News and Notes: 9.29.11

It's BLOG READING DAY! Each week, you will need two documents for this assignment. The first is the group list. Check that list for your name. Find your group number, then check which blogs you are reading for that week. For example, if you are in Group 7, this week you are reading blogs in column C.

• Reading blogs is a weekly assignment
• You will read EACH blog on your weekly list
• You will comment on EACH blog on your weekly list. Comments must be substantive and move the conversation forward about the topic. If you don't know anything about the topic at first, say so. Ask questions. Maybe the author will write a post addressing your questions! Keep your comments on topic, but feel free to expand on the topic as needed. You may also comment on other comments.

News and Notes: 9.21 and 9.22

Please check to see that your blog is listed on this chart. If it is NOT, immediately send your URL with your name and the title of your blog to Wojo.

See yesterday's announcements for your assignment that is due no later than Sunday at 5 pm. That post is right under this one.

News and Notes: 9.20.11

Don't forget worknight is Friday. Your editors will tell you if you need to attend.


Blog Assignment:
Today: Read about Zoe Strickland who started blogging when she was 13.
By Sunday, September 25 at 5pm do the following with your blog:

• fill in the About Me section. Remember, this is a professional blog, so be careful about what you write here. Also, be careful about putting personal information out there. Generally, it's okay to say you live in California or Northern California or maybe even the SF Bay Area. Don't put the name of your city.
• Add a hit counter to your blog if you can add widgets/gadgets. All Blogger blogs can take widgets. One free widget is SiteMeter. Another is ClustrMap. Feel free to add both since they do slightly different things.
• Write a post of not more than 750 words explaining to your readers why you started a blog on this particular topic. Generally speaking, bloggers write a first post of this nature to let their readers know what the blog is about and where it's going. Your post should not be fewer than roughly 300 words. Describe your passion to your readers.

Updates for 9.13.11

Check here each day for updates and reminders.

Tuesday: paper blogs
Wednesday: (2/3 periods) Editor's Choice
Thursday: Resume due, profile due (2nd period), roots quiz
Friday: Banned Books Week Presentation

News and Notes: 6.3.11 The End

Can you believe it's the end of the year already? Thanks for making this yearbook great and one of the hottest selling books of all time (yes, fewer numbers sold, but greater percentage picked up than EVER!).

Seniors: Good luck with all of your events, graduation practice and the big event next Saturday!

Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors:
     Your final will be an audit of the current yearbook. If you did not purchase a yearbook, you will need to borrow one from a friend. There are NO books to loan you. The purpose of an audit it to analyze the type and quality of coverage using a variety of benchmarks. For this assignment, you will be creating a report, complete with graphs and charts, to bring to your final.
     First, review the demographics of Hercules High School by going to DataQuest.
     Next, for level select SCHOOL, for subject select ENROLLMENT.
     Click Submit
     Next, make sure 2010-2011 is selected at the year, then type in HERCULES.
     Make sure Hercules High is selected
     Review Enrollment by ethnicity, grade and gender.
     **NOTE: The numbers for freshmen in all categories is off (as is our total enrollment), but the percentages are roughly correct. For the purposes of this assignment, the percentages are close enough.


     Now you are ready to begin your audit. Go through the 2011 yearbook and examine the way we cover our campus and its students. Create a chart for each of the following:

• number of stories for student life, academics, class and sports
• number of clubs covered versus the number of clubs at the school
  
• number of stories featuring males, number of stories featuring females
• number of stories featuring freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors. 
• number of stories featuring students of various ethnicities: African American, Hispanic, Asian, Filipino, White (these are our major groups...in some instances, this section might not be complete because you don't know the ethnicity of a student).
• number of stories citing an expert or authority figure on our campus, number of stories citing an expert or authority figure NOT on our campus (and where they are from).
  
• one more chart of your choosing that must be significantly different from those listed above. It must be something about the stories and the way they are covered. 

Charts may be combined. For example, you might have ONE chart that shows the number of stories featuring each grade level (that would probably be a bar graph). You may put more than one chart on a page. Clearly label all charts.

Now for the hard part. Analyze our coverage. Compare our coverage to our demographics. What are we doing well? Who are we covering well? Who is being left out of the paper? What are we not doing well in terms of coverage? AND what should we do about it (this would be an action plan to remedy any areas of poor coverage)? Solutions may be creative, but must be reasonable. The analysis should be 2-3 pages long, not including the charts.

Put your audit portfolio neatly bound in a folder in the following order:

1. Cover page that includes your name and the title of the assignment "Olympus Audit, 2011"
2. Charts as described above
3. Analysis as described above 

This assignment must be typed and turned in as a hard copy. You cannot turn it in late. Bring this audit portfolio to class on Monday (9:30-11:30) NOTE: A period students will meet TUESDAY from 7:20-9:15 and be prepared to discuss it. We will be formulating a plan to move our yearbook forward to meet the information needs of more of our readers.

News and Notes: 6.2.11

GREAT JOB on distribution yesterday! WooHoo! Almost ALL of the books were picked up in less than two hours!

Presentations today. We'll finish tomorrow.

It's DISTRIBUTION DAY!

Man (or woman) your stations! We need signs. We need wrappers (not to be confused with rappers). We need bouncers and checkers. We need BOX CARRIERS!

If you can stay during first period, please let Wojo know. Thanks.