Responses to New York Times Articles

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. In an attempt to save paper, I would like you post your responses to the New York Times Magazine articles here. You can still follow the format on the handout I gave you, but save it as a comment here rather than turning in a piece of paper on Jan. 7. I'm also considering some other changes to the class. Stay tuned for updates. Happy New Year!

National Scholastic Press Association Spring Convention

Seniors who are interested in going, let me know. LAUSD will provide a bus, but you will have to come up with the $89 registration and the $200 for the hotel room (three nights, shared with 3-4 people). UPDATE: There a a few scholarships for the $89 registration fee. Let me know before they go to students from other schools.

Issue #3

This issue seemed more difficult than usual to produce. We need to have better communication between editors and reporters. Please don't swap stories without talking to your editor about it first. Make sure you take a photo of every news and sports story you cover. Nearly every story needs some sort of artwork. If it is something that is happening on campus, take a photo!

Please leave your comments on the issue here.

Share Your Stories/Photos on Google Drive

Only Jeneffer, William and Holly have met their deadline for first drafts. The rest of you can expect your grade to drop the longer it takes you to turn in your (overdue) work.

First Drafts Due on Friday

William, Vanessa, Jackie, Daisy, Jeneffer and I will be at USC High School Journalism Day on Friday. We will return at the end of the period. As news editor, John will be in charge in our absence.

November Issue

Congratulations on our first 12-page issue. Thanks to everyone involved, especially those who stayed after school and who came in on Saturday to see that we met our deadline. Please post your thoughts about the issue here. Rather than a general comment, like "Nice job," I'd like you to make a specific comment either about your own story or someone else's story. What did you like about it? What would you have done differently if you had it to do over?

Also, please print the file titled Story Proposal in the box above. We will use this to finalize stories after we brainstorm story ideas on Tuesday.

Print vs. Web

 While I'm very excited about our website, there are still good reasons to publish a print newspaper as explained in this article by a journalism adviser.

http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2009/05/25/10-reasons-high-school-media-shouldnt-abandon-print/

First Issue, Guest Speaker

Congratulations on the first issue! We will critique the paper in Room 421 tomorrow, so annotate a copy and be ready to talk about what was successful and what needs to be improved.

Please add a comment from your notes on the guest speaker. What was the best piece of advice you took away?

Good job, everyone

You were meetin' and greetin' like pros. I thought the event went well. Hopefully, this will make things easier when you go to interview these people.

One reminder: Interviews need to be done in person, not by email. If you interview someone in person, then later, you look at your notes and you realize you need to talk to them again, go in person. If you can't reach them, then you can send an email. Also, don't take, "just email me the questions" from an adult. Explain that your teacher requires you to practice the skills of interviewing and notetaking. Email does neither.

Please add a comment here about your experience with the meet and greet.

Tuesday's Meet and Greet

Bring your selected item to me in the morning and I will put it in the refrigerator in the SAS workroom next to Mr. Lange's classroom. I will take these over to Room 120 during my fifth period conference.

Remember to dress professionally. It doesn't have to be formal, just a bit more polished than you normally would dress (no short shorts, short skirts, t-shirts). Do your best to mingle with adults; don't stand in clumps and talk to each other.

Also, your rough drafts are due either on paper, email, or a flash drive. On Wednesday, I will show the staff how to use Google docs.

Deadlines

NEWS STORIES: Rough drafts are due Tuesday, Sept. 18.
Final drafts are due Thursday, Sept. 20.

Please upload your stories to Google Documents and share with me (karen.cusolito@gmail.com) with Vanessa (vanessa_10894@yahoo.com) and William (wcs124@mymail.lausd.net).

If this is a problem, bring your story on a flash drive.

Press Conference with Superintendent Deasy

This is an unprecedented opportunity to practice the craft of journalism. LAUSD Superintendent Deasy will hold a press conference with journalism students on Thursday, Sept. 13 at 4:30 p.m. at Robert F. Kennedy High School, 701 S. Catalina St. in the school library. Plan to arrive by 4 p.m.

News Article Analysis due tomorrow

We will meet in Room 120 on Friday and do an exercise with Mr. Manriquez's students on the elements of news. Then we may brainstorm questions for man on the street. Turn in your news article analysis to me.

On Monday and Tuesday you will meet with Mr. Manriquez and pair up with one of his students and go find people to interview for man on the street.

On Wednesday and Thursday you will meet in Room 421 where William and Vanessa will lead a lesson on writing leads.

Your substitute will be Ms. Fox. See you on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Read a newspaper article

Now that you have access to the Los Angeles Times, read a news article and complete the newspaper analysis.
Due: on or before Friday, Aug. 24.

Los Angeles Times Online

 I have registered for the Los Angeles Times E-Edition, meaning all my students now have access to the electronic version of the LA Times. You can read the daily paper online and you can search for stories in back issues. This will be convenient for this class.

To access it, click on the link at right (and then bookmark it) and enter the following
Username: Cusolito
Password: room 421

This American Life Podcast

 Listen to this shocking story of how "journalism" operates today.

Congratulations on our first 16-page issue!

Thanks to the hard work of everyone, we pulled it off. You all wrote multiple stories, took photos, interviewed people. I am awed by your team work!

Please post your reflections on the issue here.

View this video on the First Amendment

1 for All

Your final is to memorize the 45 words of the First Amendment. You may recite it any time between now and the final on Friday, June 15th. (Seniors will be in graduation rehearsal, so anytime before that date.)

Thinking of Joining Journalism? Check out the Prezi

Why Take Journalism? on Prezi

News Reminder

Just a reminder to everybody, please don't forget to email me your news stories. It's your first draft, so I just want to see what you are working with so that I know that you are headed in the right direction. If you still need a couple of interviews let me know.

So sorry that your deadline had to happen during CST week :( I understand

PowerPoint on AP Style

I found this PP on Associated Press style and added it to the folder labeled Style in The Box above. Please view it. I don't get the purpose of the second slide, and the second-to-last slide is garbled, but otherwise it is useful for the major AP style points that everyone needs to know.

I've also added a folder for June stories. You can share your stories on Google Docs or place them in the folder in The Box. Every time you meet your story deadline, you may enter your name in the drawing for the LMFAO concert tickets on June 6 at the Staples Center.

The Power of Words

Check out this video and answer the questions.
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-power-of-simple-words

Congratulations on the April Issue

Thanks to Karina and Maria for staying late on Monday and Tuesday to get the paper finished.

Please write a reflection on the April issue and post it here. Of what were you most proud? What  would you have changed? What do you need to work on for the next issue?

Thanks to Karina and William

If we meet our deadline for the April issue, it will be thanks to Karina and William, who stayed after school on Thursday and Friday. Karina was here until 6:30 p.m. on Friday! Be kind to her. The fate of your stories is in her hands.

Upload Your Stories to Box.net Above

Since Google Docs doesn't seem to be working well, let's try uploading stories to the folder named "stories for April issue" in the box above.
I've invited everyone to be collaborators, so you can click on the link in that email and upload your stories.

A day in the life of a reporter

The Romney Campaign By Ashley Parker
Photos by Ashley Parker
Ashley Parker has been covering Mitt Romney since August. Here’s a sampling of some of her articles on the campaign: On Romney’s Quirks How campaigns use Twitter On Republican relationships On Romney’s sons Romney’s organization	I cannot remember the last time I went to the gym. I eat most of my meals — lukewarm chain restaurant food, if I’m lucky — from a plastic foam container precariously balanced on my lap, as whatever bus I’m on trundles through whichever early primary state I’ve just landed in. And in one epic, 18-hour workday, I woke up in Ohio before dawn, connected in Minnesota, covered an event in Idaho, and finally drifted off to sleep in Utah. When friends and colleagues ask me what covering Mitt Romney for The New York Times is like, the best analogy I’ve come up with is that it’s a bit like a day at the circus: incredibly fun, full of heightened drama and more than a little surreal. In fact, covering a presidential candidate, much like being a presidential candidate, is a series of highs and lows, often all at once, more frustration and elation than you ever imagined possible, all in a single day. Day, after day, after day. After day. A typical day on the trail goes something like this: Baggage call at 6:45 a.m., so Secret Service dogs can sweep your gear to make sure it’s “clean” and not a security threat. Pile onto the press bus to drive to an early morning rally at a fence-post manufacturing company in Ohio. Back on the bus after the rally, where you try to file a quick story to The Caucus blog, while making calls to sources for that larger feature you’ve been putting off. Arrive at the next event, a town hall several hours south of where you began. Cover the town hall, and pile back on the bus (where takeout lunch from a nearby Applebee’s awaits) to the drive to the airport, where Mr. Romney’s charter flight is ready to whisk you away to North Dakota. Wheels down and — you guessed it — back on the bus to drive to Mr. Romney’s final rally of the day, in a high school gym. Finish up a story for the next day’s paper before deadline, and head to the hotel, around 8 or 9 p.m. And then, of course, hit the hotel bar or a local restaurant for dinner, ideally with a source or two. Soon enough, every sheet-metal factory and diner begins to blur together, and the only way you can tell you’re in another state is because the jacket you huddled in during a blizzard in Grand Junction, Colo., seems out of place now that the Romney charter plane has dropped you back in the deserts of Reno, Nev. Campaigns are long, frustrating, exhausting slogs, but if you were to ask any reporter on the bus if there’s anything they’d rather be doing, the answer would be a resounding no. We’re spending our year observing up close the man-who-could-be-president, covering what he says and does — and even how he laughs — for millions of readers. (For the record, Mr. Romney’s laugh often sounds like someone stating the sounds of laughter, a staccato “Ha. Ha. Ha.”) Fact-checking, policy stories, horse-race coverage and profiles of aides are all part of political reporting. But those of us covering Mr. Romney from inside “the bubble,” the coterie of reporters, aides and advisers who accompany him everywhere, also get to glimpse the most human and personal side of the candidate. Hopefully, by the end of the campaign, we’ll be able to tell our readers how Mr. Romney treats his young staff members, how he handles pressure and what he’s like when he thinks no one is looking. Already, we’ve learned a thing or two about his mannerisms. Mr. Romney loves guessing the ages and ethnicities of voters — often incorrectly. Whenever Mr. Romney bends down to chat with a little kid, the whole press corps giddily inches forward, waiting for the inevitable moment when he asks a boy who is clearly 4 or 5, “How old are you? 9? 10?” (His favorite guess for nationality is French-Canadian, which was a reasonably safe bet in New Hampshire, but became more precarious in more recent primary states, like Florida and Ohio.) And, of course, it’s tons of fun. My job has taken me to Las Vegas, where I went on a 30-minute run at the craps table that briefly earned me the nickname “Golden Arm,” and to Toledo, where, at a Japanese steakhouse, I looked on as my colleagues tried to catch shrimp (and sake) in their mouths. I have driven back from a debate in New Hampshire during leaf-peeping season, when the trees had just turned. I tried to remember the vivid golds and rusts and reds, because I knew I’d be back in a few months for the primary and its less hospitable, wintry landscape. And, on a free Saturday morning in Salt Lake City, I took a tour of the grounds of the Mormon Temple. There, young Mormon missionaries happily guided us around Temple Square, answering every question we had: about their religion, about the temple itself, about the Mormon marriage practice of “sealing” couples together for eternity. They were polite and thorough, though they seemed a bit overwhelmed to be standing in front of a half-dozen journalists calling out questions. The other night, after another long day, I stumbled across a colleague from The Washington Post, slumped in an oversize chair in the lobby of our hotel. “I’m just so tired,” he said, “I think because of all the laughter.”

March Issue Looks Great

Once again, we were hampered by computer problems, but we prevailed! Special thanks to Maria, who was not deterred by the demise of her computer, and to William, who brought our advertising total to $610 this month.

Please write a reflection on this month's issue and post it as a comment here. What did you accomplish in this issue? Are you proud of your stories and/or photos? If so, why? What could you have done to improve your work? Where can you focus your improvement for the next issue?

USC High School Journalism Day

Reporters Daniel Boror, Tania Dominguez, Jennifer Guido, Nanette Liberatori and Copy Editor William San Nicolas will be joining me on Friday, March 2. I'm sure they will come back with lots of new ideas to share with the staff.

CNN Story on HHS

Click on the headline to see Karla and "Maria."

Los Angeles Press Club Awards

Make Your Resume Standout!

Win Best High School Writer

Compete for Best High School Newspaper

All High School Media Eligible

As a finalist, you'll meet famed Watergate investigative reporters Woodward & Bernstein
at the 54th LA Press Club Awards Gala June 24 at the Biltmore Hotel.

Entry forms are in The Box above. Look for the file that says call for entries. The student entry fee is $20. The deadline is March 30.

Congratulations Karla on your acceptance to Yale University

You deserve it. If you can adapt to the weather, I'm sure you will thrive.

Nat'l Scholastic Press Association Journalism Honor Roll

NSPA Member:

This is your last-minute reminder that the NSPA Journalism Honor Roll deadline is quickly approaching, and NSPA strongly encourages you to send in your materials now. We will need to receive all of your students' Honor Roll submissions by Feb. 29, 2012 at 5 p.m. This is not a postmarked due date.

Our records indicate that your students did not participate in this opportunity last year. The NSPA Journalism Honor Roll is a chance to recognize your students who have excelled academically and as a member of your publication staff. Entry in this contest is free with your current membership.

Students must meet the following requirements in order to be considered:

-Complete a minimum of one year on an NSPA member publication staff as of Feb. 29, 2012
-Provide verification of at least a 3.75 GPA on a 4.0 scale
-The adviser must provide a written recommendation. A blanket letter for all eligible students is acceptable.

All students who are eligible and submit the required materials will be honored and sent a certificate this spring.

Students who wish to apply for the Journalism Honor Roll and/or Wikoff Scholarship opportunities will need to submit additional materials. The deadline is also Feb. 29, 2012, and all forms may be found at NSPA's website under the form central.

Please direct any questions you have to Kate Brickman, NSPA contest and critique coordinator, at contests@studentpress.org.

Thank you for your membership, and we look forward to your participation in these great opportunities.

This email is being sent to current NSPA members and past entrants of our contests.

The National Scholastic Press Association
2221 University Ave. SE, Suite 121
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-625-8335

Invitation to High School Journalism Day

Juniors! Have you registered? Don't be left out! This is an extremely popular event that fills up quickly. Register today. I will get field trip slips for you and we will go in my car.

Gmail - Invitation to High School Journalism Day - karen.cusolito@gmail.com

USC High School Journalism Day

Juniors: You are invited to attend on Friday, March 2. You must sign up as soon as possible, or it will fill up and we will be shut out. Go to http://annenberg.usc.edu/highschool to choose your sessions.

Cannon EOS Rebel T2i Single Lens Reflex digital camera is en route

Camera for Backpack Student Journalists (Classroom Project at DonorsChoose.org)

Thanks to donors around the country (and the matching funds once we got below $800), our new camera should be delivered within four weeks. I will come up with procedures for checking out, using, and returning the camera as this is a valuable item that we want to maintain in good condition.