Final Exam Current Events -- Woohoo!!!!

To get to the Austin American-Statesman - click the link and then put in the user name and password.

http://nieonline.com/austin/studentconnect.cfm
The user name is MAC-J
The password is Knight1!

Current Events Assignment Final Exam -- May 25, 2016

To answer question number 1, please see "Dueling histories: 1899 house could defeat 1950s pharmacy" on the left side of page A1.

1. I did not expect to see a Ken Herman column on the front page, but this was an interesting story about a complicated issue in Old West Austin. Since the story is complicated, I'll try to make the question simple.

What is the conflict involving historical preservation between the Labay family and the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association. Who do you think has the stronger case? What compromise is being proposed? Do you think the compromise is a good solution to the conflict? Why or why not?

To answer question number 2, please see "UT, A&M join bid to operate weapons lab" on the top right of page A1.

2.  What is this? Longhorns and Aggies working in partnership? It's like cats and dogs living together. What proposed partnership did UT and A&M announce on Tuesday, and who else is in the partnership? What exactly would the proposed partnership do? What do you make of this proposal? Does it seem OK for universities to do this sort of thing? Why or why not?

To answer question number 3, please see "Cosby sexual assault trial can proceed, judge rules," at the bottom right of page A1.

3.  What is the latest news in the Bill Cosby saga? Do you agree with the judge's decision? What arguments did Cosby's lawyers make? Do you think those arguments have any merit? What do you think about this story landing on the front page? Given the news values at play with this story, do you think it merits front-page placement?

To answer question number 4, please see "Lee Elementary to be renamed for Russell instead of Robert E." in the middle left of page B1.

4.  What final resolution to the Lee Elementary renaming saga did the school board of trustees enact Monday night by an 8-1 vote? What can you tell me about the new namesake for the school? Why was that name chosen? What compromise was reached as well? Why was the final vote a bit awkward on Monday night? What do you think about the decision? Like it? Dislike it? Agree? Disagree?

To answer question number 5, please see, "Regents to air views on assault cases by June 3" at the bottom left of page C1.

5.  According to two news reports, what is one likely outcome of the football sexual assault scandal at Baylor University? What is the nature of the scandal? Based on the story (and your prior knowledge if you have any), what do you think should happen to make things right at Baylor? Kirk Bohls expressed his take on the matter

Subjects and documents to study for your final

I think this is the complete list of notes and articles to study for the final.

I will use this same list to write the questions that will be on the final.

FEATURE WRITING:

1. Bobby Hawthorne article on feature writing

    Here's the assignment:

    http://mac-j1.blogspot.com/2016/01/bobby-hawthorne-introduced-us-to.html

    If you want to check out a book to reread the chapter, let me know.

2. Mitch Albom article On Writing

    Here's the article: http://www.mitchalbom.com/on-writing/

    Or you can study your outline of it if you did a good one.

3.  Feature Writing  -- Types of Leads and Feature Structure

     Here's the PowerPoint:

     https://drive.google.com/a/austinisd.org/file/d/0B9jt1jHLEQlIclBhU1FPZTNtMmM/view

FEATURE PROFILE WRITING (sports but applies to any type of profile):

4.  Review this article or your notes on it.

     http://onsportz.blogspot.com/2007/10/writing-sports-profiles.html

OBITUARIES:

5.  Review the presentation:

     PPT: https://drive.google.com/a/austinisd.org/file/d/0B9jt1jHLEQlISFRLOGtjTnNpVlU/view

     PDF: https://drive.google.com/a/austinisd.org/file/d/0B9jt1jHLEQlIMm1Ld041dEZmM3c/view

SPORTSWRITING:

6. How to write a game story

    http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/mavericks-heat-nba-finals-provides-lessons-in-game-coverage-breaking-down-the-elements-to-create-a-compelling-recap/

DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND TERMS

7.  Design outline and terms list

     http://mac-j1.blogspot.com/2016/04/newspaper-design-outline-and-terms.html  

Extra Credit -- Attend this Friday's Career Speaker Series

So Ms. Bonet tells me that this Friday's Career Series speaker is Edmond Sackett, a McCallum parent who is also a photojournalist and multimedia professional with over 30 years experience in the field.

His list of journalistic credentials includes contributing work that led to four Pulitzer Prize nominations. Here are a few of the images that I found on his website:

Rescue personnel are lowered on a crane
with an electrocution victim from a high rise construction site
in Austin, TX. Photo by Edmond Sackett.

Laci Spencer tries to duck the affections
of her two-year-old brahma cow Baby
as they wait their turn in the show ring.
Photo by Edmond Sackett.

Mitch Goldblatt keeps his eyes on the ball as he returns a shot
during the annual doubles competition of pickleball
for the Senior Games in Kissimmee Florida.
Photo by Edmond Sackett.

To encourage you to attend Friday's session, I will offer all photojournalism and journalism students a triple-counted 100 minor grade just for attending the session, being a good listener, and filling out the Career Speakers from that Ms. Bonet will make available at the presentation.

I will further offer a second triple-counted 100 if you do the following to prepare for Friday's presentation.

Visit the website that contains an archive of Mr. Sackett's work:

http://dawsonmultimediapro.com/dawsonmultimediapro.com/Media.html

(1) Post the 10 best pictures that are on the site (in your opinion) and explain why each image is a great example of photojournalism (either in terms of photography or journalism or both).

(2) Post the link to one of the videos that you find most effective and explain why you thought it was an effective video (either the message or the way it conveys the message or both).

The post has to be made before lunchtime on Friday for it to count for the offered extra credit.

Newspaper Design Outline and Terms

A framework for our class discussion:

THE MOST IMPORANT CONCEPT -- MODULAR DESIGN

What is a MODULE?

Elements present on a well designed newspaper page:
You don't have to define these unless you don't know what they are but I include them because they are the essential building blocks of page design: 

Headlines, Subheadlines, Lines, Boxes, 
Photos, Captions, Stories)

Five principles of newspaper PAGE DESIGN

DOMINANCE

CONTRAST

BALANCE

UNITY

-- discuss BASTARD MEASURE here

RHYTHM

The 8 types of NEWSPAPER MODULES

1. Even legs of text

2. Story on top

3. L-Shaped Text Flow

    -- discuss raw wraps here

4. U-Shaped Text Flow

5. Photo on Left

6. Photo on Right

7. COB photo

8. COMBO plate

Teaser

Flag

Folios 

Bylines

Jumps 

Story dividers

Screens 

Infographics

Masthead/staff box

Bastard measure

Raw wrap

Reefer

Wild art

Pull quote

Ears

Banner

Kicker headline

Wicket headline

Tripod headline

Hammer headline

Modular design

Text wrap

L-shaped text flow

U-shaped text flow

Possible story topics

News                                                                            

Renaming of Lee Elementary school

Projections/local opinions of how a Trump/Clinton general election would go

Prop 1 fall out – what now?

UT murder case – does it impact outlook for UT-bound seniors

Attendance policy update – how are students coping/adapting/subverting the attendance policy

Mr. Stanchos and the current events team placed third at regionals (could be a good feature)

U.S. News and World Report rankings of AISD schools and what if anything it means

                -- Do students care? Does the faculty care? Do parents care about this stuff? If so, why?

                -- LASA, Anderson, McCallum, Austin

The PUD lots of impact near McCallum district and Anderson

Feature

Profile on an interesting teacher/faculty member

n  Japanese teacher

n  Mr. Featherstone

n  Mr. Pass

n  Mr. Pew

n  Ms. Northcutt

n  Ms. Susman

n  Cafeteria staff/manager

Profile on an interesting student

Prom

Alternate prom?

Saturday School – an observational feature profile with a news angle as it relates to the attendance policy

The UIL music gauntlet of superior results

Dress code

                https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTKKL62

Day in the Life of a Second-Semester Senior

A&E

Profile a local musician or a MAC musician who is doing something great

What’s up with our Grammy? When does our term as a Grammy winner end if it does?

Comcast buyout of DreamWorks – Is it likely? Will it hurt movie quality/creativity/originality?

SPORTS

Baseball epic showdown on Friday – Two 14-1 teams, one district champ

Profile of the seniors in baseball

Softball playoff game on Thursday

Profile of the seniors in softball

Newspaper Design Continued -- Other HS Papers and Vocabulary

As a Wednesday warm-up, I want you to look through some other high school newspapers and I also want you to look up some terms so on Friday you are prepared to get started with a newspaper design project.

Let's start with other high school newspapers.

Go to the following link and spend 15 minutes looking at other high school newspaper:

Here: http://issuu.com/aaronmanfull/stacks/53a902cf8a0146de804bdba9815faf03

Or here: http://studentpress.org/nspa/category/pacemaker-winners/

Assignment: In a new blog titled "Other high school newspapers" answer the following:

1. What is your favorite newspaper front page? Why? 
2. Which paper immediately grabbed your interest? Why? 
3. What is your favorite headline from that newspaper? Why are you interested in it? 
4. How many stories are on the front page of your favorite? 
5. What do you notice that all newspaper front pages have in common? Look at design, size of photos, size of story text, etc.
6. What are things that vary (or are different) on the front pages of different newspapers? Look at design, size of photos, size of headlines, etc. 
7. Were these similar to what you saw last class when you looked at daily newspapers from around the world? 

Now lets get some terms out of the way:

Broadsheet - the largest newspaper size - 3+ stories

Find 3 newspapers from the link above that are Broadsheets - list them on your blog

Tabloid - smaller newspaper size - 2 or less stories

Find 3 newspapers from the link above that are Tabloids - list them on your blog

NewsMagazine - glossy cover - no stories, photo only might be glossy inside or maybe newsprint.

Find 3 newspapers from the link above that are NewsMagazines - list them on your blog

Elements present on a well designed newspaper page:

You don't have to define these unless you don't know what they are but I include them because they are the essential building blocks of page design: Headlines, Subheadlines, Lines, Boxes, 
Photos, Captions, Stories)

Look up the following terms and give me a working definition of the word. Please make sure you associate the term with newspapers. You may need to put the word newspaper in the search engine (especially for some of them which have alternate meanings). Put the answers on your blog

Teaser

Flag

Folios 

Bylines

Jumps 

Story dividers

Screens 

Infographics

Masthead/staff box

Bastard measure

Raw wrap

Reefer

Wild art

Pull quote

Ears

Banner

Kicker headline

Wicket headline

Tripod headline

Hammer headline

Modular design

Text wrap

L-shaped text flow

U-shaped text flow

On Friday we will be looking at The Shield and looking at how the above items are utilized in our newspaper. I will also be giving you more info on your newspaper design assignment.

Intro to Newspaper Design

Overview: I am going to put a satire lesson together, and it should be fun when I do, but another topic I want to cover this six weeks is Newspaper Design. Visit the Newseum's Gallery of newspaper front pages from around the world. Take 15 minutes to look at the different front pages.

You can start this if you have time today. If not, we can do it on Monday.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/

Click on the Map View and look at the following:

• Newspapers from at least three different states in the United States.
• Two newspapers in New York City. 
• Two newspapers in Texas.
• Two newspapers in Europe.
• Two newspapers in Asia.

Assignment: In a new blog titled "Front Pages of the World" answer the following:

1. What is your favorite newspaper front page? Why? 
2. What is your favorite headline from that newspaper? Why are you interested in it? 
3. How many stories are on the front page of your favorite? 
4. What do you notice that all newspaper front pages have in common? Look at design, size of photos, size of story text, etc.
5. What are things that vary (or are different) on the front pages of different newspapers? Look at design, size of photos, size of headlines, etc. 

Current Events 6.1

I know what you're thinking. Mr. Winter, we just did a current events assignment. Well, it was more than a week ago, so it's no longer current. Besides, it's a new six weeks and you should be reading the paper every day. So, to encourage that practice, here we go.  

To get to the Austin American-Statesman - click the link and then put in the user name and password.

http://nieonline.com/austin/studentconnect.cfm

The user name is MAC-J

The password is Knight1!

Current Events Assignment 6.1 -- April 21, 2016

To answer question 1, please read "Jackson out; slave savior to be face of $20 bill" on the lower left corner of page A1.

1. How is the design of U.S. currency going to chance if Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's proposal is carried out? And how might the proposal prove the power of musical theatre to effect change (Mr. Denning must be happy today.) This is a $40 question as you should discuss the $20, the $10 and the $5 thoroughly.

To answer question 2, please read "3 officials charged in Flint lead crisis" on the lower right corner of page A1.

2.  What is the latest news in the Flint water crisis? According to Detroit defense attorney Neil Rockind, why is the latest news a "rare" development?  This article does a good job of summarizing this whole debacle briefly. I counted at least three horrible mistakes made by Flint officials which led to this whole mess. What horrible actions (or inactions) caused this to be a full-blown disaster. Last question: What is the Michigan governor doing over the next 30 days? Why? Do you think it will help?

To answer question 3, please read "Clinton, Trump riding high after blowout wins" across the Btop of page A4.

3.  Why are the Clinton and Trump campaigns "invigorated" after Tuesday? How close are each of the front-runners to securing their respective nominations? What's up next Tuesday for the candidates? What familiar argument did Trump make again Wednesday in Indianapolis? What streak was halted by Clinton's win in New York?

To answer question 4, please read "Teachers union sues over new evaluations" at the bottom right of page B1.

4. Why is a teacher's union--the Texas State Teachers Association--suing the head of the Texas Education Agency? What does the union hope to accomplish with the lawsuit? What does the story say about the Austin Independent School District? How does AISD compare to other districts when it comes to teacher evaluations? What is "a value-added model" and how does it relate to this story?

To answer question 5, please read "Report: Volkswagen makes deal to pay U.S. customers" at the bottom right of page B7.

5. My son and I play Punch Buggie incessantly in the car (I lose virtually all the time), but after reading this article we may have to stop because I'm not sure we should create any fond memories that involve the German automaker Volkswagen. What deal is the automaker Volkswagen like to announce today at a federal court hearing in San Francisco? How much money is involved? Why might some individuals receive more money than others from the German automaker? And why do they have to make payments anyway? Why is the amount of money (it's a lot) apparently just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much the automaker is going to have to pay? 

6.  Pick an article that you want to read (more than other articles anyway), read it and then write a three-sentence (minimum) summary of the article and a three-sentence explanation (minimum) about why you chose that article to read or why you thought it was newsworthy or important enough to select for this assignment.