Feb. 12 edition

Class meets next on Thursday. On Friday, we have two hours for our final. I expect to see the opinion (2-3), features (8-9) and entertainment pages (10-11) done by Friday. The news pages (4-5) should be well on their way. The front page will be a big Hollywood Idol photo, so we need to be sure we get a cover worthy photo. Feel free to bring your own cameras in addition to the staff cameras.

That leaves the sports page (12) and the Valentine's Day color spread (6-7) for next week. Maybe we can sell some Valentine's messages during advisory. Each of you can ask people in your own advisory and maybe a few people could go to other advisories as well.

Also, I've cleaned up the AOL mail. The only items in the inbox are what we are currently working on. Old stuff has been deleted or put into folders. If you can't find something, look in the folders.

Wear Your T-Shirts Tomorrow

Yearbook is coming to take our photo. The following owe me for a sweatshirt: Adrienne, Elizabeth, Kiara. The following owe me for a Tshirt: Jafet and Kevin.

Remember to Pay for Your "We've Got Issues" Shirts

The following people owe $28.95 for their sweatshirt: Adrienne, Elizabeth, Lisette, Kiara, Cecilia, Malina and Maria.
The following owe $11.95 for their T shirt: Ana, Sree, Karla, Antonio, Kevin, Jessica and Jafet (the last two - your shirts are in my file cabinet in room 421)

Tips for the New Year

Before throwing away my notebook from the High School Journalism Institute at the University of Texas, Austin this summer I thought I would pass along these tips from reporters at the Austin American Statesman daily newspaper:

Print out your story and do a line check.
Read your story aloud.
Include a detail, a piece of description about the person or the room
Pretend you are a foreign correspondent: why is this story important?
Don't be afraid to ask questions. If it's not in your notebook, you can't write about it.
If using a tape recorder, don't listen to the whole thing. Write down where on the tape something important is.
Ask for a phone number, so you can double check your information later.

And finally, from Jeff Cohen, the editor of the Houston Chronicle:
"At the end of the day, you can change the world with a newspaper; you can change the world with a high school newspaper."

Cheers to finding and reporting more great stories in 2010!

Go online, read other high school newspaper stories

Click on the high school journalism link at right and read one of the stories there. Be prepared to discuss it in class tomorrow.