Reminder

Your feature stories are due tomorrow with all information attached...

You should have 2 drafts, student reflection (not just the questions, but your own reflection about your understanding of feature writing from this assignment), peer review.

The final should be laid out in either indesign or Word. All other requirements for the final draft are in a previous post.

If you know you won't be here, please try to turn in early, but no later than the Monday we return.

Thanks.

Happy Holidays.

Homework for Monday 12/22

For Monday's class please bring a printout of any article that you have written in this class, along with some pictures that can go along with the article. If you will have difficulty printing you can email these things to me by Sunday evening and I will print them out for you. Send them to: laiernie(at)gmail.com

Pearl Reporters

At your own convenience, please go through each of the Pearl Reporter modules and post to our blog about what you learned.

A lot of what you will read is stuff we have done in class, so it will largely be review.

http://www.pearl.iearn.org/course/login/index.php

Mr. Lai and I will get you your password information.

Final Drafts of feature stories

Final drafts of feature stories are due on Tuesday, 12/23.

Your final draft should appear on the top - stapled behind it should be:

They should have 2 prior drafts, peer review and student reflection attached
They should be laid out on a page with at least 1 sidebar and 1 image (both properly cited)
They should have at least 5 quotes from students in our school
They should reference at least 2 different print sources (or web sources)

Story should be organized in a logical structure, strong lead and appropriate ending.
You should avoid using the first or second person in your piece.

Homework for the weekend due on Tuesday

Find a feature article in the newspaper - cut it out (make sure it has sidebars)

Break the article apart in terms of its effectiveness

What works and what would you use in your own writing? - Be specific... highlight parts of the article and then reference them specifically...

Consider all of the following:

• Headline
• lead
• paragraphing
• journalistic style (language used) - diction (word choice)
• direct/indirect quotes
• images/pictures
• sidebars
• ending
• organization or structure chosen for the article.

2nd drafts of feature articles

2nd drafts of the feature articles will be turned in tomorrow with all of the following attached:
first drafts
peer review sheet
personal reflection
notes

2nd drafts of feature articles

Your second drafts are due on THIS FRIDAY, 12/12

Make sure to attach, your typed 2nd draft with the first draft, all notes and your peer review sheet with your reflection on the other side.

Make sure to have sidebar information and/or images for your articles.

Staple all of the above together and turn in on Friday.

Feature articles - draft 1 due tomorrow

Please come to class tomorrow with your drafts. Make sure to have all information you plan on using so far.



You will be working on revisions in class with your peers and will have time to continue doing work. So please make sure you are prepared.



Thanks.

Portfolio

Your portfolio pulling for first trimester should be done by tomorrow.
You should have selected your 3 best pieces of work from the first trimester.

You should reflect on each piece specifically discussing the following:

1. what standards does this piece show you have mastered?
2. what have you learned about yourself as a learner from this assignment?
3. what do you still need to work on to make yourself a better learner for future assignments based on this assignment?
4. how can you adjust your learning to get your needs met based on your experience with this assignment?
5. how do the standards and skills used in this assignment connect to other assignments you have done in this class as well as other classes?
   

Cite examples from your work to support all of your answers to the above questions... write a narrative reflection for each piece. I will want to see your selections...

Moving forward, you will be expected to reflect on your work whenever you get work returned to you graded. It should always address the above information.

Feature article draft due Tuesday, 12/9

In class today we started brainstorming ideas for your feature articles. Please take the time to make sure I know your topic.

By Tuesday next week, 12/9, you need to have a draft of your article...

Make sure that you cite all sources -
Make sure you have ideas for sidebars and images
Make sure that it is well researched and written like an article not a research paper.

Use the handouts provided on the structure of a feature article -
Use an engaging lead that works for the topic you are using.

1st Trimester Grades

1st Trimester Grades

The first trimester ends this week and grades are due in on Thursday. Here is a brief explanation of how the grades are broken down...
Teacherease is just a record of the work that you have done. It lets you know what you have turned in and how you have done on it.

I look at the grade of 1-4 that you have received.
4=A (exceeds the standards of the trimester)
3=B (meets the standards of the trimester)
2=C (approaches the standards of the trimester)
1=NC (still needs to be improved because you are still not getting something)

0=F (not enough work to make a judgement of where you are at)

Some standards addressed this trimester can be viewed at this website:
http://www.nylearns.org/standards/standard_tree.asp?StandardID=18654&lev=gradelevel

as you are considering your portfolio work for the first trimester, try to pay close attention to specific standards we've addressed

Make up work deadlines

All Make up work must be in no later than December 1st as the trimester ends Friday, December 5th and that is when my grades are due.

Due tomorrow in Ms. Sackstein's class

Just a reminder that the News packet as well as Assignment #1 of the feature packets are due on Friday - (Tomorrow in class)

Please post what you have learned about feature writing so far when you get a chance...

Feature is more creative than news, but no less objective. It still needs to be journalistically written with a lead, but may be about a generel topic more closely explored.

In class we talked about 7 kinds of feature stories:

1. News feature
2. Interpretive feature
3. Straight feature
4. Personality feature
5. Interview feature
6. Human Interest
7. Brite

You should have notes about each of these kinds of features in your sourcebook.

Make-up Work

All make-up assignments are due no later than Monday, December 1st.

Tuesday in class is portfolio day

Make sure you have all work that you have collected in class so far for the year either in your work in progress folder or in your notes when you come to class on Tuesday for Ms. Sackstein

HW due Mon 11/17

Homework due Monday 11/17:

- If you didn't finish the classwork, please finish that. You should have signed up for google docs, created a document with the email address you used to sign up for google docs inside, shared that document with me (laiernie(at)gmail.com) and changed your display name in the settings control panel to Lastname, Firstname.

- Read the link in the document I shared with you.

- Type or upload one of your news briefs or articles into Google Docs.

- Share the document with the members of your table group, along with Mr. Lai and Ms. Sackstein.

- Make a comment on at least one document that was shared with you by someone in your table group.

- If no one in your table group shared any documents with you, make a comment on your own document stating that.

Portfolio

Portfolios are the place where you show what you know. Being a portfoli school, we try to assess students based on the work that they do against the standards of the school. Test grades and numbers are not nearly enough. A learner must truly understand their strengths and weaknesses and work to learn techniques to improve on both to meet standards.

Portfolio is a 4 part process:

1. Collection: when you put all of your work (even work in progress) in your work in progress (WIP) folders to keep track of everything that you are doing. Examples of this can be homework, class work, labs, drafts, writing assignments and tests and quizzes
2. Selection: when we complete a trimester and you want to show your exemplary work (your best work) so show evidence of your learning. It actually demonstrates the standards you've mastered in the class.
3. Reflection: after you've completed a piece in any class, you must reflect on that assignment. What standards are you meeting or exceeding or still approaching? How can you improve or continue to excell at these standards? How can you adjust your learning to better meet the standards? How were you able to show what you know?
4. Connection: Our classes don't happen in isolation and therefore our learning can't be. We must start to make better connections between what goes on in each of our classes. How does what you learn in once class help you with what you are doing in another class? How do the skills you are learning help contribute to making you more ready for life after school? How does your learning prepare you for more than just good grades?

Moving on

We will be finishing up our discussion of News writing in class today with a final lesson classification.

You will all need to continue to work on lead and headline conventions as we move into our study of feature writing.

In Mr. Lai's class you will be starting to work on your technology piece of your work.

I enjoyed your photojournalism projects. I hope you enjoyed doing them. A new project/ assignment will be on its way soon for feature.

Proper Citation

If you got your photojournalism project back because you didn't make a works cited page, please make sure you do it correctly.

Websites are NOT enough.

You need a full citation. author (last, first.) title of the page. who publishes the website (can find it under the contact us section on the bottom). the full url and the date the page was last published.

Your works cited should be alphabetized by author's last name.

see earlier posts for how to cite other kinds of sources.

Upcoming

Today, photojournalism projects are due.

Your 9 week periodic assessments have been posted to Teacherease under your second draft of the town hall meeting.

Final drafts of town hall meeting articles due on Friday, 11/14
Election articles are due on Monday, 11/10

We are losing another class period next week on Tuesday as there is no school

Find a nearby polling place

Go to this link and enter your address to find your designated polling place. Spending some time there on your day off from school getting quotes from voters would be a great resource for your election article. Get your parents' permission first, or go along with them when they vote.

http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm

Journalism – Election coverage assignment

Tuesday, 11/4 is our elections. Please make sure to check in with television coverage of the elections a few times during the day.

Make sure to get a copy of the NY Times or Newsday on Wednesday with the full results.

Your assignment is to report on the elections…

Make sure to include results for Local, State and National races…

If you can get comments from voting adults about the turn out and results.

What do you notice about the results? About the voters? Are they as knowledgeable as they should be for a voting public?

Your article should be written in a news format… inverted pyramid… strong active leads using journalistic style.

Get as many quotes as you can.

This assignment will be counted as a test grade due on Monday, 11/10.

For Friday, 10/31

2nd drafts of your Town Hall meeting articles are due with the first draft attached.

Also please read the Headline packet given out in class today and annotate it. Practice working on your headlines starting with the Town Hall article.

Reminder that the photo journalism projects are due on 11/7 (Friday in Ms. Sackstein's class period 6). It will be late if you turn it into Mr. Lai period 7. Make sure you print all necessary components prior to class on Friday. Do not email your assignment to me in lieu of printing it out and handing it in.

If you would like to conference about projects before they are due, set up appointments via email. mssackstein@yahoo.com

For Tuesday 10/28

Remember to bring your project pictures to class on Tuesday. Also, if you did not finish answering the questions for your pictures during class, please finish for homework. Bring these answers also to class tomorrow.

1. Who is in the photograph?
2. When and where was the picture taken?
3. What happened just before this picture was taken?
4. What does the subject look like?
5. What is the subject doing?
6. What is the subject thinking?
7. What does the subject hear?
8. What does the subject smell?
9. What does the subject physically feel (touch)?
10. Who is taking the photograph?
11. What happened just after this picture was taken?

For class tomorrow

Please make sure you bring in your pictures to Ms. Sackstein's class tomorrow (Tuesday in the studio)

We will be working on caption writing and may have some time to draft your essays too - make sure to bring all work related to your project.

If you have yet to post your topic, please do so immediately. This is past due.

No class today - reminders for due work and upcoming deadlines

For Monday, please have your 5 pics that you plan on using for your project.

Make sure that you have:

• the website you took the pics from,
• when they were taken,
• where they were originally published,
• who the photographer is

For Tuesday, please make sure to bring in your pics again as we will be working on caption writing for the project. Also, make sure to bring in any notes you have written on your topic in case their is time for you to start working on your essay in class. These materials should be with you in class every time you come until the project is due.

Reminder that Friday, your 2nd drafts of the Town Hall articles are due with the first draft attached (if you haven't turned in a first draft yet, please do so ASAP)

Your photojournalism projects will be due on November 7, 2008 (to be turned in to Ms. Sackstein on Friday period 6).

You will need to turn in:

• all pictures in your series with the captions
• the accompanying essay (with all earlier drafts)
• works cited or bibliography of all information gathered
• Notes that you took while doing the assignment and gathering the research
• Since the rubric will be given out prior to the due date, your rubrics should be attached as well.

MLA Citations for the project

http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm = excellent and easy... color coded

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ - also useful and has more explanation

http://www.lvcsd.k12.ny.us/page.cfm?p=121 = excellent research guide

Missing work

We will accept any missing work from the first 6 weeks up until Wed. 10/22 and no later than that.

Moving forward, we will only accept missing work up to 3 days beyond its original due date.

For instance, something is due on Monday, the latest you can get it in on Thursday latest.

Upcoming reminders

Good afternoon all -

Today you were to turn in first drafts of your town hall news articles and your self assessments.

Midterm grades were due today and as discussed in class no "D" grades were allowed to be given. Therefore if you got an F or NC, please realize that you have 6 weeks to turn your situation around. Take charge of where you are and learn from the mistakes you have made.

Mr. Lai and I are committed to helping you be successful. Help us, help you.

By the end of class today, you should have also given in your project ideas. Please comment to this blog post with your topics, even if you have turned one into me or Mr. Lai already.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Self assessment

Please complete the midterm assessments that were handed out in class by Friday to be turned in.

For teacher/student next steps, please review comments made on your papers or on teacherease and write a summary of different issues you need to continue to work on.

Photojournalism project

Foundations in Journalism
Mr. Lai and Ms. Sackstein
Project #1 – History of Journalism – photo project

Directions: In a dual effort to decorate the pub lab and the classrooms as well as learn about important journalistic moments in history, your task is to find a picture that shows a moment in journalism history or a photo that can be considered photojournalism that captures an important moment in our history.

Steps:
1. Research historical journalism and/or historical moments using photographs – you can use the internet and/or photo journalism books
2. Select a collection of at least 5 photos that function as a series of some kind that focuses on a theme or one event (i.e. photojournalism and its uses during war displaying pictures of one or several wars)
3. You will then have to write a narrative essay (2-3 pages typed and double spaced) that explores the theme or events you have selected.
a. What do the pictures show and what was the effect of people seeing the images when they were first published and still today?
b. How does photojournalism capture these moments for the future?
c. How do pictures tell stories without words?
d. Analyze at least one of the photos and how it functions as a piece of journalism.
4. Keep track of all the sources you use, as you will be expected to write a works cited including where the photos come from (we will be going over this skill in class)
5. You will also need to write captions for each photo that will be displayed with the photos.

A timeline will be established for when each part is due.
You will have to select a topic and/or historical moment(s) by Oct. 17th (Friday, next week)
Due dates will be posted as we go and there will be class time provided for research.

News article on the town hall meeting - 1st draft due Frid. 10/17

Should be objective, factual and balanced

Active headline

strong lead

Have direct/indirect quotes from students of every grade and teachers/administrators

Revising News

Make sure you have a strong, active headline (includes some kind of verb and excludes articles)

Make sure you have an engaging lead that gets to the heart of your news story.

Make sure your paragraphs are short and all information is properly attributed to sources.

Make sure you have both direct and indirect quotes.

Make sure you have employed the inverted pyramid and used only necessary information to convey your story... BE OBJECTIVE. NO OPINION

Talk about your experience with News U

Today in class you experimented with the website NewsU. How do you think this website will help you in your understanding of journalism?

What did you learn from the lead lab and news sense workshops?

Comment on this post.

Homework due Friday, 9/26

Draft a copy of your newest news article based on the clip that Mr. Lai showed in class on Monday, 9/22.

Make sure that it is typed, double spaced and contains all of the necessary information. Bear in mind the comments given on your Spiderman brief.

Homework for Friday, 9/19

Writing News Briefs - just as the name implies, a news brief is short. It should include the pertinent information of the event or situation (who, what, when, where, why and how). Using direct quotes is desirable. Consider making sure all information is attributed to something.

Your first draft is due on Friday, 9/19

It must be typed, double spaced with a headline and byline.

Homework due Monday, 9/15

Assignment 4 in the packet about News and News Leads will be collected on Monday if you haven't already turned it in.

We did assignment 2 and 3 in class, if you haven't turned that in already, you'll also need to turn those in on Monday.

YouTube Opportunity

YouTube presentsOpportunity for Student Journalists

Today, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, YouTube presents Project: Report, a journalism contest for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be covered by traditional media.

*See the *Project: Report* channel page for all program details.*See the YouTube News team's announcement.

In each of the three rounds of Project: Report, reporters will be given an assignment to complete. Each of these assignments gives people an opportunity to report on the important individuals, issues, and communities in their lives that others do not yet know about.

Round 1

The assignment for Round 1 is to profile someone in your community, in three minutes or less, highlighting a story you think deserves to be heard by a wide audience. Video submissions for Round 1 are due by midnight EST on Sunday October 5, and a panel of journalists from the Pulitzer Center will narrow the field to 10 semi-finalists.

Round 2

The assignment for Round 2 will then be officially announced, and the judging for this round will be opened up to the YouTube community to determine the five finalists who will move onto the third and last assignment (TBD).

PrizesWinners of each round will receive technology prizes (video cameras and laptop computers) from Sony VAIO and Intel, and the grand prize winner will be granted a $10,000 journalism fellowship with the Pulitzer Center to report on a story outside of their home country.Even if you did not participate in or advance past Round 1, you may still complete the assignments for Rounds 2 and 3, though you will not be eligible for the grand prize.

With Project: Report, the Pulitzer Center and YouTube hope to bring an audience to as many of these stories as possible and draw attention to important topics that have been under-reported, misreported, or not reported at all.

Download official press release

Homework due Friday, 9/12

Do activity 1 in the packet about News and News Leads after you have read and annotated the part up to it. (Sorry for the confusion)

It will be collected on Friday.

What is journalism?

We started to consider this question on Tuesday... what is journalism?

Journalism is:
According to the University of Western Ontario (http://www.fims.uwo.ca/journalism/what-is-journalism.htm):
Journalism is the timely reporting of events at the local, provincial, national and international levels.
Reporting involves the gathering of information through interviewing and research, the results of which are turned into a fair and balanced story for publication or for television or radio broadcast.

Journalism is not just
fact-finding
media analysis
opinion writing, or
commentary

although all of those aspects can play a part at times.

Excellent Election Coverage -

http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1102

One of the on-going assignments you will working on this trimester is coverage of the Election. This website is an excellent resource for both sides. NPR (National Public Radio) is not sponsored by a side, but rather by the people, so it offers a wide variety of opinions.

I suggest you visit the website and look around.If you find anything of interest, share it with the class... comment on this post.

about me

my name is meagan. i am a animal lover so i am vegitarian. i went to wjps the last 2 years so this is my 3rd year. i live with my mom, dad, and 2 brothers. my older brother , matthew, is in tomas edison high school. my little brother , timothey (timmy), actually goes to wjps with me. he just got excepted last year. the glasses i wear dont really help me see, but my mom, dad, and eye docter lady told me to put them on anyway. i don't know what else to say so i guess i am done.

Hello and Welcome everyone

So far it has been great hearing from all of you. Seems you have something in common. Just a tip about posting... when I put up an assignment post as comments instead of new posts or else we will have a blog that is very long...lol.

I had asked you all earlier what you knew about journalism. We meet again on Friday... we will be discussing in detail what journalism is.

Everyone should consider beginning to listen to either talk radio (NPR) - NPR.org. or watch network news at least a few times a week. As we begin to consider what journalism is and what responsible journalism is, we need to understand what exactly the media is sharing with us and how they share it with us.

Looking forward to reading more about you all.
Ms. S

About me

My name is Raisa Balabanova. I was born on November 24, 1994. I live in Flushing, NY. I love volleyball, swimming, and countless amounts of other sports. I also love to read and play the piano. I have a crazy family that consists of 3 children (I'm the oldest). I love all of my friends, and school, of course. I'm very excited to start learning more about Journalism and I'm sure that it will soon become one of my favorite subjects.
Your son is adorable, Ms. Sackstein :-)

About Me

My name is Anastasia Ioannou. I am new to WJPS. I went to William Spyropolous/St.Nicholas before comming here. I have lived in Flushing for 3 years and before that I lived in Boston for4 and before that I lived in Long Island for 7. I have two younger brothers who are 7 and 8. I hope to learn a lot in your class. See you there :p

About me :

my name is maggie todaro and im from whitestone, new york. i've lived in whitestone my whole life. i have a little brother, who's almost 7 years old. my birthday is july 31, 1994. my friends and family mean the world to me. im a very laid back kind of person. im funny most of the time, but serious when i have to be. well, i guess thats all u need to know about me [= see you in class tomorrow !

Welcome to Foundations in Journalism with Ms. Sackstein

Good morning or afternoon to all of you. Welcome to WJPS. This blog will serve as a classroom outside the classroom, as support and forum for furthering classroom discussions. I will often assign homework to post to the blog. Please don't hesitate to ask your classwide questions here... anything personal should be sent to me via email. This way the personal matter can be handled privately.

Your first official assignment is: to introduce yourselves to each other... Who are you? Are you new to WJPS? If yes, where were you before? What do you hope to gain from your experience in this class? What are your expectations? How do you like to learn?

I will go first:
I'm Ms. Sackstein. This is my second year teaching at WJPS. I teach ELA and journalism classes. This is my 7th year teaching ELA. I started my career at Far Rockaway High School for 3 years, moved to Locust Valley High School on Long Island for 2 years (where I advised the school newspaper) and then I landed here. I am extremely happy and excited to be here and to share my knowledge with you and for each of you to share yours with me and each other.

Expectations, as you will learn quickly, I'm sure, are a big part of my class. I expect everyone to try their best and never settle for something that isn't as such. The work we produce will be published in a school paper so we want people to really be wowed by the work we do. I know that each of you is capable of keeping up with the work and trying your best. You can expect me to be available for help via conferences or email as much as possible.

I'm an auditory/visual learner, but I like to keep things interesting. I will do my best to make sure everyone's learning preferences are honored as much as possible.

I'm looking forward to a good year.