Friday, 10/23
2nd draft - Friday, 10/30
final drafts - Tuesday, 11/10 (day before Veteran's day)

Article assignments...
News
food drive - georgina
extended day - Eleni
senior prom - Gigi
editorial boards - Sarah
College fairs - Shanza
Environmental club trip - Livi
Online portfolios - Jamie
AP classes - paula
Talend show - Kristina
School Store - Chris
Nobel (Obama) -Claudia
... still need coverage : middle school briefs and news, election day, intrepid internships, election day

Feature -
Teen programs - Lisa L
Teens cover up - Richard
Teen fads - Divya
sleeplessness - Marlyn
Virginity - Ciera
parental involvement - Erica
Kids political knowledge - Raymond
homophobia - Mia
Scary movies - Kristina P
Kindle - Shazia
still to be covered: Veteran's Day

Opinion
American views of teens -Eric
Cliques -Livi
paperless - Sarah
Detention - Zandalee
Wednesday (still needs coverage)
Open Lunch - georgina

Entertainment
Restaurant review - Tanya
Underage R movies - rating systems - Victor
Fashion -Sharon
Advertisements - to be determined

Sports
gym class - Shanza
World Series - Erin
Misconduct in NFL - AMneet
more sports topics needed

Resources and good websites from Asne

This collection of links is for student journalists and their teachers. With them, we aim to give you insight into the world of scholastic journalism -- and reach beyond into the professional world.

AllThingsD
News, analysis and opinion on the Internet, technology and the media. Featuring two prominent Wall Street Journal journalists and other experts. http://allthingsd.com/

American Journalism Review
Covers analyzes and monitors print, television, radio and online media. http://ajr.org/

American Press Institute
Founded by newspaper publishers in 1946, API is the oldest and largest center devoted solely to training and professional development for the news industry and college journalism educators. http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/

Center for Public Integrity
Produces investigative journalism in the public interest. http://www.publicintegrity.org/

ChannelOne
Broadcasting since 1990, 12-minute news broadcasts are delivered daily to more than 6 million teens in middle schools and high schools across the country. http://www.channelone.com/

Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
An alliance of more than 30 journalism-related organizations concerned about secrecy in government and the increasing closure of public records and meetings at all levels of government. http://www.cjog.net/


Columbia Journalism Review
Covers analyzes and monitors print, television, radio and online media. http://cjr.org/

Content Bridges
Blog by Ken Doctor, a former news executive who is a news analyst a market analytics firm. http://contentbridges.typepad.com/

C-SPAN Classroom
C-SPAN Classroom is a free membership service that offers resources to assist educators, and specifically civics and U.S. government teachers, in their use of C-SPAN's primary source, public affairs video. http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/

Daniel Pearl Foundation
Honors the legacy of The Wall Street Journal reporter who was slain in Pakistan in 2002. Includes PEARL World Youth News, an international web-based student news service run by secondary school students from around the world. http://www.pearl.iearn.org/pearlnews/
Detroit Free Press Jobs Page
Great career development tips. http://www.freep.com/legacy/jobspage

Editor and Publisher
Reports on all facets of newspapering: newsroom/editorial, new media, advertising, circulation, promotion, public relations, production, news services/syndicates, technology, legal, campus journalism and finance. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/index.jsp

First Amendment Center
A project of The Freedom Forum, the site features coverage of First Amendment issues and topics, daily First Amendment news, a First Amendment Library and guest analyses by legal specialists. http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/default.aspx

The Freedom Forum
This nonpartisan foundation is dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people. The foundation focuses on three priorities: The Newseum, the First Amendment and newsroom diversity. http://www.freedomforum.org/

Future of the First Amendment
This project surveyed more than 100,000 high school students, nearly 8,000 teachers and more than 500 administrators and principals at 544 high schools across the United States. http://firstamendment.jideas.org/  

Illinois First Amendment Center
Offers free materials for classroom use. http://www.illinoisfirstamendmentcenter.com/

International Education and Resource Network
IEARN enables teachers and youth to use the Internet and other new technologies to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference. http://www.iearn.org/

J-Ideas
Created at Ball State University to develop and encourage excellence in high school journalism through on-site activities, tailored programs, distance learning and digital activities and scholarship. http://www.jideas.org/

J-Lab
Programs to help journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. http://www.j-lab.org/

Knight Citizen News Network
A one-stop training center for citizen journalists and a showcase for all of the Knight Foundation's online training endeavors. http://www.kcnn.org/

Knight Digital Media Center
A partnership of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. http://www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org/home/

Knight News Challenge
A competition devoted to development and distribution of neighborhood and community-focused projects, services, and programs. http://www.newschallenge.org/

Learning to Finish
See projected graduation rates for individual school districts, states and the United States as a whole. This site measures the likelihood that a ninth-grader will complete high school on time. http://learningtofinish.org/calculator  (The site works best with Internet Explorer.) 

Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
The Maynard Institute, Oakland, Calif., has helped the nation's news media reflect America's diversity in staffing, content and business operations. http://www.maynardije.org/

McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum
The Freedom Museum, located in Chicago, is the nation's first museum dedicated to freedom and the First Amendment. hrough interactive explorations, visitors can gain a greater understanding for the struggle for freedom in the United States and the role the First Amendment plays in our daily lives. http://www.freedommuseum.us/

PBS Media Shift
MediaShift tracks how new media, from weblogs to podcasts to citizen journalism, are changing society and culture. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/

National Council for the Social Studies
NCSS is the country's largest association devoted solely to social studies education. http://www.ncss.org/

The National Council of Teachers of English
NCTE works to advance teaching, research, and student achievement in English language arts at all scholastic levels. http://www.ncte.org/

The National Press Photographers Association
"The Visual Student" blog is a resource for students in all areas of visual journalism. http://blogs.nppa.org/visualstudent/  

The New York Times Learning Network
Resources for students and teachers in grades 3-12 http://www.nytimes.com/learning/index.html

The News Literacy Project
Fosters partnerships between journalists and social studies, history and English teachers in middle and high schools to help students sort fact from fiction in the information they consume and create. http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/  

News University
Tightly focused, interactive learning through Web-browser based courses that can be completed anytime and anywhere. These interactive, free or inexpensive courses appeal to journalists at all levels of experience and in all types of media. Students and advisers should check out the "Be a Reporter" game. http://www.newsu.org/  

Newseum
A "news museum" that provides visitors with a deeper understanding of the role of the First Amendment: http://www.newseum.org/. 
Front pages from news organizations: http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Newspaper Association of America Foundation
Scholastic journalism is a priority of NAA Foundation, which strives to develop engaged and literate citizens in our diverse society through investment in and support of programs designed to enhance student achievement through newspaper readership and appreciation of the First Amendment. http://www.naafoundation.org/

NewsHour Extra
Using the standards and resources of PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," NewsHour Extra provides students and teachers with quality educational resources based on current issues and events. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra

Online Journalism Review
Focused on the future of online journalism. http://www.ojr.org/index.cfm

The Paley Center for Media
The center explores alternative economic models for independent documentaries and other investigative journalism. http://www.paleycenter.org/

Poynter High/Poynter Institute for Media Studies
A school for journalists, future journalists and teachers of journalism. Web site is a key resource for professional and aspiring journalists, with stories about the media industry, reporting, writing, visual and multimedia journalism, ethics and values. http://www.poynter.org Special content for scholastic journalists, with story ideas, reporting and writing tips and a place to showcase students' best work: http://www.poynter.org/poynterhigh

PressThink
Blog by New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/

Prime Movers
The program enables mentors - professional journalists - to connect with with young minds. http://www.gwu.edu/~primemovers/

Reflections of a Newsosaur
Blog by Alan Mutter, a veteran news executive who is now an analyst and consultant. http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/  

RezNet
Trains Native American journalism students and helps them get internships and jobs. http://www.reznetnews.org/  

Stony Brook University
Established the nation's first Center for News Literacy to educate current and future news consumers on how to judge the credibility and reliability of news. http://www.sunysb.edu/journalism/index.shtml

Stardust High School Journalism Program
The program, housed at Arizona State University, is aimed at revitalizing high school journalism programs. It installs multimedia newsrooms in underserved high schools and supports the creation of student news Web sites. http://stardust.jmc.asu.edu/Stardust/Home.html

More fundraising ideas - let's become self-sufficient

Teachers attending the 2001 ASNE High School Institute at the University of Texas at Austin say finding stable sources of funding for student newspaper is among their most pressing needs.

 

• See if your local newspaper will print your paper at cost.
•  Create special issues of the paper on topics (such as graduation) that will draw certain types of ads (flowers, limousines, formal wear, etc.).
• Ask local newspapers and other businesses to donate old computer equipment.
• Seek out ads for part-time or summer jobs (such as McDonalds and Wal-Mart) and ads from the military and technical colleges.
• Create a special classified section built around fun things like song dedications or cute couples.
• Host and charge admission for a yearbook signing party.
• Charge other departments at school for desktop publishing jobs, such as designing and printing invitations for a sports team dinner, etc.
• Host a pizza and/or karaoke night at a local restaurant.
• During spirit week, set up a both so students can have their picture taken with a cardboard cut-out of someone famous; before Christmas, do photos with "Santa."
• If there is not already a designated vendor, consider selling snacks a couple of days a week during lunch or taking/selling photos from the prom or homecoming.
• Host a powder puff or faculty-student sporting event.
• Create and sell a faculty cookbook or calendar.
• Sponsor a "donation drawing" for a limo ride and dinner. Note the specific wording -- some schools do not allow raffles!
• Cake and ice cream sales and car washes are tried and true fund-raisers.

18 practical solutions to your funding problems - from www.hjs.org

Read below... what do you think???? (5th period in particular)



Valerie Kibler  -Newspaper Adviser
Harrisonburg (Va.) High School

The number one problem most staffs will face as they begin a new year is how to come up with the funding to pay for producing their publication. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you are committed to making it happen, the money will follow. Your enthusiasm will spark your kids into action! Here are some ideas that can bring in the dollars.



Charge a journalism fee. Students pay fees for many other classes in school. Why not journalism? I charge $15 per student and use the money for staff items like reporter’s notebooks, press passes, t-shirts, business cards, portfolios, mailboxes etc.

Exchange ad sales for services. Realize that you have a marketable product that you can use to barter for whatever you need. In the past, I’ve given free advertising in exchange for t-shirts for the entire staff or a meal for the staff.

Patron ads. While you will make a considerable amount of money selling ads to area businesses, anyone can be a patron and it doesn’t cost you a thing! Patrons can include teachers, students, parents, family from far away, or businesses who don’t really benefit from advertising in a school publication like funeral homes or huge corporations. Email me if you would like a copy of my patron ad contract.

Brick project. I used fundraisingltd.net to do a personalized brick sales fundraiser and made over $6000. You can set the parameters! The company offers a zillion options and you can work to beautify your campus by selling bricks in memory /honor of students/teachers/alumni or simply supporters of the community. Use the bricks to build benches or planners outside, to line a sidewalk, or to decorate an area inside your building. Easy and a cool community service project at the same time!

Coffee shop. Combine efforts with a marketing program or just do this one on your own! Sell coffee before school to students and teachers. The delicious aroma will draw the customers directly to your room. Make sure you aren’t breaking any food sales rules before embarking on this adventure!

Working concessions at athletic or other events. Volunteer to have your students work the concession stands instead of parents/teachers and work out a deal to receive a portion of the proceeds. In our school, athletic teams take games inside the gym and they get 50% of the profits from the athletic booster club. That way, teams can use the money for whatever they like and there is no favoritism shown because the kids are working for their “extras”. Publications can be teams, too! During football season, our band boosters work those concession stands. Our students help them out by taking concessions up into the stands to sell. We make $100 per game for this and the boosters bring in an additional $200-$300. It’s a win-win!!

Donations only bake sales/car washes. For back to school night or parent teacher conference days, students will run a donations only car wash or bake sale. Teachers will park their cars in a certain area and since students aren’t in school on those days, they wash the cars! We have also gone classroom to classroom with baked items which teachers always buy, not to mention parents who come by the welcome table at the front doors.

Valentine’s Data Match. We use the I-Flurtz company which you can find online. This is a hysterical fundraiser which the kids absolutely love in my school! Everyone fills out the forms provided free by the company and you only pay for what you sell, guaranteeing you a profit. We typically sell to half of the student body and it’s a hoot to watch the kids open these and find their top matches in their grade, the entire school, celebrity matches, best friend matches and ridiculously opposite matches. Teachers can do this, too, and just get matched with other teachers. We distribute teacher results free of charge as just a fun activity for the faculty!

Percentage nights at local restaurants. Many local restaurants will now work with you to sponsor a “special night” at their business. All you do is advertise and get people to go to that restaurant on a specified date that you’ve worked out in advance and the restaurant will give you a percentage of their income that night. We’ve already scheduled dates for this fall with our local Cici’s Pizza, Smoothie King and Chili’s and are waiting to put dates on the calendar for about fifteen more locations. Again, a win-win endeavor since the restaurant will have greater traffic and you will make easy money. Can be a terrific bonding experience for your staff, too, as they wait tables together or stand outside the restaurant with posters trying to get customers to come in and dine!

Selling water/healthy snacks in room. If you can’t sell candy bars anymore, go healthy! Kids will buy water, granola bars, crackers etc. Be careful to get approval for this one first and don’t sell during the hours lunch is being served. We can generally profit $100-$150 per week! Ask Chad Rummel how kids in Oakton love those Ozark lollipops!!!

Madden, Guitar Hero, DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) tournaments. These involve a population at your schools that often times aren’t going to ball games or participating in ANY after school events. Host a Guitar Hero tournament and watch those kids come out of the woodwork to pay an entry fee and compete at what they know so well. It’s amazing to watch one of these events!!!!

Hypnotist (Tom Deluca) Bring a hypnotist to your school and run an evening fundraiser. We had Tom Deluca a few years ago and he was absolutely amazing! I’ve NEVER in 21 years seen the entire student body pay attention as closely as they did to this one!

Womanless beauty pageant. Get your guys involved in this elaborate and hysterical event. Don’t ask for volunteers, make the guys feel as if they are representing a group. Have a “Mr. National Honor Society”, a “Mr. Junior Class”, a “Mr. Faculty”. Get as many as you can. The more you have in the competition, the more spectators you will have to come view it! Run it like a real pageant….evening gown, casual wear, interview…have judges, a crown, a money prize, a sash! Do it up right!

Regular beauty pageant. Beauty is a big venue! Again, girls can compete for the coveted title of “Ms. Anytown High School”. Run it just like real pageants are run. Girls will be really competitive and you will need to cover your bases where scoring is concerned! We did this annually when I taught in Marion and would make over $3000 on a packed auditorium every year!

Variety show/ talent show. Use the talent you have in your school and sell tickets! Can work in conjunction with the drama or music departments and showcase student and/or faculty talent!

Longaberger Basket B-I-N-G-O. Use this trendy event to attract your community into your school for a Saturday evening of fun! Find a Longaberger Basket consultant to order 25 baskets that are popular at that time, then have your kids get businesses to sponsor those baskets (pay the cost of them). Kids can then fill the baskets with a theme item (like a chocolate lover’s basket, a reading basket full of books, a Christmas basket full of ornaments, a college student’s basket full of dorm room supplies – you get the idea). Sell food, have raffles in between rounds and make it a lively evening! We do 25 games for $25 and made over $3000 last fall! I’ve seen the Vera Bradley variation on this, too.

Pie in the Face Competition. Get as many teachers as you can to volunteer to be pied in the face at a pep rally. Match every teacher up with one student who will collect money for that teacher. Only commit to putting 10 pies out there. The top five students who collect the most money get to pie the teacher that they were collecting for. The bottom five student collectors get pied BY the teacher. Kids love this! Only costs you the cost of pies, some trash bags and paper towels!!! Every year we do this for homecoming pep rally and make over $500.

Penny Wars. A great school spirit builder and money maker. Homecoming week is again a great time for this. Goal: Students want their class to earn the most points. Every penny is worth a point. So kids need to bring in as many pennies as they can for their class. The catch? Any silver or green money that is placed in another classes jar is SUBTRACTED from that class’s total. So, a dollar bill would mean minus 100 points. I know we spent an entire weekend rolling pennies from this one year and made over $800 on the last day of the competition. Make sure your jars are in a highly visible area!

Convergence - do this webinar on news u

http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_detail.aspx?id=snap_heyward06

I want to talk about Money...

“I want to talk about money!” is a thread from a JEA listserve. The gist of what the questioner is getting at are varying ways different advisers handle earning money for their publication. It seems that most advisers are either completely self-supporting with publications are get a small subsidy from their districts. All of the people on the chat have to earn money through advertising of some sort.




Many of the members of the group discuss their own solutions such as Journalism Patron Clubs, subscriptions, and grading students on how many ads they can obtain. There was much contention on this last issue. Many school districts didn’t allow students to be graded on the money they earned. However, teachers could grade on the process.



Many of the problems that these self-supporting publications faced had to do with buying equipment and updating classroom materials. All of these things are an anomaly to me because my paper is completely supported by my district. My journalism class is as well and I don’t have to sell any advertisements.



The one suggestion that I liked the best was the teacher who talked about the student bringing a portable vending machine to school and/or selling beverages for less than the school vending. I thought this was funny, but I am morally against giving teenagers more sugar because I too find the sale of candy very distracting and I wouldn’t want to be a part of the problem.



Some schools discussed fundraisers like selling bulbs and candles. They also suggested applying for grants and that you could find out where these grants were available by contacting people in charge.



Overall, the article was just a show of support from the high school scholastic journalism community. It offered suggestions and solutions that they use… best practices that often work. I find the listserve to be a very useful tool in becoming more adept as an English and Journalism teacher.

Advertising - the business of newspaper

Please read the following links and let me know what you think -

http://sites.moneymailer.com/agoura/advertise.html 

Newspaper review from Colombia

So Ms Sackstein gave a copy of our newspaper to those at Colombia University and this is the review that they gave us:

Part 1: Overall.

Coverage: We received a 90/100, the Judge said that the newspaper needs to be more interesting "enterprising personality" needed. She said that we really need to localize most of our stories.

News: not too well, but received 40/50. We need to use more sources, give "previews" of upcoming news, and localize what is happening in WJPS. Also that most of the stories weren't timely enough.

Feature: 40/50 but needs a lot of improvement. She says we need more variety of topics, especially when it comes to people's interest. She suggests taking a poll on what people would want to read about ; get teachers more involved and ask if they have any stories to contribute.

Sports: 40/50, she says that the Sports Editor should start to establish connections with people who can keep up the latest in sports. She says we need to talk about what's actually happening in Physical Education class, and not just stories about world sports.

Opinion: 45/50. These pieces require personalization, more of an specific angle. We need to use less quotes and add a "masthead", develop our structure and avoid bylines.

Part 2: Writing and Editing

Basic Journalistic Principles: We need to work on sentence structure, titles, bylines and using more references. Also learning how to write in third person and overall style for each type of writing. The reviewer said that it would be more appropriate to use AP style in our writing.

All Stories: Doing well in research, but there's too much summarizing and usage of the Internet. More information from WJPS would be useful and better. Localization is important in stories, quotes and transition placement needs to be corrected and more clear. Also that some stories sounded like they've been previously published material.

News: 20/25, very well but need to focus more on WJPS events & community events.

Feature: 15/25, needs more improvement ; there's not enough variety and originality.

Sports: 20/25, focus on WJPS events & what they're doing to help people get active in WJPS.

Opinion: 40/50, there needs to be more structure and more cleaning up at the end of writing these pieces. Reviewer said we need to learn how to approach influence over the students at WJPS to do whatever we convey.

Business Operations: She said that we're pretty flexible, good circulation and frequency but we should start to put Advertisements on the newspaper.

Part 3: Graphic Presentation:

35/50. We really need to work on this section a lot, because some of the pictures aren't matching the stories. There needs to be more clarity and work done onto the pictures themselves, maybe consider using Photoshop. Recommends looking at professional newspapers and get some ideas for design. There needs to be people actually in the picture because it humanizes the situation.

And that's about it :)

Livi.

Teacherease

A note about teacherease and the score that it tabulates as your current class letter grade - it is based on a 4 pt scale and I will be putting in scores of 100 for your independent reading assignments... therefore that final grade is NOT an accurate one. 

I'd like parents/students to please use teacherease as it was meant to be used, as an accountability tool.  You will be able to know how you are doing, what is missing and how did on varied assignments as well as getting personalized feedback... Final "score" grades will be presented as an average of what is on there...

Weighted as followed: classwork -40%, writing and projects 40% and blog work 20%

Please comment that you have read and understand this post... thank you.

Friday, October 16th - Survey Monkey

On Friday, please report to the pub lab room 325 immediately to begin taking the survey monkey to start evaluating your experience of the year so far.

You will need to bring your lit. circle /independent reading book in case you finish early.

Something interesting from the Denver Post

The best part of an interesting commentary in today's Denver Post...




"Gen Y: Strive for a more complete skill set" -- http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_13527584

By John Bersia

McClatchy-Tribue



Next, she (Gillian Sorensen, senior adviser at the United Nations Foundation, and a former high-level official under two U.N. secretaries-general, Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali) turns to writing. To write clearly and succinctly, what Sorensen calls "lean prose," is critically important. The ability to produce a memo, research report, speech, persuasive letter, statement or other item — and to do so quickly and accurately — is absolutely essential, she says.



Finally, Sorensen urges, students should get into the habit of reading, on a daily basis, the news of the world. One of her personal preferences is her hometown newspaper, but she fully understands young people gravitate toward the Internet, where they can find similar information — and electronic versions of many newspapers free of charge. She cautions, though, they should consult serious sources of news and more than just one. If reading the news of the world becomes a habit over time, you build your knowledge base, awareness and ability to question and challenge, she says; it is a form of continuing education.



In a period of uncertainty, rapid change and economic disruption, I cannot think of better advice for young people.

1st issue - what do you think? debrief

I spoke to Ms. Schneider and she wants us to do a debrief in the next issue...

What did we do well?  What do we need to fix? Be constructive...

Cyber Security Month - need someone to write about this for Oct. issue - if you are interested, please see me

The City of New York City of New York


Information Security Awareness

NEWSLETTER



October 2009



Cyber Security Awareness Month



October has been designated by the Federal Government as Cyber Security Awareness Month. City employees handle a great deal of sensitive and private data in order to provide services to the public. The City of New York has a formal information security program that establishes policies and standards; audits agencies for compliance; provides identity management services; and protects the City's networks and hosts from external and Internet threats. This program is administered by the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunication. You can read more at http://cityshare.nycnet/infosec and http://www.nyc.gov/infosec .



Every City employee should be familiar with and comply with the "User Responsibilities Policy." This policy shows some of the ways that you, as a user of City information systems, can help to uphold the public trust in our ability to protect private data. There are also some things that every home computer user should be aware of in order to protect your own personal data.



The National Cyber Security Alliance has provided a list of 14 practical tips for staying safe online. Please take a moment to visit Cityshare, the City's intranet, and review this list: http://cityshare.nycnet/html/cityshare/downloads/cyber_security_home_users.pdf



Cyber security is our shared responsibility

front page news

http://www.nytimes.com/

Writing movie reviews...

http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/how-write-a-movie-review

Sample reviews:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20252486,00.html?xid=rss-movie-reviews-Good

http://movies.nytimes.com/movies/intheaters.html

Period 5 - changes are on the way

Period 5, we are a big class and the structure has to change...

We will be discussing this change on Monday.  Remember, you must have your first drafts ready tomorrow...

If you never finished your first article, what are you waiting for?

Local school... what do you think? - Period 3 - please finish by the end of class on Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/nyregion/29crowded.html?ref=education - read this news article...

What do you notice? Look at the lead... look at the quotes, attribution...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04cherry.html?ref=todayspaper - Flu article

What do you notice? Look at the lead... look at the quotes, attribution...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/nyregion/04limits.html?ref=todayspaper - Mayor Bloomberg

What do you notice? Look at the lead... look at the quotes, attribution... What about the structure of all of the articles?

Comment on this post...

Texting while driving

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/technology/02distracted.html?ref=technology

Why only for federal employeeds? Someone want to tackle the idea of texting while driving for students?

"Will books be Napsterized?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/business/04digi.html?_r=1&ref=technology

What do you think?  What will happen to books?  Anyone have an opinion about this?

Opinion Piece from the times worth reading... what do you think?

The Public Editor: Notes About Bias, From Opposite Points of View


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/opinion/04pubed.html

Interesting story in the NY Times - No More Bake Sales in City Schools

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/nyregion/03bakesale.html  - anyone care to write a news article about this piece and/or an opinion piece about it...

you can be gathering ideas about what we write about from the newspapers... that is why you must keep reading what others write.

3rd period - if you aren't working on your article right now...

you can be signing up for an account on http://www.newsu.org/

look into one of the following web courses:
Cleaning your copy

Get me rewrite: the craft of revision

News Sense: The Building Blocks of News

What makes an idea or event a news story? Explore the who, what, when, where, why and how of news.

send me a copy of your work when you sign up... you shouldn't just be sitting around because I am not there... :)

5th period - today 10/2

Your first drafts of new articles are due on Monday, 10/5.  Please make sure you send them to me via google.docs.

All those of you, whom I asked to fix the pages you were working on, please do as I need them to send to the printer ASAP.

Anastasia, Erin, Sarah, Georgina, Livi and Eric are going to be leading class today... please be cooperative and start to plan the second issue...

Those of you who still haven't finished your first article... what are you waiting for???? please turn it in soon.

3rd period - Today, 10/2

I conferenced with most of you yesterday or have written comments on your google.docs.  Your second drafts are due on Monday and I expect to see major changes in drafts... get the student voice and NOT just of the senior class.  These articles must speak to our entire readership.

Please post what you writing about to this post so that the other class knows what not to cover.

Have a great weekend...