1) Effectiveness of the writing:
From the various articles that I read the writing seems like it was effective for the high school audience intended, it was generally clear and understandable, with an occasional challenging word thrown in (this fits well assuming that the students reading would likely be more academically dedicated). I noticed a few misspellings, on the "MAN ON THE STREET" presentation, although not an official article, I did notice a misspelling that could have been easily corrected, the person questioned said "It was boring. It didn't grasp my attentnion at all." I also found a few issues with another article, "Rough pasts lead students to embrace the holiday season", The Story began focusing on student Buck Schroeter, with a prompt that left little else to expect, but transferred half way to another student, Tenzin Dekyong, I think it could have been worked into the prompt. Anything negative I have heard from family and friends has to do with misspelling and grammar issues.
2) Quality of the photographs:
I think that the photographs, while well placed were blurry in some area's. The Chick-fil-A advertisement, and this may have been because of the company, was blurry. In "Urban Craze", a portion focused on fashion, something that should have had a high resolution picture with it, both photo's were blurry, leaving the reader to guess details of what the subjects were wearing. I think drop-shadow, used on page 6 and 7, is effective for cropped photo's, but should not be overused. Overall, I think the photos were good considering the issues with color the newspaper inherentally has.
3) The overall impact of the layout and design:
There were few areas that were not broken by some sort of change in color or info-graphic; there is one on page 4 that does not follow the breaking up strategy to keep readers interested. I think a picture would have been placed there to benefit the flow of the information. Something I do like in the paper, as long as the color is subtle, is the background color applied to some of the articles. This may have been slightly misused with the bright orange beneath the "Chuy's helps donate toys for children" article, but I thinks it's still something nice to include. The paper also conformed to the pica border rule and did not have a set page layout for each paper, keeping each page unique.
4) The strength of the non-photo graphics and info-graphics:
I noticed one non-photo infographic, page 3 "Student finds finals to be stressful, unnecessary, and over-emphasized", that summed up the information from a survey very well, but was pixelated. I think that the drawings throughout the paper fit the high school feel, this may have been a weaker subjects in the paper (only because photos were used more often), but it seems like there was at least one non-photo graphic per page to keep things interesting for the reader.
5) The continuity of the theme/design elements visible throughout the entire work:
The paper did into seem to have a general color theme, I think if the paper subtly followed the "MAN ON THE STREET" box, or some similar theme, the paper would have seemed more complete and whole. The front page did do a nice job of combining the intro-photo's black wit the "Invisible Children strive to make themselves heard" background color. Individual pages do seem to a color theme, except for page 5 and 11. If I hear anything about the paper from friends and family, good or bad, it does not include design elements: no news is probably good news.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Story Questions
Teacher Pageant:
To winner:
What was your performance and how did you come up with the idea?
How long did you practice, what was your motivation?
Have you participated in the teacher pageant before?
(depending on talent) have you done other things relating to this?
What other teachers presentations did you like?
To Interesting Talent:
How/Why did you pick this talent?
What place were you?
Have you participated before / will you be participating again?
To Judge: (Or vote collector/ however it works)
Was the winner who you expected? (brief explanation of voting process)
Did you have any favorite acts?
Basketball:
To Coach:
What are your expectations for this season?
Is there anything you will be doing different/participating in as a team this year? (elaborate both on new and old)
What have you previous successes as a team been/ how did you come by these?
Are you familiar with the team/ do you have many new players?
What drives you to coach?
(What player(s) of yours should I interview)
To player(s):
How many years have you been playing before this? (elaborate)
Is basketball your favorite sport or just something you participate in? (elaborate)
How well do you think the team will do this season?
How long have you know the coach(es)? (elaborate)
What accomplishments have you had as a player? (elaborate)
To winner:
What was your performance and how did you come up with the idea?
How long did you practice, what was your motivation?
Have you participated in the teacher pageant before?
(depending on talent) have you done other things relating to this?
What other teachers presentations did you like?
To Interesting Talent:
How/Why did you pick this talent?
What place were you?
Have you participated before / will you be participating again?
To Judge: (Or vote collector/ however it works)
Was the winner who you expected? (brief explanation of voting process)
Did you have any favorite acts?
Basketball:
To Coach:
What are your expectations for this season?
Is there anything you will be doing different/participating in as a team this year? (elaborate both on new and old)
What have you previous successes as a team been/ how did you come by these?
Are you familiar with the team/ do you have many new players?
What drives you to coach?
(What player(s) of yours should I interview)
To player(s):
How many years have you been playing before this? (elaborate)
Is basketball your favorite sport or just something you participate in? (elaborate)
How well do you think the team will do this season?
How long have you know the coach(es)? (elaborate)
What accomplishments have you had as a player? (elaborate)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Presentation Notes
Scanner- skips page to page, needs reason to read
Hunter- Looking for something specific
Grazer- Reader of full paper
Brainstorming is important: Getting a writer, photographer, and Graphic Designer tegether can lead to dynamic layouts.
Every noewspaper page should have a center vidsual interist, or CVI
Info graphics can be simple and effective
this combination of writing and visuals can be called packaging
photos can be rearanged, something simple like cutting and matching a visual can lead to a better story. Fonts are important, as well as color choice.
Sometimes it is good to borrow ideas from the layout and design of other newspapers/yearbooks/magazines.
Sometimes it is good to have the input of random students - it breaks up space and catches the readers eye.
Again: fonts and titles are important for the scanner-type readers.
Find an interesting angle, a general prom story will not catch anyone's interest.
Hunter- Looking for something specific
Grazer- Reader of full paper
Brainstorming is important: Getting a writer, photographer, and Graphic Designer tegether can lead to dynamic layouts.
Every noewspaper page should have a center vidsual interist, or CVI
Info graphics can be simple and effective
this combination of writing and visuals can be called packaging
photos can be rearanged, something simple like cutting and matching a visual can lead to a better story. Fonts are important, as well as color choice.
Sometimes it is good to borrow ideas from the layout and design of other newspapers/yearbooks/magazines.
Sometimes it is good to have the input of random students - it breaks up space and catches the readers eye.
Again: fonts and titles are important for the scanner-type readers.
Find an interesting angle, a general prom story will not catch anyone's interest.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Story
Ethan Miller
Cross Country is sprinting towards success. Recently a Cross Country District meet involving Del Valle, Austin High, Anderson, and Bowie took place; Akins runners were scored alongside competitors from these schools for a chance to participate in an upcoming Regional meet. The team had some impressive success.
The top three scoring teams earn a place in Regionals as a whole; the team did not make the cut, but came very close.
“In the district meet Akins finished with 85 points, just one point behind Anderson’s score of 84. Had we gotten that one point, because it’s all based on the top five runners’ scoring positions, we would have tied or beaten them. We missed going to Regionals as a team by one place,” Cross Country coach Heather Cuthbertson said.
Despite falling short of third, two Akins runners did qualify for the Regional meet: Sophomore Evan Ortiz and Senior Eddy Gonzalez.
“In District the top ten individuals in the race qualify for Regionals. Eddy Gonzalez finished second, so he qualified, and Evan Ortiz finished fifth, so he was also able to qualify,” Cuthbertson said.
The two were happy with their rank.
“Placing in the meet feels good because I’ve been running all my life,” Ortiz said.
While their score is impressive, they still wish to improve.
“I would have liked to place first, of course, but that didn’t happen,” Gonzalez said, “It’s (the Regional meet) going to be a lot of fun.”
Cuthbertson is a new to athletics in Akins.
“This is my first year of coaching here, so I don’t know what they did previously, but I think the team has really been consistent with workouts this year,” Cuthbertson said, “I ran track for the University of Texas, and I did a short stint of coaching at my high school when I was home for a semester. This is my first official high school head-coaching job.”
The two runners have had other awards for athleticism.
“I wasn’t really involved in it (Cross Country) my sophomore or junior year, but during freshman year I placed third in District,” Gonzalez said.
They’ve worked hard for their sport.
“I [ran] summer track and I made it to nationals in the Junior Olympics,” Ortiz said.
Cross Country will continue to work hard.
“Dell Valle won the meet with, I think, 67 points, Austin placed second with 72, and Anderson placed third with 84,” Cuthbertson said.
It can be a great opportunity for all participants.
“It’s a lot of fun and, of course, a lot of work. It’s all about effort. The coaches are great, they’re willing to work with you any time,” Gonzalez said.
Cross Country is sprinting towards success. Recently a Cross Country District meet involving Del Valle, Austin High, Anderson, and Bowie took place; Akins runners were scored alongside competitors from these schools for a chance to participate in an upcoming Regional meet. The team had some impressive success.
The top three scoring teams earn a place in Regionals as a whole; the team did not make the cut, but came very close.
“In the district meet Akins finished with 85 points, just one point behind Anderson’s score of 84. Had we gotten that one point, because it’s all based on the top five runners’ scoring positions, we would have tied or beaten them. We missed going to Regionals as a team by one place,” Cross Country coach Heather Cuthbertson said.
Despite falling short of third, two Akins runners did qualify for the Regional meet: Sophomore Evan Ortiz and Senior Eddy Gonzalez.
“In District the top ten individuals in the race qualify for Regionals. Eddy Gonzalez finished second, so he qualified, and Evan Ortiz finished fifth, so he was also able to qualify,” Cuthbertson said.
The two were happy with their rank.
“Placing in the meet feels good because I’ve been running all my life,” Ortiz said.
While their score is impressive, they still wish to improve.
“I would have liked to place first, of course, but that didn’t happen,” Gonzalez said, “It’s (the Regional meet) going to be a lot of fun.”
Cuthbertson is a new to athletics in Akins.
“This is my first year of coaching here, so I don’t know what they did previously, but I think the team has really been consistent with workouts this year,” Cuthbertson said, “I ran track for the University of Texas, and I did a short stint of coaching at my high school when I was home for a semester. This is my first official high school head-coaching job.”
The two runners have had other awards for athleticism.
“I wasn’t really involved in it (Cross Country) my sophomore or junior year, but during freshman year I placed third in District,” Gonzalez said.
They’ve worked hard for their sport.
“I [ran] summer track and I made it to nationals in the Junior Olympics,” Ortiz said.
Cross Country will continue to work hard.
“Dell Valle won the meet with, I think, 67 points, Austin placed second with 72, and Anderson placed third with 84,” Cuthbertson said.
It can be a great opportunity for all participants.
“It’s a lot of fun and, of course, a lot of work. It’s all about effort. The coaches are great, they’re willing to work with you any time,” Gonzalez said.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The University Star Review
Ethan Miller
The effectiveness of the writing:
From the passages that I looked through (which were randomly chosen from the opening page, closing page, and Trends page) the writing seems consistent, proper grammar is used, things are spelled correctly, and the articles focus on the subject they are supposed to cover. Overall the writing does seem effective. There were two things that I noticed from these passages: some did not have much of a flare to them, the stories generally had an interesting subject, and covered the subject well, but there was no ‘pizzaz’ in most opening lines, or paragraphs to come. Also, and this happens in everyone’s writing, there were some repetitions (and they may have been related to quote transition style), but I think the writing (in one case) depended too heavily on journalistic structure.
Score: 9
The quality of the photographs:
The paper starts out with a pleasant eye catcher: a picture of a sculpted gray cat on a subtly different but contrasting background. Through the paper I noticed good use of photography: pages that stayed traditional with opening photos were displayed well, and pages that used more untraditional setup of photography arranged the photos in non-intrusive way. The only mistake in photography that I noticed were a couple of things on the front page, a head was cut off in a photo below the title, and their eye catcher bar cut off the head of a sports player at the bottom of the front page. The paper had good photography and choice of placement.
Score: 9
Impact of the Layout and design:
The front page starts out well: I feel like fonts were carefully selected, border colors were considered and made to match each other and school colors, and that the pictures compliment the writing and visa versa, they don’t compete for attention. The back page has a story on top of a photograph, it works well, the text is placed over the sky so it is easily read and leads into the rest of the photo. They mixed up the display of writing, some stories are in columns, others in the normal chunk of text, and again they compliment each other. I think this is probably the strongest part of the paper.
Score: 10
The strength of the non-photo graphics and info graphics:
This paper is a shorter one, and a good portion of it is advertisements; It doesn’t seem like they had much space for non-photo graphics and they had basically no info graphics. The only pages to judge this portion on are the opinions page and the comics’ page. The comic book illustrations are good enough, simple like a comic should be, but the opinions page uses too much space for a lower-detailed drawing (it’s drawn well, it just seems like it could have been condensed). This would probably be the weakest portion of the paper, but it’s still pretty good.
Score: 7
The continuity of the theme/design elements visible throughout the entire work:
I don’t think there was a particular theme for this work; I guess it could be called school themed (and it does focus of the school activities, which is nice), but that would hopefully be all school newspapers. The design elements are particularly strong, pictures are displayed in interesting ways, and the stories are built around the pictures in carefully balanced ways (although there were a few mistakes). The paper is all around strong, does not make any obnoxious use of display, and, like I said before, does focus on the school.
Score: 8
Final Score: 43
The effectiveness of the writing:
From the passages that I looked through (which were randomly chosen from the opening page, closing page, and Trends page) the writing seems consistent, proper grammar is used, things are spelled correctly, and the articles focus on the subject they are supposed to cover. Overall the writing does seem effective. There were two things that I noticed from these passages: some did not have much of a flare to them, the stories generally had an interesting subject, and covered the subject well, but there was no ‘pizzaz’ in most opening lines, or paragraphs to come. Also, and this happens in everyone’s writing, there were some repetitions (and they may have been related to quote transition style), but I think the writing (in one case) depended too heavily on journalistic structure.
Score: 9
The quality of the photographs:
The paper starts out with a pleasant eye catcher: a picture of a sculpted gray cat on a subtly different but contrasting background. Through the paper I noticed good use of photography: pages that stayed traditional with opening photos were displayed well, and pages that used more untraditional setup of photography arranged the photos in non-intrusive way. The only mistake in photography that I noticed were a couple of things on the front page, a head was cut off in a photo below the title, and their eye catcher bar cut off the head of a sports player at the bottom of the front page. The paper had good photography and choice of placement.
Score: 9
Impact of the Layout and design:
The front page starts out well: I feel like fonts were carefully selected, border colors were considered and made to match each other and school colors, and that the pictures compliment the writing and visa versa, they don’t compete for attention. The back page has a story on top of a photograph, it works well, the text is placed over the sky so it is easily read and leads into the rest of the photo. They mixed up the display of writing, some stories are in columns, others in the normal chunk of text, and again they compliment each other. I think this is probably the strongest part of the paper.
Score: 10
The strength of the non-photo graphics and info graphics:
This paper is a shorter one, and a good portion of it is advertisements; It doesn’t seem like they had much space for non-photo graphics and they had basically no info graphics. The only pages to judge this portion on are the opinions page and the comics’ page. The comic book illustrations are good enough, simple like a comic should be, but the opinions page uses too much space for a lower-detailed drawing (it’s drawn well, it just seems like it could have been condensed). This would probably be the weakest portion of the paper, but it’s still pretty good.
Score: 7
The continuity of the theme/design elements visible throughout the entire work:
I don’t think there was a particular theme for this work; I guess it could be called school themed (and it does focus of the school activities, which is nice), but that would hopefully be all school newspapers. The design elements are particularly strong, pictures are displayed in interesting ways, and the stories are built around the pictures in carefully balanced ways (although there were a few mistakes). The paper is all around strong, does not make any obnoxious use of display, and, like I said before, does focus on the school.
Score: 8
Final Score: 43
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Story questions
I've been signed up for two stories: the opinions piece on New Tech restrooms and the teacher and student move in to T-STEM.
I'm guessing that I don’t need any quotes for the opinions piece (unless I get the opinions of teachers) so I'll write down the T-STEM move in questions.
(These same questions will apply for all teachers interviewed)
1. Are you completely moved into your classroom at this point?
2. What challenges have you faced with the move in?
3. Is there anything you would have changed?
4. Where were you teaching before the opening of T-STEM? (Only in one classroom now?)
5. How do you like the new academy? (Class size/students?)
(For Students)
1. How has your schedule changed?
2. Is the building/class-setup working well for you?
3. What Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes are you taking because of the academy? (Do you like them?)
4. How were you told about the schedule changes that happened? (Note from the office etc)
5. What has been difficult/easy about the move in?
I'm guessing that I don’t need any quotes for the opinions piece (unless I get the opinions of teachers) so I'll write down the T-STEM move in questions.
(These same questions will apply for all teachers interviewed)
1. Are you completely moved into your classroom at this point?
2. What challenges have you faced with the move in?
3. Is there anything you would have changed?
4. Where were you teaching before the opening of T-STEM? (Only in one classroom now?)
5. How do you like the new academy? (Class size/students?)
(For Students)
1. How has your schedule changed?
2. Is the building/class-setup working well for you?
3. What Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes are you taking because of the academy? (Do you like them?)
4. How were you told about the schedule changes that happened? (Note from the office etc)
5. What has been difficult/easy about the move in?
Friday, September 10, 2010
Deadlines: Friday, September 10
I've signed up for two stories: Dumping in the soccer field and the increased amount of tennis players.
Soccer Field Questions:
1. Why was the dumping done / why was the soccer field (next to the baseball field) chosen?
2. Was it the contractors’ decision or the schools?
3. What are the benefits of the dumping / what are the risks?
4. Recently the dirt & rocks have been pushed towards the fence, why?
5. What are the plans for the future?
(for soccer coaches and players)
6. How has the dumping affected the team?
7. What part of the team was that soccer field used for (I think they used two fields)?
8. Do you think it will be used again, why?
9. Did you know about this beforehand, how did you find out?
10. What do you want to see happen in the future (relating)?
(distribute betweeen players and coaches)
Tennis Team Questions:
1. Why has the tennis team increased in size so much this year?
2. Is this all a result of the new tennis class?
3. Who has done most of the recruiting?
4. How does this year’s team size compare to other years?
5. With all the new players, is there enough equipment and space to go around?
6. How many of these players do you think will stay involved in the team?
7. What did it take to get the new class started?
8. What are your plans for this class in the future?
9. There was a class planned for last year, what happened?
10. How is the team this year?
(Get quotes from old and new tennis players)
Soccer Field Questions:
1. Why was the dumping done / why was the soccer field (next to the baseball field) chosen?
2. Was it the contractors’ decision or the schools?
3. What are the benefits of the dumping / what are the risks?
4. Recently the dirt & rocks have been pushed towards the fence, why?
5. What are the plans for the future?
(for soccer coaches and players)
6. How has the dumping affected the team?
7. What part of the team was that soccer field used for (I think they used two fields)?
8. Do you think it will be used again, why?
9. Did you know about this beforehand, how did you find out?
10. What do you want to see happen in the future (relating)?
(distribute betweeen players and coaches)
Tennis Team Questions:
1. Why has the tennis team increased in size so much this year?
2. Is this all a result of the new tennis class?
3. Who has done most of the recruiting?
4. How does this year’s team size compare to other years?
5. With all the new players, is there enough equipment and space to go around?
6. How many of these players do you think will stay involved in the team?
7. What did it take to get the new class started?
8. What are your plans for this class in the future?
9. There was a class planned for last year, what happened?
10. How is the team this year?
(Get quotes from old and new tennis players)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Do the write thing
Slide #2
Story: Dumping in Soccer field
Theme: The future of the Soccer field
Way to write about it: Question Akins staff, then the Soccer coaches to see how they were affected.
Slide#20
I can avoid this by getting quotes from differen't sides of the story, hopefully this will keep clichés out.
Slides#21-27
The second story was better than the first, because the first didn't have a story, it was all general statements about football season, fall, fans, and cheerleading. The second was about a single person and his experiences with a football team.
Slide#37
A good story:
tells the reader something new
explains what something means
reveals humanity, personality
finds the interesting point of view
Reflecting: As long as something is happening on campus, the reader will hear something new
As long as the writing is clear, definitions of things will be explained, people are always involved in theses, quotes reveal humanity and personality. And as long as its not very general statements it will be interesting.
Slide#44
Your story must be:
Accurate
Clean/Correct
Smooth
Clear
Tight
Unified
Clear: I'll try to make my writing informational and easy for everyone to understand, whatever that means
Story: Dumping in Soccer field
Theme: The future of the Soccer field
Way to write about it: Question Akins staff, then the Soccer coaches to see how they were affected.
Slide#20
I can avoid this by getting quotes from differen't sides of the story, hopefully this will keep clichés out.
Slides#21-27
The second story was better than the first, because the first didn't have a story, it was all general statements about football season, fall, fans, and cheerleading. The second was about a single person and his experiences with a football team.
Slide#37
A good story:
tells the reader something new
explains what something means
reveals humanity, personality
finds the interesting point of view
Reflecting: As long as something is happening on campus, the reader will hear something new
As long as the writing is clear, definitions of things will be explained, people are always involved in theses, quotes reveal humanity and personality. And as long as its not very general statements it will be interesting.
Slide#44
Your story must be:
Accurate
Clean/Correct
Smooth
Clear
Tight
Unified
Clear: I'll try to make my writing informational and easy for everyone to understand, whatever that means
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Improving our Publication
Maintain Consistency:
I can see a couple of things that could be done about this, the newspaper could have a few sections showing the same type of stories every day, or like we went over in last class there could be build up panels near the cover story in the same general spot every issue. Even an opening title with different pictures in the same spot could improve on consistency.
Cover your Community:
We can do this by making sure we have written about every new and upcoming thing on the campus. I think the real challenge in this isn't about finding people to interview, but finding out what's going on around campus. We could find out who is in what programs, and make an area in the room for people to drop story ideas that they've come up with. That’s about it really.
I can see a couple of things that could be done about this, the newspaper could have a few sections showing the same type of stories every day, or like we went over in last class there could be build up panels near the cover story in the same general spot every issue. Even an opening title with different pictures in the same spot could improve on consistency.
Cover your Community:
We can do this by making sure we have written about every new and upcoming thing on the campus. I think the real challenge in this isn't about finding people to interview, but finding out what's going on around campus. We could find out who is in what programs, and make an area in the room for people to drop story ideas that they've come up with. That’s about it really.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)