Commentary writing - Ethan's first attempt

1. List three emotions you've experienced the past week. What triggered them?

Anger/ Irritated- being warned while working at 12am

Boredom- sitting on stone block during lunch in the cold pretending that I will gain immunity to the cold breeze

Happy- meeting with a good friend that talks to me and my friend.

2. List three things or situations that have given you a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment.

Doing corrections and understanding why I got things wrong in math assignment 19

All hw is done

No school

3. List three things you worry about.

Projects

Finishing HW

Math tests

4. List three things that frustrate you.

Math

Preparing to Interview

Tests and Projects

5. List three things you need.

Water

Food

Air

6. List three things you think teachers worry about.

Troublemakers

Sleeping

Teaching class well

7. List three things you think give teachers a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment.

People’s grades are 100

Everyone’s listening in class

Failing kid is no more failing

8. List three things you like about your school/community.

Friendly- politeness in people.

Big- easy access to point A to point B

Populous- many people

9. List three things you dislike about your school/community.

Untidy - bathrooms, cafeteria.

Old - P.E lockers, the Bowie website and all of its FAQ's, broken speakers

Disrespect- throwing food and not picking it up in the cafeteria, missing but not picking back up disgustingly wet paper towels in bathroom , not cleaning up messes to aid the clean-up crew.

10. Identify and briefly describe one TREND you have noticed around school, in the media, in pop culture, in your community.

There is sometimes a circle of people talking in the bathroom, which is inconvenient as I have to pass through the circle to get to the urinal.

Also the bathrooms constantly has a wet paper towel either shoved in the urinal or on the sink. Disgusting, and I wish Bowie had a “CleanUp”day where students clean their mess.

SNO Online Papers

Frankentoy Event – Viking Voice

1.Yesenia Lopez and Eduardo Villa

2. The Frankentoy event in Oct 26, 2017. The event was a halloween contest in which students have to make a toy made of parts from two other stuffed toys, similar to how the Frankenstein monster was created, thus having the name, Frankentoy.

3. "Our Frankentoy event was a great success, the participants were more creative than I ever imagined. Thank you to everyone who donated or participated."

4. No.

5. No.

6. Yes. Mrs. Emily Hersh, Alexus Giles

7.  3rd Person.





'Fantastic Beasts' is, in fact, fantastic | The Word

1. Zoe Bollinger

2.  Why the movie Fantastic Beasts is a good movie. ( A movie review by Bollinger)

3.  "The Harry Potter prequel had special effects that truly made the fantastic beasts fantastic – and so real!"

4. She said that the plot was obvious if you really thought about it throughout the film, and she found some characters a bit boring, like Tina.

5. No.

6. No.

7.  1st Person.

Not a reading rainbow – The Shield Online

1. Emma Baumgardner

2.  Expanding the literary canon to include more authors of color would benefit all students

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Personal Essays

1. A topic of a personal essay should be whatever you strongly care about. Readers want to know what you feel about the topic, think about the topic, so it's important that you can express deeply on the subject.

2.  Lure your readers by showing details and being specific during your story. This means using the "show don't tell" idea to fully convey your emotion on the subject.

3.

• Whatever I think about a certain subject must have a clear reasoning. Readers should understand why I believe in the certain opinion.
•  I should use a hook, a statement that lures readers in my essay. Hooks can be a question, a quote, a strong statement, a metaphor, or a description of a setting or person
• I should write as evocatively as possible. I should use all the senses, especially senses that aren't as commonly used.

Prompt Shoot #1

Square

Bowie

Happy

Metal

Avoiding Mergers

 A piece of United Airlines Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field became evidence that Zacarias Moussaoui was linked to the 9/11 attacks.

The United Airlines Flight 93 piece is behind a plain background in order to prevent any mergers from stealing the main attention towards the piece of plane.





The picture above does NOT avoid the mergers.  Notice on the right there is a man cut in half by the border of the picture. Also notice the man in blue's head is merged with the man in white.







This image slightly has mergers, but it is minor. The man appears to have water spouting out of his head, so if the photographer waited longer, then the merger problem would be gone. However it is minor, as the main focus is the smoke , not the people.

Balance

The firemen form a geometric triangle. The center fireman is in the center, which gives off symmetrical balance

Rule of Thirds

Image showcases space below the falling victim and centers victim to upper-right third.

Framing

The people moving down and the staircase next to the fireman, which brings the center of attention towards the fireman's face.

Simplicity

Vertical format is used to focus on explosion rather than the area around the building. The explosion is also shown on a plain background being the sky, which gives more focus towards the explosion.

Lines

The smoke forms a diagonal line (or lines) that ends at the twin tower buildings. This makes the twin tower building the main focus.

Opinions Writing Preview Activity

Story 1- Ideacide and you: the guide to avoid self-censorship

1.  A member of the Dispatch; the story is an editorial and holds no name.

2.  The story is about self-censorship and its consequences, mainly how we should avoid self-censorship.

3.  "We should all  make an effort to actively note and rethink our hesitations, for freely expressing our thoughts will add different perspectives and have an impact on important issues."

4.  Not really. They described how self-censorship can appear in one's life, but as an editorial piece they write the stance that was voted the most.

5.  No. They solidly explained with reasoning their opinion, stating that "we miss an opportunity to share our views."

6.  No quotes.

7.  1st person. Lot's of  "we".


Story 2 - Letter from the Editors

1.  Editors-in-Chief Cianna Chairez and Abby Ong.

2.  The story is about The Dispatch's focus of this issue was to clarify things such as the goals and common sense rules in The Dispatch and changes implemented in this newspaper issue. 

3.  " Readers should know that news stories are meant to be objective and informative whereas commentary stories serve as a place for a writer to take a stance on a subject."

also

"Journalists exist to inform the public and should be held accountable for the work that they put out."

4.  It briefly talks about the idea that journalists are enemy to the people and spread fake news.

5. No, the writers were very clear and direct with what they were saying, with no indication of being "wishy-washy". As they said, " The Dispatch is committed to asking questions and presenting the facts of various issues."

6. No quotes.

7. 1st person.

Story 3- Understanding political perspectives

1.  Carter Scruggs

2.  The story is about how the increase of political activeness is leading towards more opinionated sides, and how people shouldn't judge other people based on what they believe in.

3. "Our political beliefs are just one of the things that makes us who we are, but that doesn't mean we should let it control every other aspect of our life."

4.  Yes, he said that people feel that political beliefs affect their life.

5. No, they clearly made a solid opinion and even put an analogy at the end of the story, saying "Imagine you're a cow... and you have to eat food out of a trough. You have to eat it because you have no choice. Should we judge others because they eat different food?"

6. No.

7. 1st Person.

Story 4- IDs spark debate: purpose vs. plastic

1.  Ian Miller (a) and Jake Brien (b)

2.  The story talks about how IDs in our school isn't bad and isn't going to make school worse.(a)

The story talks about how IDs in our school are bad and don't provide the protection that it showcased.(b)

3. "The abundance of students who think this new system is the end of the world for them need to reconsider their priorities."(a)

"I don't want an ID system that's more focused on providing multiple services to students than it is protecting them." (b)

4. Yes, other students don't like the IDs.(a) Yes, Students think this ID will protect them somewhat and is useful.

5. No, they both made clear statements that explained their reasoning.  (a) He gave an analogy of IDs like they are flu shots, painful but protecting. (b) He explained that Bowie needs to update their security systems more than giving IDs to students.

6. None.

7. Both 1st person.

Story 5- Chat with Nat - college applications cost more than just your personal drive.

1. Natalie Aman

2.  College applications cost way too much and should be lower.

3. "I personally think that applying to colleges should cost half as much as it currently does."

4.  It mentions briefly that people work with thousands college applications as a job and must get payed for the work. It also mentions that the high amount of money needed will lead to motivation for students to become hard working and improve their saving-money skill.

5. No, she explained the cost of shipping scores to colleges, cost of applications, and explained that the cost of college applications should be at least affordable.

6. None.

7.  1st Person.

A. Hard news stories gives you facts and information that may be interesting or needed, and it quotes only other people's opinions, while an opinion piece tells the author's opinions to the general issue.

B. This page doesn't need to be backed up with pictures because the main idea isn't just the issue, it's also what the author thinks. Pictures are needed more when displaying an issue, not displaying an opinion (which may be impossible).

C. Topic on fixing the speakers in the P.E hallway, Topic on what to put on or next to the television screens in Bowie ( a clock would be nice), and topic on what needs to be and how can they be updated on the Bowie website (club info is incomplete, a map of Bowie's area would've been nice, FAQ's about FIT and other things are outdated).

-The Dispatch- News Evaluations

Story 1- Accountability ratings in Texas Education Agency releases grades by campus


Who: TEA and Bowie High School.

What: The Texas Education Agency evaluated and gave Bowie a score of 97.

Where: Austin ISD, Bowie High School.

When: This year, 2018.

How: Using the Accountability Rating System, TEA evaluated Bowie's Student Achievement and  School Progress. Bowie met the standards for the components in School Progress, had good teachers who put good students as first priority, and earned six out of seven distinctions.

Why: Cade Blagdan explained that Bowie had really good teachers who cared and set students as top priority. He also says that everybody in Bowie acknowledges the idea that there is potential opportunity in building academic resumes for students wanting to go to a certain college.


2. Texas Education Agency evaluated Bowie High School and gave the school a 97, which is considered as outstanding. Bowie High School is thought to have good teachers who put students as the number one priority and that Bowie helps students in college readiness and in future life.


3.  Principal Mark Robinson, Student Council President Cade Blagdan.

4. No Opinions.

5. Yes, it summarizes the story.

6. Yes.

Story 2- Painted parking spots stir up debate about criteria

1.
Who:  Seniors requesting their parking spot to be painted and the Administration.

What: There is an issue on painted parking spot criteria as seniors who request their parking spots to be painted, displaying certain content are being declined due to their content being controversial.

Where: Bowie High School and it's parking spots.

When: This year, 2018.

Why: The administration is afraid of allowing certain content to be painted on parking spots as the content could endorse certain religions or ideas to be superior.

How: However the increased censorship offends some seniors as it feels like discrimination upon their beliefs. Seniors requesting and applying for a painted parking spot must go though administration for approval.

2. Seniors requesting parking spots to be painted are being declined by the administration due to the requested content appearing controversial.  Administration explains that some controversial content could be shown as the school endorsing a superior political or religious idea. However some seniors feel discriminated as they explain that the content showcases culture rather than endorsing inequality.

3. Senior Simoon Saiyed, Principal Robinson.

4. No opinions.

5. It seems to summarize the plot of the story.

6.  Yes.

Story 3- Crazy climate calls for air conditioning

Who: The school's students and teachers.

What: The school's air conditioning is being repaired because many of the school classrooms have uncomfortable temperatures.

When: 2018 during the school's summer and the 2018 semester.

Where: The school's classes.

Why: The school classroom have temperatures that are uncomfortable to students and teachers. Fixing the air conditioning will fix the situation.

How: The entire system down all summer led to some units in the system not running due to needing replacement parts.

2. The school's cooling and heating systems need and are going to be repaired due to the temperatures in many classrooms to be uncomfortable for students and teachers.

3. Principal Robinson, Teacher Jeni Garcia, Senior Viviane Harle, Sophomore Miranda Cardena.

4. No opinions.

5. I would add "in classes" after "climate", but the headline still summarizes the plot.

6. Yes.

Story 4- New school counselors come to lend helping hands

Who: School Counselors Laura Loza, Nona May, Carli Valverde and new School Counselors Kim Dilbert, Kim Libby, Clare Smith, Heather Gallier, Nicole Hepburn.

What: Five new school counselors have been hired in the school department.

When: This school year, 2018.

Where: The school and it's department.

Why: Many previous counselors left the school department, leaving job vacancies needed to be filled up by the new counselors.

How: Applications and interviews fo the counselor job was happening during last summer.

2. Many previous counselors in the school have left. Five new school counselors have been hired.

3. Laura Loza, Principal Robinson, Heather Gallier, Senior Anna Ippolito, Senior Taina Gomez, Nona May.

4. No Opinions.

5. Yes it fully explains the plot of the story.

6. Yes.

Story 5- Construction creates congestion

Who: Bowie students and staff.

What: The construction at Slaughter and MoPac is causing students and staff members to have a longer time getting to the school.

When: This year, 2018-2021

Where: The Slaughter and MoPac intersection.

Why: There construction happening at the intersection of MoPac and Slaughter is structured as a diverging diamond, which is supposed to ease traffic when finished.

How: This year. there is construction happening at the intersection of MoPac and Slaughter causes traffic and delay getting to Bowie. People who live on

2.  Construction at Slaughter and MoPac is causing students and staff members to face more traffic. The construction design is to be known as a diverging diamond and to be finished in 2021. This design when finished is meant to lessen the amount of traffic in the highways, safely allow vehicles to get across MoPac and allows easier pedestrian and bicycle access.

3.  Senior Clair Richardson, Senior Sarah Rolan, Senior Darcy Kannemann, Biology teacher Jessica Davis.

4.  No Opinion.

5.  Yes, it does.

6. Yes.