Monday, June 8, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Editorial Piece
Editorial Questions
It's incredibly hard to find work for people of any age. I'm dealing with this, my neighbor is dealing with this and tons of people around our country.
2. What is your view/position on the problem or situation?
I think that our economic down turn has caused lots of stress for everyone in our country. We are all effected in some way, and lots are having trouble finding work.
3. What would you like to achieve with your editorial? (What is the desired result?)
My desired result would be to get people to be a little more compassionate in a time of high tension.
4. How will you persuade your audience to adopt your viewpoint as theirs? List at least 4 persuasive points.
(1.) State some statistical facts from credible website on unemployment rate.
(2.) Personal story of family friend getting layed off out of the blue.
(3.) My own job hunt as an 18 year old going off to college.
(4.) Recent news worthy events about this issue.
5. How will you motivate your readership to action in your conclusion?
Colloquial language and personal stories.
6. How will your editorial serve a public purpose?
Give a new perspective on an important topic.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Peer Edits Featured Article
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Feature Article
It all starts out how any good plan does, preparation. Every fall and spring I put money aside and gather supplies for this big event that was incredibly foreign to me all throughout middle school. My parents observe this process with curiosity, especially my dad.
“Why don’t you just walk up to her and ask her,” he’ll question, “If you guys already know you’re going together, why do you have to go through all the hoops to ask her?”
Every single time I think to myself, “good question dad.” I’m not saying that I don’t like doing something nice and thoughtful for my girlfriend, but just simply wondering how this whole idea of the elaborate method of asking became the norm amongst my peers.
First we should start off by examining why girls would want a boy to ask them in a time consuming, surprising way. Obviously, if a boy puts enough time into asking a girl to a dance and it’s apparent he did a very nice job, it shows the girl that he wanted to go with her so bad that he was willing to sacrifice his time and money. This goes on to make the girl feel special and important in his life, going along with the basic human psychological needs of belonging and love.
Being creative and doing a nice job also helps to ward off any other notion that she should be going with a different person. I mean… how could she say no to you if you woke up at 3 in the morning and stuck a thousand plastic forks in her yard spelling out “prom?” and the other guy simply wrote on her car window with a paint pen? Creativity is appreciated because it helps weed out the competition. No longer is it a surprise if you get asked in a really weird way, it’s actually expected.
Probably one of the most fundamental things to understand when talking about this is plain and simple, girls love to gossip. Not only do they love to gossip, but they love to compare themselves to everyone else and everyone else to themselves. I’ve had firsthand experience throughout my life with this gender trait, from my sister, girlfriend and mostly girl neighbors. When you (guys) ask a girl to homecoming or prom in a creative way, it gives them something to bring up in conversation with their girl friends. It also gives them something to compare other friend’s relationships to hers. Just think of it like, the more proudly and confidently she can tell her friends about the way you asked her, the better. It’s awfully hard for her to proudly tell her friends that she was asked the same way every other girl has ever been asked, with a little message written on her car in paint pen.
What will make your method of asking the girl to homecoming or prom the best is customizing it to fit her specific expectations. Now this can be challenging if you haven’t really been involved with her for long or… ever, but if you’ve been in a relationship with this girl for a while, it would help to find something personal you’ve shared and use it. I’ve been going out with my girlfriend for almost a year and one month now and over this period of time we’ve found this spot next to the Mississippi river in west Saint Paul. The first time we went there I carved our names into the side of a cliff wall, and this year for prom I carved out the date we started dating along with a giant “prom?” in the wall as well. She was so happy with the way that I asked her because it was personalized. Absolutely no other person at prom will have a similar way to mine.
Although asking a girl to dance has evolved from simply walking up to her in the hall and popping the question, to forking and car paint, there is still hope for the not-so-thoughtful-or-romantic guy. It’s important to see why the asking game has changed, and if you poor underclassmen guys out there follow my advice, you’ll have no problem dealing with the next steps in the evolution of this yearly process.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Feature Story Pre-Production
Sources:
1. Mr. Kelly
2. Rachael Anderson
3. Kellie Van Beck
4. Principal
5. Alex Sertic
Questions:
1. What was prom like for you and how have you seen it evolve into what it is today?
2. What kinds of things do you expect of prom. (flowers, transportation, afterparty)
3. Comment on the importance for the guy to ask in an elaborate way.
4. How was your prom experience compared to what you've seen at Eastview?
5. What goes into planning prom for the school?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Feature Story
Drinking at prom?
Cost of prom.
Why prom is such a big event now
the origins of prom
history timeline prom
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Peer Edits
Jessica's Peer Edit: The begining sentence covers 4 of the 5w's. Eastview, 2010, Seniors, graduation. There is no how though in the first sentence. The questions left unanswered are why and how. These are answered in the second paragraph. There arent any really specific times or anything but the phrase "nothing is set in stone yet". This paper could be improved by cutting down the ambiguity (spell check).
Peter's Peer Edit: The begining sentence covers most of the details but in brief while the second sentence goes on to explain that it was the Eastview Frisbee team last weekend at the Hopkins Hustle. In the second and even third paragraph he goes on to explain what the tournament is and how it works. The only questions I have after reading the first part of his story is how the team feels they are doing during the season and their predictions for the rest of the season.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Final News Story- Track and Field
With the 08-09 school year coming to a close, many are starting to think of their summer plans rather than the happenings around Eastview. But what about the spring sports teams that are still working their butts off? With spring sports wrapping up, I've decided to look into how the track team at Eastview is doing.
Many tend to focus their attentions towards the Lacrosse and baseball teams but little at Eastview know that the track team is competing in the section meet in the upcoming weeks. This is a big time for the team coming up and I decided to get the scoop on how we're expected to perform.
If you ever ask around the coaching staff at Eastview for one of the most talented runners they'll be sure to point you in the way of Paul Thompson. This is Paul's Junior year at Eastview and his second year performing on varsity for our distance crew. I caught up with Paul and asked him about the upcoming meet.
He said, "I'm very optimistic of our teams performance at the section meet. This year our team has been very close-knit and spend just as much time having fun together as working hard for our meets."
After questions of predicted future and team bonding I asked whether or not there are any major weak points on the team that will be of detriment at sections.
Paul responded by saying that, “On any team there are those that don’t hold up their weight. This year there have been a few people that haven’t but I’m unwilling to point my finger.”
While Paul was able to give me a good look into the world of long distance track and field, Aaron Stevens was able to provide insight onto how the rest of the team is doing.
With most of our varsity team being comprised of the senior class, there definitely needed to be questions raised on how the nearing of their high school experience has helped or hurt the team dynamic in these last days before the meet on May 26th and 28th.
He replied,” Well it’s really fifty-fifty. Some of the seniors are taking the end of the year as an opportunity to work harder and finish strong while some of them are taking it as an excuse to not do as well because they don’t think it matters. But there are definitely more on the side of doing well for the last meet. I can say that because I am a senior, I am going to try harder than I ever have to make a memorable last meet.”
With some good input from those directly on the team, I decided to see what a former varsity track member thought of the generally optimistic view I have been receiving concerning the track team. I asked Travis Burkstrand, now a University of Minnesota track and field runner, about what he thought the team was doing well this year.
Travis said, “Well what this years track team seems to be doing very well is keeping consistent with their runners. I’m not too up to date on how the throwers or sprinters are doing but I know that the long distance runners and jumpers are consistently the reason for how well we’ve been doing.” He went on later to predict, “If I had to make one projection for the teams success at the next meet, it will be because of the distance runners.”
In two weeks the Eastview boy’s tack and field team will be competing at the section meet on e 26th and 28th of May. Everyone should go out and support the team in what is forecasted to be a very good performance from our boys.INTERVIEWING NOTES
9. Soliciting an anecdote: prompts a short story. "What has been the most memorable aspect of this process?"
10. Imaginative: Strays from the routine. "Does your team have any superstitions?"
11. Recovering from the Grenade: A neutral question. "Any last minute strategies to work on before the game?"
12. Grenade: Tough question. "So how can you comment on chemical use on the team?"
Concluding the Interview:
Thank you
Sign documentation sheet
Further Questions...
Consideration:
Plan ahead, not everyone is a good interviewer.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Gathering Info/ Interview
-Choose 3 interviewees
-Schedule interviews (24+ hours in advance)
-Give a "heads up" to interviewees
-Conduct background research
-Write interview questions (10-15)
Why Prepare Questions?
-It's your job!
-1st impressions
-Nervous, unexpected circumstances
-Higher quality questions
-Preparation is a guide, not a limitation
Holy Trinity of Interviewing:
1. Anecdote
-Brief story told by interviewee
-Usually paraphrased by writer
-Entertaining
-Paints a picture for reader
2. Revealing Quote
-Something said by the interviewee
-Gives reader insight to personality
-Creates picture for the reader
3. Portraiture
-Description created by the writer
-Based on observations of interviewee
-Description is relevant to topic, not random
Preparation Payoff
-Varying types for various purposes
-To relax, gain trust, show genuine interest
-Interviewees who trust you will talk and talk and talk...
Types of Questions:
1. Opener: beginning question/remark; establish a rapport
2. First Step: asks about the topic"Oh, cute pictures. Are those your children?"
"I wanted to talk to you about the upcoming fundraiser. Would you tell me3. Qualifier: find out if the source is qualified
exactly what you're doing?"
"What is your role in the fundraising efforts?"4. Routine Factual: 5 W's and H
"Who is on the comittee? When will the fundraiser be?"5. Numerical: statistical information
"How many years have you had this fundraiser? How much money do you hope to6. G-O-S-S-E-Y: a way to ask deeper questions; goals, obstacles, solutions, start, evaluation, why
raise?"
7. Responder: clarification
"Would you explain what you mean? I'm not sure I understood."
Friday, May 8, 2009
Journalism School Questions Activity
Jane, Office Ladies
2. How many teachers are absent from school today? Who are they?
Twelve, Attendance Ladies
3. Who is the president of our school board? How many are on the board?
Mike Roseine, Class
4. What date is graduation this year?
June 12th
5. Who are the newest faculty members?
Fedje, Class
6. Who is the tallest person at our school?
Mr. Tolofson, Mr. Tolofson
7. What does DECA stand for?
Distributive Education Club of America, Class
8. How many home football games were played this season?
Six, Joe Hackett
9. Who are the student council officers?
Rachael Anderson, Kellie Van Beck, Alex Sertic, Nikki Fitzgerald, Nikki Trummer. Mr Kelly
10. Where do you find accurate spelling of a student’s name? Grade level?
Year Book
11. How many students have enrolled at EVHS this year?
2,217, Guidance Office
12. Who is the head custodian?
Brian Fisher, Brian Fisher
13. Who advises the Yearbook?
Kitchner, Class
14. Where is the district office located? (city & street name)
Rosemount, 150
15. Who are the administrators (in addition to Dr. Peterson) and what are their duties?
Hanson, Percevil, Miller, Dr. Peterson, Franchino, Martinson
16. Who advises the chess club?
Detmer
17. Name the captain(s) of the girls’ soccer team?
North, Price, Mehr
18. Who manages the cafeteria?
Gean Martin
19. Who are the librarians?
Sullivan, Lingren, Koziy
20. How many students are taking AP tests this year?
500 or so, Martinson
Thursday, May 7, 2009
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/toolkit_resources/tipsheets/writing_news_story.cfmHard news (+/- 600 words): This is how journalists refer to news of the day. It is a chronicle of current events/incidents and is the most common news style on the front page of your typical newspaper. It starts with a summary lead. What happened? Where? When? To/by whom? Why? (The journalist's 5 W's). It must be kept brief and simple, because the purpose of the rest of the story will be to elaborate on this lead.Soft news (+/-600 words): This is a term for all the news that isn't time-sensitive. Soft news includes profiles of people, programs or organizations. As we discussed earlier, the "lead" is more literary.Feature (+/-1500 words): A news feature takes one step back from the headlines. It explores an issue. News features are less time-sensitive than hard news but no less newsworthy. They can be an effective way to write about complex issues too large for the terse style of a hard news item. A good feature is about the people in your community and their struggles, victories and defeats. A feature takes a certain angle and explores it by interviewing the people involved and drawing conclusions from that information. The writer takes an important issue of the day and explains it to the reader through comments from people involved in the story. Remember to "balance" your story. Present the opinions of people on both sides of an issue and let the readers make their own decision on who to believe. No personal opinions are allowed. The quotes from the people you interview make up the story. You are the narrator.Editorial: The editorial expresses an opinion. The editorial page of the newspaper lets the writer comment on issues in the news. All editorials are personal but the topics must still be relevant to the reader.Structure for your article:-The Lead: One of the most important elements of news writing is the opening paragraph or two of the story. Its function is to summarize the story and/or to draw the reader in.-In a hard news story, the lead should be a full summary of what is to follow. It should incorporate as many of the 5 "W's" of journalism (who, what, where, when and why) as possible.-In a soft news story, the lead should present the subject of the story by allusion. This type of opening is somewhat literary. Like a novelist, the role of the writer is to grab the attention of the reader. Once the reader is drawn in, the 5 "W's" should be incorporated into the body of the story, but not necessarily at the very top.The body: involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative which helps the story flow. A word of caution, however. In this style of writing, you are not allowed to "editorialize" (state your own opinion) in any way.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Frederick Standard 2007- "Bong hits 4 Jesus" ruled in favor of the school because it was a school permitted field day.
Friday, May 1, 2009
-Speech Assembly Religion Press Petition are the five freedoms of the first ammendment.
- Our first ammendment rights are restricted at Eastview
-Tinker vs. Des moines. Improved freedom of speech in schools.
-Fraser Standard (1986). Can censor stuff if it goes against what the school is trying to teach.
-
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Eastview is only going to be interested in things that have to do with Eastview or the community around Eastview (apple valley, eagan, burnsville and rosemount).
What Back Issues Can Tell Us:
1. What stories are covered every year?
• Theres always a homecoming and graduation issue. These issues come out during the time of year they are associated.
• Yes there are some of the same people from year to year but as the years go on the groups of writers change.
2. What was the biggest story of each year?
-Each year held different newsworthy stories. One year they had a featured article on Best buddies and another they had a big piece on teachers leaving Eastview.
3. How many personality sketches of students were run each year?
• There were a variety of people interviewed, always mixed gender and always representative of every grade. There were also a mix of band kids to jocks and everywhere in between.
• I wasn't able to read through every paper and article but I'm assuming that no one was featured twice because that would just make for a boring article.
• Yes.
4. How many personality sketches of faculty were run each year?
• Outgoing teachers were featured along with any that had some sort of significant news pertaining to EV (such as leaving the district)
• They are interesting and lots of people would enjoy reading about them.
5. What full page features (or center spreads) did the publication carry?
• Best buddies is the one that sticks out in my mind and yes it is still a very active club at Eastview.
6. What was a great year(s) for sports teams? Activities?
• We've had state champions in dance.
• I didn't read enough to find out if we had olympic performers.
• In 2006 we had a really great football season I guess.
7. Find a story that uses background information from previous years.
Action Valley "what teens find for fun in the town"
8. What topics did the paper editorialize about each year?
• There was always a worldly issue being discussed and how Eastview is helping out with it. In 2006 there was an American Red Cross fund raiser held by EV kids that raised money for Hurricane Katrina.
• This is actually still an issue, many people are displaced by this event.
9. What major news did the paper carry about classes?
• There was a story about DP.
• It went on to explain what it was and why the kids don't move for two periods.
10. Any new equipment?
• There was an addition of new electronic babies.
11. Any scandals involving students, administrators, or teachers?
• Not really any scandals.
12. What changes in fashion among students can be found?
- No longer is bleached blond hair cool, or dockers.
13. What signs of changing times can you find as mirrored in the concerns of students?
• Something that never changes is our concern fro public health. Any kind of outbreak of illness at school is always going to be news worthy.
14. Did the school have any championship academic teams?
• Art show winners?
• Band or choir awards?
• Science winners?
• National honors?
15. Which clubs were most active?
- Lego club and robotics were pretty active and were featured.
16. What campus events made the most news?
17. What movies and music groups has the paper reviewed?
18. What issues did cartoonists choose?
19. How has the publication’s format changed?
20. Did the demographics of your student population change? Why?
21. What are the school’s traditions and how did they develop?
• Who are the school’s traditional rivals? (Could vary between activites.)
• How did the rivalry begin?
22. What are five things most interesting about EVHS?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Journalism is current events that are newsoworthy. They are presented through reporters and writers that research a topic or story first hand and publish them in print media or with audio (radio). Broadcast Journalism is a a different media.
List and describe the six criteria of newsworthiness.
TITLE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE
1. Timeliness- Today right now. Not what happened a year ago this day.
2. Proximity- things that are near to us. Local Happenings, car accident in MN.
3. Significance- Major events. 9/11.
4. Prominence- People that impact people. Obama. Important people that everyone is interested in.
5. Unusualness- Things that don't happen very often. Fires and murders.
6. Human Interest- Feel good stories. Take away from the general negative vibe of news.
What are the advantages of print journalism?
1. Choose what you want to learn about.
2. More Detail.
3. More Accurate.
What are the advantages of broadcast journalism?
1. More Current.
2. Video and Audio.
3. Free.
Why has online journalism (convergent media) become so popular?
Online journalism has become so popular because of how convienant it is. Its actually a mix between broadcast and print because there can be videos along with a written article to get an effective message across. Its incredibly simple to look up whatever news story you want and its continually being updated.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Photoshop Project

Friday, April 17, 2009
Commercial #1. Playstation
Target Audience: Teens to Young adult males.
Persuasive Method Used: action
How was editing employed: It was shot to look very intense.
Slogan: Live in Your World Play in Ours
Message Effective: Yes, because it targets the correct audience.
Commercial #2. Budweiser
Target Audience: Over 21, males and female
Persuasive Method Used: humor
How was editing employed: It was shot in such a way that it looks like there are a group of animals that went to go play football.
Slogan: Budweiser
Message Effective: Yes, it was funny and I think males will appreciate that.
Commercial #3. Chrystler
Target Audience: Women and some men
Persuasive Method Used: human interest
How was editing employed: Shots to make the car look very appealing
Slogan: Drive and Love
Message Effective: I didn't think so but thats because I'm a guy and this was clearly targeted towards women.
Commercial #4. Pepsi
Target Audience: Anyone
Persuasive Method Used: Humor
How was editing employed: They used editing to get the humor portion of the commercial across and the effects with the unzipping.
Slogan: It's a twist on a great thing.
Message Effective: Yes, I thought it was because the celebrity cameos made it interesting and funny.
Commercial #5. Fedex
Target Audience: Adults
Persuasive Method Used: Humor
How was editing employed: They used editing to make the man look as if he had been stranded on an island for five years.
Slogan: Fedex Express
Message Effective: Yes, This message got across the point that Fedex is an incredibly dedicated company that respects your privacy.
Commercial #6. Dodge
Target Audience: Teen and young adult Males
Persuasive Method Used: Humor/action
How was editing employed: They used editing to make it look like the truck went really fast. The camera angles employed were to esentuate the truck.
Slogan: Grab life by the horns
Message Effective: Yeah this ad was pretty effective because its catored to the correct target audience, some might find it gross.
Commercial #7. Gatorade
Target Audience: males interested in basketball, any age
Persuasive Method Used: Action/ celebrity
How was editing employed:They used the editing to make each dunk look really intense
Slogan:Is it in you?
Message Effective: This message was effective, it made the players look like they were working hard and using the product to re energize.
Commercial #8. ESPN
Target Audience: Teen and adult males
Persuasive Method Used: Humor/ celebrity
How was editing employed: Editing was used to make it look like the chef was looking for the ring all over the place and to show off the ring.
Slogan: This is Sports Center
Message Effective: No, it didn't really make any sense, it was just to get the ESPN name out there.
Commercial #9. H and R block
Target Audience: Adults any sex
Persuasive Method Used: humor/ celebrity
How was editing employed: They used lighting to make it look dramatic at times and to show off willies surprised face
Slogan: Double check
Message Effective: Yes, Alot of people know who the celebrity is and can see the humor in the ad.
Commercial #10. Bug Light
Target Audience: males over the age of 21
Persuasive Method Used: humor
How was editing employed: They filmed it to look like the clown drank the bud light through his butt.
Slogan: Make it a bud light
Message Effective: Yes, the product was showcased and it was pretty funny.
Commercial #11.
Target Audience:
Persuasive Method Used:
How was editing employed:
Slogan:
Message Effective: