Editorial

Sitting in a school building, its hard to miss the fact that information is… EVERYWHERE. I’m sure you, like me, didn’t think twice about it, this is of course a place of learning. But really, take a look around you. There’s a few dozen posters on the wall, 20 or 30 books on the shelves….and right around the corner there a set of 20 computers linked to the internet, each holding an infinite amount of facts. American seem to have reached a new high. Our sources of information truly know no bounds.

Since this is the case, why is it that while the availability of information grows at an explosive rate, our abilities to comprehend, retain, and analyze information, seem to be steadily plummeting? The plethora of information available in the 21st century has led Americans to become hyper stimulated, resulting in a serious damage to our ability to process any information at all.

While we adore wikipedia, and can’t imagine life without google, what many of us fail to realize, is that there is a fundamental difference between information — the stuff made so abundant by technology and our fast paced world, and knowledge — the actual insight we get when we’ve had a chance to sort through things and figure them out. Psychologist Robert Butterworth says we need mental “content filters,” like the filters many people use on e-mail programs, in order to sift through all the information thrown at us every day.

“There comes a point,” Butterworth says, “where you have to decide which information to look at and which information to overlook.” The problem itself seems to be an oxymoron of the highest order, we are informing ourselves to death. The negative implications of the information overload we as society are experiencing, arises from the psychological field, society and the individual. Perhaps the best solution to all this is the simplest one: turn off the computer, unplug the t.v, close the book, and take a moment to think about what you’ve seen, heard and read.

Sitting in a school building, its hard to miss the fact that information is… EVERYWHERE. I’m sure you, like me, didn’t think twice about it, this is of course a place of learning. But really, take a look around you. There’s a few dozen posters on the wall, 20 or 30 books on the shelves….and right around the corner there a set of 20 computers linked to the internet, each holding an infinite amount of facts. American seem to have reached a new high. Our sources of information truly know no bounds. Since this is the case, why is it that while the availability of information grows at an explosive rate, our abilities to comprehend, retain, and analyze information, seem to be steadily plummeting? The plethora of information available in the 21st century has led Americans to become hyper stimulated, resulting in a serious damage to our ability to process any information at all. While we adore wikipedia, and can’t imagine life without google, what many of us fail to realize, is that there is a fundamental difference between information — the stuff made so abundant by technology and our fast paced world, and knowledge — the actual insight we get when we’ve had a chance to sort through things and figure them out. Psychologist Robert Butterworth says we need mental “content filters,” like the filters many people use on e-mail programs, in order to sift through all the information thrown at us every day. “There comes a point,” Butterworth says, “where you have to decide which information to look at and which information to overlook.” The problem itself seems to be an oxymoron of the highest order, we are informing ourselves to death. The negative implications of the information overload we as society are experiencing, arises from the psychological field, society and the individual. Perhaps the best solution to all this is the simplest one: turn off the computer, unplug the t.v, close the book, and take a moment to think about what you’ve seen, heard and read.

editorial prewriting

1. What is a problem/issue that our entire student body (our school, community, country, etc.) faces today? Being flooded with information; information overload. We are losing our ability to process and analyze information because of the influx of technology and new sources of information


2. What is your view/position on the problem or situation? I think that it is a bad thing, ADD is on the rise and students/young people in general are having a harder time processing and understanding any of the information that is thrown at them.

3. What would you like to achieve with your editorial? (What is the desired result?) To convince students to take time to really think about what they are reading, seeing and hearing

4. How will you persuade your audience to adopt your viewpoint as theirs? List at least
4 persuasive points.

-The dramatic rise in ADD and ADHD in our generation
- Losing the ability to determine what is important and what doesn't matter
-Students know a little bit about a lot of different topics, but depth of knowledge is slowly fading.

5. How will you motivate your readership to action in your conclusion?
By bringing up all of the downsides of being overloaded with information, and discussing the benefits of depth of knowledge, analysis and comprehension

6. How will your editorial serve a public purpose?
It will serve the purpose of convincing students to think more deeply about what is going on around them

Peer Feedback feature story

Peer Editing Feedback -Emmy Burns
1. What are some areas that could use more detail? She does a good job of addressing all aspects of the story
2. What additional sources might the author use? perhaps exerpts from book reviewers/critics, because she talks about the reaction from Time and entertainment weekly.
Does the lead involve you in the story? yes, she discusses how it's hard to describe the books she loves, which draws a parallel to the insane phenomenon that is twilight
3. Does the story contain a well defined scene (a detailed description of someone doing something or something happening)? no, she doesn't necessarily have a scene, but some of hte people she interviews discuss where they are/what they are doing when they are reading the books
4. What would you like to see or hear more of? I'd like to hear more of her personal feelings about the book and their effect on her

Peer Feedback- Jessica Karam
1. What are some areas that could use more detail? She could add in more detail with statistics about success rates of new years resolutions
2. What additional sources might the author use?
Does the lead involve you in the story?
3. Does the story contain a well defined scene (a detailed description of someone doing something or something happening)?
4. What would you like to see or hear more of? Less of? Include, any other suggestions you have for improvement.

feature story prewriting

1. Theme Statement:
The speech team is one of the most succesful teams at eastview, in the past three years it has experienced three changes in head coaches, all the while keeping a large number of competitively succesful participants. Although there are many things speechies would like to change about the team, they are all incredibly dedicated and passionate about the activity.

Sources:
1. Taylor Wewel
2. Elizabeth Roeske
3. Jordan Mckeen
4. Kiersten Yndestad
5. Mr. Fedje


Questions:
1. What drew you to the speech team?
2. What qualms do you have with the team's structure?
3. How does the school view the speech team?
4. What is the relationship between speechies and their headcoaches
5. Have the changes in leadership hurt the program?

Peer edits

hopkin's hustle story- Peter Ingles http://peterijournalism.blogspot.com/

Your lead is good and includes the 5 w's and h, the second paragraph/backup threw me off, I feel as though an explanation of the set up of games is a bit superfluous.
Places and dates are provided, but names of players and specific details haven't been mentioned yet. If you skipped right to that third paragraph or even shortened up this explanation a lot it would make the whole piece flow better.

graduation story- Jessica Karam http://jessicakaram.blogspot.com/

Your first sentence/two sentences don't really give the 5 w's/h information, you get to the point of the article in the middle of the first paragraph, you just need to flip this paragraph around. The second paragraph is good and answers the questions I had after reading the first paragraph.

Interview Notes

Where to begin:

• Choose three interviewees
• Schedule Interviews (24+ hours ahead)
• Give a "heads up" to interviewees
• Conduct background research
• Write interview questions (10-15)

Why to prepare questions:

• 1st impressions
• Nervous, unexpected circumstances
• higher quality questions
• preparation is a guide, not a limitation

Holy Trinity of Interviewing:

*Anecdote- a brief story told by the interviewee/entertaining/paraphrased by writer/paints a picture for a reader

*Revealing quote- Said by the interviewee/gives readers insight to personality/unique to the interviewee

*Portraiture- Description created by writer/based on observations of the 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

Types of questions-

1. Opener- beginning question/remark;establish a rapport
2. First Step- asks about the topic
3. Qualifier- find out if source is qualified
4. Routine factual- 5 W's and H
5. Numerical- statistical information
6. G-O-S-S-E-Y- A way to ask deeper questions; Goals, Obstacles, Solutions, Start, Evaltuation, why
7. Responder- clarification
8. Soliciting a quote- getting a standalone quote you can use, and clarifying the exact wording
9. Soliciting an anecdote- prompting a short story
10. Imaginative- strays from the routine questions
11. Grenade- difficult question
12. Recover from grenade- a neutral question to recover

Concluding the interview- "Thank you," Sign documentation sheet, any further questions

Beware- Not everyone is a great interviewee, Plan ahead for unforseen circumstances

News Writing Notes

Writing a News Story

News- Current event that is 'newsworthy'


Types of stories:

Hard News (+/- 600 words)- A chronicle of current events/incidents, news of the day, the most common news style on the front page of a typical newspaper
-Begins with a summary lead, who-what-when-where-why-how
-Brief and simple

Soft News (+/- 600 words)- A term for all news that isn't time-sensitive. Soft news includes profiles on people, programs or organizations.


Feature (+/- 1500 words)- A news feature takes one step back from the headlines. It explores and 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.
- Features are full of interesting people, ideas, color, lights, action and energy. Storytelling
at its height

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 of Articles-

The lead- One of the msot important elements in news writing is the opening paragraph or two of the story. Journalists refer to this as the "lead," and its function is to summarize the story and/or to draw the reader in (depending on whether is is a "hard' or "soft" news story)

Lead in hard news- The lead should be a full summary of what is to follow. It should
incorportatte as many of the five "W's" of journalism.

Lead in soft news- 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.

The body- The body of the story involves combining the opinions of the people you interview, some factual data, and a narrative which helps the story flow. In this style of writing, you are not allowed to "editorialize" (state your own opinion) in any way.