Student of the Month interview. Assigned 9/30, due 10/2 - Minor

Student of the Month Interview:

Today you are going to practice conducting an interview and taking notes. Get out your Chromebook and open your Google Doc with your Student of the Month questions. 

DO NOT CREATE A NEW DOC!!

I will pair you up with another student and you will interview them. Then we will rotate, and they will interview you. You need to take great notes, with the answers to your questions, but.....I want you to get to know your partner because interviews really should be conversations and you should take away more information about your subject than you would normally get from just your questions alone.

Now, I know you are all very worthy of being student of the month, but you are going to have to pretend a little bit. You may even have to make some things up. Just go with it. This is practice and for a little bit of fun. So don't stress.

One thing I want you to do is to make sure you introduce your self and that you tell your interviewee that you are a member of the press. You can say you are from The Dispatch or even the Austin American Statesman, I don't care, but you need to say you are from a newspaper.

You will have 10-15 minutes for each person. When you are finished, you will have the rest of the period to write the answer to your secondary sources interviews (remember these are all made up, so you can make these up).

Next class we will review LTQT and I will show you a sample story, but you still need some additional information:

Your story will need to be around 450 words, it should be in the proper LTQT style, your attributions should be in the correct format. You will have two full classes to work on this piece. I will provide examples and I will help you individually as needed to complete this assignment. I will also be walking around during the writing process to make sure you are working in LTQT style. You get to make up almost everything you want, EXCEPT the direct quotes you get from your partner. Those should be real.

Good luck and always, always take good notes!!!

Student of the Month prep. Assigned 9/25, due 9/30 - Minor

You have today to make sure you are fully caught up with everything in Journalism 1.

You should have the following completed:

Funco Pop - Minor

Making a Google Site - MAJOR

About Me Slide - Minor

Current Events Quiz Practice - CE

Important People Slides - MAJOR

News Values - Minor

Media Literacy - Minor

Free Write - MAJOR

Inverted Pyramid & LTQT - Minor

It is very important that you have the assignment below completed and sent to me by the end of the period. I will print them and have them ready for you on Wednesday.

Assignment #2, SotM questions:

Imagine you are working, as a reporter, for the school newspaper and your editor gives you the assignment to interview the student of the month.

1. Make a new Google Doc. 

2. Come up with 12-20 questions you might ask that person who won student of the month

3. Think of 2 other sources you might interview for this story.

4. Come up with 5-8 questions you would ask those other sources.

5. Copy the link, MAKE SURE YOU SHARE CORRECTLY, and make that a clickable link on your Google Site on a new subpage called Student of the Month.

Next class you will be paired with someone to interview them for this fictitious award. You will ask them your questions and they will get a chance to play reporter and ask you their questions. You will record their answers on your Google Doc, and then start crafting a story about them. You will not be asked to interview additional sources, and you will be allowed to make up those other sources answers to your questions. We will talk about good Google Doc preparation next class.

Free Write Friday. Assigned 9/19, due 9/25 - MAJOR

Today we are going to change things up a little. It's Friday. How about a free write?

Create a new Google Doc. Pick a prompt. Write. Share the Doc properly (so anyone with the link can view it) and put a clickable link on your Google Site (Using the Embed function) on a new subpage called Free Write #1. I don't need to edit this one, so you can just make it so I can VIEW it.

Here are the prompts - Pick ONE and write - lets say 400-500 words and complete the story.

There are no rules. Write a poem (or 3 - remember you need 400-500 words). Write a short story. Write an essay. Just start writing, and have fun.

Creative Writing Prompts if these help you!!

1. An alien has just abducted you. Give three reasons why it would send you back to earth and three reasons why you would beg to go with it. Explain fully each reason.

2. If you could talk to Mother Nature, what would you say and what would you talk about?

3. Do you believe in miracles? Have you or someone you know witnessed one?

4. Finish this sentence: "Life is short..."

5. How important do you think communication is in a relationship?

6. What do believe is your purpose in life?

7. Who is your rock? Why do you feel that way about them?

8. What global issues concern you?

9. How do you feel about superstitions? Do you have any?

10. Describe your perfect picnic? What's in your picnic basket?

11. If you could sit down with any outlaw or criminal (past or present), who would it be? Why? What would you ask them or talk to them about?

12. If you could boldly go where no man has gone, where would you go?

13. Create five new endings for this phrase" "Mirror, mirror on the wall" and fully develop one.

14. Describe each day of the week as food.

15. You have to give each room in your house or apartment a name. What are the names of each room, and how did you come up with those names?

16. Write a short rap song about yourself. Make sure it rhymes.

17. You are taking a lazy drive down scenic back roads. Describe your perfect car for the ride, and name the top five songs you would cruise to. Describe the location as well.

18. Name something you're afraid to try but really want to. What makes you afraid to try it?

19. If love could talk, what would it say?

20. Outline a "mission statement" for your life.

Inverted Pyramid and LTQT. Assigned 9/16, due 9/19 at the start of the period - Minor and Minor

Google Site Page 1 - Inverted Pyramid

The first thing I want you to do today is to go find a copy of the Inverted Pyramid, save the image and then created a new Google Site subpage and call it Inverted Pyramid. All you need to do is to a Google image search and find one you like. Remember this is about newspaper, more specifically hard news writing, so get something appropriate. Insert that image on your page. 

Now go and take a peek at this website and read just a little about what the inverted pyramid is all about.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/the_inverted_pyramid.html

Now make a new text box on the subpage called Inverted Pyramid and tell me in your own words why you think we would use the inverted pyramid style in a hard news story?

We are going to write our first set of stories using this story shape, meaning you will write in inverted pyramid style where the most important stuff is at the beginning and gradually tapers off. Please be aware that there are other story shapes and we will visit them in the future.

So now you know what kind of information you need to gather, it is important to learn the writing structure your stories will take. We call this formatting LTQT. Lead-transition-quote-transition.

Google Site Page 2 - LTQT

So let's go to this site and begin exploring how we are going to set up your first story. Make a new page on your site and title it LTQT. On that page, create a text box and answer the questions below.

https://www.uiltexas.org/files/academics/journalism/news-overview.pdf

First up Leads:

This are the first paragraph of your story and they are very important to grab the readers attention.

1. What are the three "good" leads to use?
2. Why are these types of leads better?

Now - direct Quotes:

3. What is a direct quote?
4. What do these quotes do?
5. What is the format of a direct quote? meaning how is it punctuated, you can just type in a quote in the correct format - steal from the presentation.
6. What is an attribution?
7. What form should it take?

Transitions:

8. What is a transition?
9. What are the three types of transitions?

Conclusion

10. Type in the checklist of 7 items you should always do when writing a news story
11. What are some pitfalls you might encounter?

Current Events quiz #1.1. Assigned 9/16, due 9/18 - CE

Current Events Quiz

Okay, let's do our first current events quiz. This one is a free one so you will all get a 100 on this one. You will have 45 minutes to work on this one today before I post new work, but usually I want you to get it done in 20-30 minutes. In general, you do not have to read every word in a story. Look for the key words, and try to find the short answer questions quickly. It shouldn't take you long, maybe 1-2 minute each to find the answer. I will rarely ask you for information at the end of any given story. 

Try to leave at least 10 minutes to read and respond to the long response question. Again, you can skim read most articles to get the idea and then give me your opinions on what you read. Most of the long response topics are BIG, meaning they are things that are currently happening in the world. Things like the war in the Ukraine, the election, the Israel/Palestine conflict, or other major issues in the news today.

You should have some ideas about these topics before you even read the article I share with you.

So here we go: I will use Google News to create this quiz. Google News is a repository of links to various news sources around the country. I will link the story I want you to read for each question I ask. For the first five questions you will need to click to that link and skim/read the story for the answer. This should be fast and painless. 

On your Google Site, please make a new subpage and title it: Current Events Practice. Answer the question below on that page. You are welcome to make multiple text boxes if that is easier, or if you want to work on just one text box, that is great. Whatever is best for you. Please be aware that if you copy and past the questions to your Google Site, it can create some formatting problems. I DO NOT NEED you to include the questions - just the answers.

Here is today's!!

1. According to the article, what were, previously, the earliest examples of mummification before the most recent finds in ancient Asia?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/15/science/oldest-human-mummification-discovery

2. What is the sample from Mars called that scientists think might be the strongest link to potential life on that planet, according to the article below? (I am looking for a specific proper noun mentioned in the article that was collected by the Perseverance rover)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/science/nasa-mars-sapphire-falls-rock-sample

3. How many cars does Rivian expect to make at their new Georgia plant in 2028, according to the article below?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/die-electric-vehicle-maker-rivian-110544441.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALEsgrGZ3UI2J_A_UwR3pxOmv6GW6pC99FLzRXy2V4EFOcje6MnAuu6maoM_xnvtIeXa0ADlCAGcBsJGHJscbcmkrJNnjbydaqRDP4Pgt1gWCKxfVrufgNvnCXwT_0V4zXfsPE3FJoSBBw4XLfwfJ6CDeNqWfQ4TBQjdIJsQkcn_

4. How much are the new "Meta Ray-Ban Display" glasses anticipated to cost, according to the article below?

https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-ray-ban-display-glasses-design-hud-wristband-clips-leak/

5.  What was one film the actor Robert Redford starred in AND what was one film he directed according to the article below?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/entertainment/robert-redford-death

Long Response:

Please read the following story and respond to the questions below. Please answer the question fully and always try to answer WHY. This section is the subjective section and I will penalize you if you write one word or short phrases for answers with an open-ended question. 

https://www.kut.org/education/2025-09-15/texas-teachers-face-backlash-over-comments-on-charlie-kirk-assassination

A. Briefly summarize the story in a sentence or two

B. Regardless of the reason or topic, explain what you think about people being fired for social media posts?

C. Explain your feelings on this topic IF the offending post was made during working hours VERSUS the same post was made on private time. Should people be held accountable at their jobs for statements made on their own time away from work (EXPLAIN)?

D. When you learn about these kinds of things, does it impact how you use or think about social media? (EXPLAIN YOUR FEELINGS)

E. Explain your understanding of the 1st Amendment when it comes to free speech

F. How should society regulate social media use and posts made by private individuals on their own time (take into consideration that some posts might be made in private groups, or might be people being turned in by family members with opposing viewpoints)?

REMINDER - A single sentence isn't enough. I expect you to expand upon your writing. If you think you have written enough, you haven't, write more. Be sure to answer WHY you think something.

News Values. Assigned 9/11, due 9/16 - Minor

We are going to begin our exploration of journalistic writing and style  by examining the reasons a publication might choose to cover an event. Some experts have come up with a variety of reasons for this and from my experience, based on those experts research, I have come up with eight solid reasons to cover a story. Today we are going to learn about those eight, and to completely understand them, I want you to be able to pick out some stories to prove to me that you understand each reason.

Here are the reasons:

1. Timeliness - - the newness of the facts

2. Proximity - - the nearness of a given event to your place of publication

3. Prominence - - the "newsworthiness" of an individual, organization, or place.

4. Impact - - the effect of consequence of an event on the audience, or readers

5. Conflict - - the meeting of two or more opposing forces. These forces can be physical, emotional, or philosophical

6. Human Interest - - the drama that surrounds people involved in an emotional struggle

7. Novelty - - the attraction people have to unusual things and events

8. Currency - - topics that are trending in the news or on social media

Now here is your assignment:

Find eight stories that you believe are driven primarily by one of the news values listed above. You will need to copy and paste links to the stories in your Google Site. Follow the five steps listed below.

Title this Google Site subpage: News Values

1. Pick out a story you think meets one of the news values.
2. On your new subpage - type the name of that news value
3. Write a complete sentence or two explaining why you think the article is driven by that news value.
4. Type the headline of the article
5. Include a clickable link to the article's URL. To insert a clickable link on your Google Site, in the Insert pane, you will find the EMBED function, click that and paste the link. It will automatically create a text box with the link for me to see.

I will be going over these with you later in the period to make sure we are all on the same page. 

Here are some places you can start looking for stories. You are welcome to use other sources as well if you wish.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/index.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/

https://www.reuters.com/

Wall Street Journal

https://news.google.com/topstories?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en

The above link will have "Local" stories. You can also use Google News, or search for your favorite local news organization to find stories.

I recommend:

The Austin Monitor

The Austin Chronicle

The Austin-American Statesman

Any reputable news source is fine. Soon we will be looking at Media Literacy to get a better idea of how to evaluate news sources for their validity.

Media Literacy. Assigned 9/5, due 9/9 at the end of the period - Minor

  Now on to Media Literacy

 It's time we looked at one of these charts:

Here is a direct link to the chart above. There is an interactive version. I am not vouching for the validity of this chart, but it is a starting point for a discussion on Media Literacy and Media Bias.

https://www.adfontesmedia.com

On your blog please complete the following tasks, using the chart above:

1. List 3 sources that are comprised of mostly original fact reporting and are as neutral as possible.
2. List 3 sources that are mostly analysis and slant liberal
3. List 3 sources that are mostly analysis and slant conservative
4. List 2 liberal and 2 conservative sources that show extreme partisan bias

So part of this discussion and its relationship to our class is how we look at our sources for The Dispatch. You can kind of look at these ideas in three distinct ways:

Opinions
Facts
Informed Opinions

Take a look at these three interpretations:

https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/_documents/academics/support/learning-centers/writing-reading-learning-ctr-rockville/student-resources-tech/fact-vs-opinion.pdf

In your own words please come up with your own definition:

5. Facts
6. Opinions
7. Informed Opinions

Okay, so hopefully you have an idea of these three concepts. Now let's apply them to picking sources.

8. Where might you find facts when writing for The Dispatch?
9. Who might provide Informed Opinions on any specific story you might write?
10. How might opinions creep into your writing?
11. What specific words could cue you in that you are writing an opinion when you self edit?

To get back to media literacy, it is also important to define what the role of the media is supposed to be in the United States. That role has been the subject of much discussion the past two years, but it is clear the founding fathers took the role of the press seriously. We only have to look at one document to determine this; the Constitution. Here is a link to the Bill of Rights:

https://www.ushistory.org/us/18a.asp

12. Which amendment specifics the rights of the press?
13. What does that amendment say directly?

Now lets look at some more modern interpretations about that role today:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11tJjkP0Xjecc4tNJLglR_twb7ysUK83CsloRkyOqKJk/edit?usp=sharing

14. In your own words - what do you think the purpose of the media/journalism is in today's world?

Of course this is a touchy subject right now, and there will be more in the future about why journalism is important to our way of life, to democracy in general. As a former journalists and someone who teaches journalism, I cannot help but being slightly biased here to say that journalists are a valuable part of our society and you have joined a program where you will be a working reporter very soon. You are part of the team now.

Finally, let's take our last look at how the media handled a specific event, the verdict in the trial of Paul Manafort from a couple of years ago. He was the former campaign manager for former President Donald Trump.

Take a peek at these four links.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trump-russia-manafort/former-trump-campaign-chairman-manafort-convicted-on-eight-of-18-charges-idUSKCN1L60WU

For the record the link below was the original story publish around 24 hours after the verdict was reached. It has since been pulled down by Fox News. Notice that it is the only story about the event that no longer works. Can you think of reasons why a news agency would decide to remove a story? I bet you can think of a few.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/21/jury-announces-partial-verdict-in-manafort-trial-cannot-decide-on-several-counts.html

I did some searching using the information in the URL above (Fox News August 21 Manafort verdict was the direct search I did) and found this story. It does have the correct date and it also has an updated date of August 22). I do not know what happened to the original story. Here is what I found:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/paul-manafort-trial-tested-mueller-trump-what-to-know-about-the-case

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/paul-manafort-convicted-by-jury-on-bank-and-tax-fraud-charges-mistrial-declared-on-10-counts

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/23/641359637/u-s-media-is-divided-on-its-coverage-of-the-cohen-plea-and-manafort-verdict

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/21/640537446/paul-manafort-jury-asks-for-instructions-about-consensus-on-1-charge


15. What did you notice about the headlines of the three articles?
16. Do you think the bias of certain media outlets is evident based on what you saw?
17. Why do you think Fox news and Brietbart chose to cover other things on the front of their websites?
18. Do you think all media should treat coverage the same?
19. Is it okay from some media outlets to be slanted towards one side or the other, as long as people know it before they click on that site?
20. Is there any reason to click on a media sources that doesn't report the news the way you want?


Now that you have completed those tasks, here is how many interpreted the conservative media's coverage of the Manafort decision:

https://mashable.com/2018/08/21/fox-news-manafort-cohen-meme/#3n25G.4GOaq3

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/22/how-right-wing-media-dealt-with-a-devastating-day-for-trump/

Let's leave off this discussion with one final point:

21. How do you think the media can accurately report on what is happening in our world?

More to come in the future on this topic.

Important People in Journalism. Assigned 9/4, due 9/5 at the end of the period - Minor

  Overview: In any industry it is important to learn about the history so that you understand the present and future of the industry. To introduce you to some of this history, we will explore some of the important figures in journalism.

Directions: Select two of the journalists listed below (one woman and one man) to research and make a brief Google Slides presentation. You should find at least two sources to verify your facts (wikipedia is a good starting point, but not a great place to pull FACTS). 

Answer each of the following questions below in your presentation:

• Slide 1: (Who) Name of subject with a photo of media figure’s face:

• Slide 2: (When) Date when he/she lived and a picture of significant happening in that person's life. 

• Slide 3 :(Where) Place(s) where he/she worked (What country, state did they live in?):

• Slide 4: (For whom) Where did they work? What publication, TV or Radio Station did they work for:

• Slide 5: (What) Things they did during career (at least 3):

• Slide 6: (Why) Importance of work in journalism?

• Slide 7: (How) How was career/work different or the same from others at the time?

• Repeat slides 1-7 for the other journalist you have selected (so a total of 14 slides)

Make sure you are logged into your AISD account to create this Slide Presentation.

DO NOT SHARE THIS WITH ME AT MY EMAIL ADDRESS. Now that you have a working Google Site, you will be able to use that to turn in almost all of your work. There might be a few things I ask you to email me in the future, but almost every time you will just put links OR the actual product onto your Google Site. 

Here is how to do it for this assignment:

Make sure you change the preferences on this Presentation. To do that, you click the SHARE button in the top right corner. When the pop-up box comes up it will look like this:

Please click the drop down where it says RESTRICTED and change that to BOWIE HIGH SCHOOL:

For this assignment, just being a VIEWER is fine, but there will be assignments in the future that I will need to be made an EDITOR on. I will remind you later.

Once you change the restrictions, click the COPY LINK button on the bottom left.

Then go to your Google Site, make a new subpage and call it Important People in Journalism.

Click the Insert button in the control panel on the right. Use the EMBED function to create a clickable link on your Google Site subpage.

When you have the linked properly. Make sure you go to the top right corner and hit the BIG BLUE PUBLISH button.

You will need to push PUBLISH twice!!

Here is the list:

Women

Elizabeth Jane Cochran, her alias is "Nellie Bly"
Katie Couric
Erma Bombeck
Oriana Fallaci
Katharine Graham
Jane Pauly
Diane Sawyer
Ida Tarbell
Barbara Walters
Christiane Amanpour
Margaret Bourke-White
Joan Didion
Linda Greenhouse

Men

James Gordon Bennett
John Campbell
Walter Cronkite Jr.
Benjamin Day
Horace Greeley
William Randolph Hearst
Peter Jennings
Adolph S. Ochs
Richard F. Outcault
Joseph Pulitzer
Dan Rather
Henry J. Raymond
Noah Wenster
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
John Peter Zenger
Ed Bradley

David Brinkley