offenders

Tracking sex offenders? There’s an app for that.

I would read that

I will write about it

It is important for people to know

Andres

Fashion.

Fashion.
These days it’s all about fashion. Everyone wants to
be in style . So what is really in style well I’m am going to tell you .
. Skinny Jeans
. Vans
. Blazzer’s
. Big hair
. Colorful clothes
. Plated shirts
. Mohawks/Tapers
. Jerkin’

Example. Dixie <3

By: Dixie , Alonso, Enrique , Rocy , Evelin

So proud of you!!

• I have a cousin that is in Iraq right now. He is out there helping our world and killing terrorists for the United States. He has a family and he would risk it for our country so I thank him for what he is doing. I am proud of him.



adan

Swine flu vaccine

A first batch of roughly 60,000 doses of the new swine-flu vaccine could arrive in Arizona next week, state health officials said Tuesday.

1. I want to keep reading

2. Yes the write piques my interest

3. The lead is enticing because the vaccine is something that every body needs in there body to stay safe

Leads (Hooks) and/or Feature Story Prep

Directions:

Get 10 story leads from credible news sources.

Next to each, describe your reaction to it.

Then answer these questions:

• Do you want to continue reading?
  
• Does the writer pique reader interest?
• Is the lead boring or enticing? Why?

Example:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/mercury/articles/2009/09/29/20090929mercfinals-ON.html

"In the biggest of games, it was always going to come down to them. The stars of stars."

Reaction: It sounds like there was a big, important game and the best players helped their teams.

Do I want to keep reading? Yes, it sounds like an important game.

Does the writer pique my interest? A little, I'm interested in who the stars were and how they affected the game.

Is the lead boring or enticing? It is enticing because it sounds exciting.

Objectives:

I can engage the reader in my writing with a strong or creative introduction.

Practice techniques to involve each member of the team.

Demonstrate teamwork.

Practice effective time and meeting management.

To act independently means to depend on your self. Or you are not letting others act for you or you need more interesting things on your own. One thing is that means that, “to is avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived” how let’s give an example:
My mother is working at Ulta Beauty I love her job because she gets stuff for free but things are not so good. People are getting cut off and not getting money like they are supposed to.

independently

To act independently means to depend on your self. Or you are not letting others act for you or you need more interesting things on your own. One thing is that means that, “to is avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived” how let’s give an example:
My mother is working at Ulta Beauty I love her job because she gets stuff for free but things are not so good. People are getting cut off and not getting money like they are supposed to.

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Directions:

Read through the vocabulary words below. Discuss with a partner what you have been talking about in Social Studies about the First Amendment.

• Post in a comment about what you and your partner discuss.

Take a look at the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. There are 37 items (noted by the little triangles).

http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode.pdf

• Read the preamble and all 37 items.
• Select 5 of the items to work on.
• With a partner, study your 5 items, talk about what you think it means and look up any words you don't know.
• Rewrite the items in your own words. Use Word to type out your ideas.

When you are finished:

• Make a podcast of your ideas.
• Take pictures to reflect your ideas. Use iPhoto to edit photos.
  
• Post your ideas on Castro Copy.

Objectives:

Students will discuss the freedoms protected under the First Amendment.

Students will read and discuss a Code of Ethics. Students will write a Code of Ethics in their own words.

Students will apply ethical guidelines to newsroom situations.

Vocabulary:

ethics -

1.	a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture.

2.	the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.

3.	moral principles, as of an individual

4.	that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Intrusion - physical or technological invasion of an individual's privacy

Libel - publication of material unjustly injurious to someone's reputation

Slander - spoken communication that damages a person's reputation

US Constitution
Bill of Rights
Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Jerk Contest

Today there was jerk contest again in the morning. It was better that the other time. It was at the gym and it was only 8th grade but I guess the 7th grades and 6th graders went in too. It was more fun then the other time.
Every one was screaming and cheering. It was supposed to be 6th graders on Wednesday, 7th graders on Thursday and 8th graders today.

Story Development

Goal: We will write longer, 3-5 paragraph stories that include quotes, descriptive words, photos and unbiased information.

First: Research the term "bias." Look it up in the dictionary, online, talk about it. Write in the comment section your understanding of bias.

Next: Over the past couple days, a lot of you have been coming up with great story ideas from your opinions:

• Better food
• Tackle football
• Band
• Need for shade
• Security cameras
• Backpacks
• Uniforms
• Sports
• Jerking
  

From these ideas, we are going to expand our opinion articles into investigative articles. We are going to take your ideas and write unbiased articles.

We are going to find out more information about the food, why we don't have tackle football, how we can get more shade, how we can have more no-uniform days and more. These will be news articles so we will no longer be writing about how you feel, rather, about what's going on and how do these things affect students here at Castro.

We need to brainstorm where we can find this information, who we need to interview. You'll have to think up interview questions and find times to ask your questions. In a quick moment before class, before lunch and by talking to friends.

Directions for today:

1. Pick a topic. Either from Castro Cougar Courier, or a new topic.

2. Write a draft containing information you all ready know.

3. Brainstorm a list of things you need to find out and how you are going to find them out.

4. Think up possible interview questions for teachers and other students.

5. Brainstorm a list of pictures that will go with your story.

Objectives:

Students will come up with a great hook (or lead as it is called in journalism) to catch the readers attention.

Students will write a narrative that includes an engaging plot based on real ideas, observations or memories of an event or experience.

Students will write figurative language and descriptive words.

Students will use technology appropriate for the job.

Students will demonstrate positive work and interpersonal behaviors.

Students will understand and adjust to possible instance of libel and slander.

THURSDAY CURRENT EVENTS 9 /24/09

HOW MUCH DOES A WII COST? WII COSTS $250 DOLLARS AT WALMART AND AT BESTBUY.


WHAT IS ARIZONA DOING ABOUT THE
ONLINE K12 EDUCATION? THEY ARE OFFERING NO-COST ONLINE. IN ORDER FOR THEM TO QUALIFY THEY SHOULD MEET THE FOLLOWING: THE CLASSES HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY ONLINE THE GOVERNMENT CANT GET ANGRY.


HAS THE GMAIL EMAIL SERVICE BEEN WORKING PROPERLY? YES BECAUSE THEY SHOW YOU 10 TEN WAYS TO SHOW YOU WHY YOU NEED TO USE GMAIL EMAIL. THE GMAIL ONLY FAIL ONCE IN SEPTEMBER , 2 , 2009.

BY: PAUL

Thursday Current Events 9-24-09

1. Log in to newsroom101.com and do one of the newsroom activities.

2. Search the internet for information about these current topics.

Write 3-5 sentences focusing on the 5 Ws, H, who cares and so what?

Use credible news sources. List your sources.

• How much does a Wii cost?
• What is Arizona doing about online K12 education?
• Has the gmail email service been working properly?
  

Opinion: Improved Food

I think Castro Middle School needs to improve the food because students are getting sick from the school food. It’s not really home cooked and some students get like that because it’s not a homemade food meal. All they do is put it in the microwave and just heat it up but it does affect the students. So I think we need better food.
Some students are even going to the doctor, complaining about the food from the school. So we need HOME MADE food.

Delma

I think that the people that jerk should do other things. First of all, it has been out for a long time and why is the school getting into it? They’re just making it worse. You’re probably thinking “how are they making it worse?” They’re doing things like jerk contests and other things and people that jerk aren’t that good. They’re horrible and they try to make new moves. The only people that watch are people that have nothing better to do.





by:Jonathan

R.I.P. Pete Juan Chavez

Pete Juan Chavez was knocking on his ex girlfriends window hoping to see his 3 year old daughter, his ex girlfriend however didn’t bother to look out the window and check to see who it was because she was to “paniced”. She immediately called the police for a case of burgalury. Pete Chavez was scared and didn’t want to get in trouble so he took off in his car, and which I believe he was driving and accidently hit one of the officers. There is a logical explanation to why he could of hit the officer you see they do not know the whole story. Chavez was blined from one of his eyes the eye in which the officer was in he was also handicapped from his legs, so you see it was possible that Pete did not see the officer and accidently ran him over, or he could of probably lost control because he was handy capped from his legs. The other office however thought the best thing he could do was shoot at the suspect, because of that his mother has 1 less son, his sisters and brothers have 1 less brother, his friends have 1 less good friend, and most of all his 3 year old daughter no longer has a father to grow up with. The officer states on channel 3 news that they are trained to shoot, well if that’s so I don’t think they are teaching the cops how to be a true Police man. I believe that the other officer could have done something better than to shoot at Pete he could have shot his tire, shooting his tire would of let him steel be alive, or he could of shot at his leg, preventing him from being able to run away. After Pete was shot he crashed into a fence just before dieng from his injuries. Pete’s mother says “ he’s in a nice place he’s up there with my brother and he’s doing good, but he probably got scared and he took off and I think that’s when the cops I think they shot him,” – Lydia Solis
Fox 10 news went to far on saying that Pete did not like cops because of a tattoo he had, they also had no right to say anything about him holding a gun. They are just trying to get dirt on him so they don’t get into trouble when they should because they took a life. Fox 10 news states that the cop will have a full recovery well is Pete going to get that same recovery to? No I don’t think so I think it is “stupid” how cops could get away with things whenever they want. Family and friends all gathered to be on the news but this time with channel 3, they explain how it is unfair and that things didn’t have to end up that way. They also stated that he was a good man that would never hurt a sole I talked with one who was close to him and I believe Pete also known as Ricky wouldn’t hurt anyone at all . Pete’s family also state that they are not blaming anything on the cops but they didn’t want it to end that way .
- Aynonomous

R.I.P. Pete Juan Chavez, 23 years old, and also known as Ricky.

Tackle Football

Have you ever liked a sport a sport that you always want to play and when you grow up you want to play that sport as a pro? Well my name is Joseph S. and my future sport is to play football in the NFL. I think our school Castro has some good sports but that would be better if they had tackle football with all the equipment. I don’t know why they say we cant have tackle football because we will get hurt why cant they just send a permission slip saying if you son can play tackle football at Castro middle school.

Joseph .S

What do you care about? What motivates you?

On Tuesdays, we will be working on Opinion and Editorial pieces. These are also known as Op/Ed.

Opinion and editorials are written for newspapers, can be on television news programs and are all over the internet. People write opinion and editorials in order to get their point across or convince someone about their viewpoint.

1. Research the term Op/Ed or the terms opinion and editorial. Define these terms in your own words.

This will help:

http://www.nmsa.org/Advocacy/PublicRelationsResources/OpEdArticle/tabid/621/Default.aspx

2. Find an article on a credible news website that you want to write an Op/Ed piece about. This means, find something you feel strongly about, read about it, then write your views.

For example: Say you feel strongly about how you have to wait until you are 16 until you can drive. Research why the law is 16 years old to drive, then write an article with supportive evidence as to what you believe.

Same Castro Examples:
"I think Castro needs another sport."
"I think Castro needs better food."
"I think Castro has great sports!"
"I think Castro would be better if..."
"I think Castro is great because..."


3. Post your article or write a script and record your Op/Ed piece as a podcast.

Objectives:

I can engage the reader in my writing with a strong or creative introduction.

I can provide supporting details for main ideas to improve my writing.

What Is News ?

What is news? The news is information. It tells you about stuff that is happen. It tells you about different subjects like sports, politics, crimes and much more. Sometimes news papers talks about stuff talking about the world. So that is what I think the word news means.



Andres

Trevor G. Browne Football

The Trevor G. Browne football team. They played last week.

Monday Mania (9/21/09)

Hello!

We have numerous things going on today.

First, if you are able to continue working on what we were working on last Friday, please do so. We were loading images and writing captions onto Castro Copy.

Second, today we are going to dive into podcasting, using the program Garage Band. After we discuss it in class, here are the questions I'd like you do answer.

1. What is news?
2. Why do we focus on the "so what," "who cares" elements of news?
3. What is one story/idea you'd like to write about or take pictures of, and why?

Objectives:

Students will work with their photography, looking at the elements of photography, editing their photography in iPhoto, write captions and post online.

Students will explore the program Garage Band, using podcasting as a way to verbally discuss and answer the questions.

Behavior Objectives:

Students will work quietly on their tasks.

Students will appropriately discuss the topics and news items they are working on.

Test Podcast run

Click to listen to a test run at podcasting.

Objectives:

Students will be able to record Op/Ed articles using Garage Band.

Students will be practicing and using speech in order to persuade someone toward a personal viewpoint.

JERK CONTEST AT GYM

Today there was a jerk contest at the gym a lot of students were jerkin some were good some were kind of good but at least they all tried. Even some teachers were jerkin it was funny but we still had fun there was a lot of cheering. First it was group jerkin 7 graders vs 8 graders then it was single jerkin where 1 person vs another person.



oscar

3-on-3

Today Friday September 18 in the gym I took pictures of kids playing basketball. They were playing 3-on-3. It was Mr. Alvarez's and Ms. Dustin's students.

Joseph

Best Rural Teacher:

Ms. Amy McBroom was just named the best rural teacher in the entire country by the National Rural Education, she teaches art. The schools name is Grand Canyon Unified School District, it’s the only k-12 school in the country inside a national park. Ms. McBroom allows students to do there other class work in her class as long as there finished doing her art work, she also allows other things the students can do to become successful. (:


-Wednesday
Marquez

The rural teacher

MS. Amy Mcbroom teaches at the Grand Canyon school distrect. The school is from K-12 and has six buildings and it is only for 287 students. The school is also in the national park.

Arizona is fighting from the swine flu........

In Arizona they are fighting to keep people away from the swine flu. They made medicine that they could protect you from the swine flu.

*Valerie Anderson*!!!!!!

the afghanistan war

>

There was a war in Afghanistan because an military chief said that he needs more troops so now he has 13400 soldiers to fight.

-Yareli <3>

Photography Phriday

Directions:

Go out and take pictures that tell a story.

• If you go into a room, politely ask the teacher if you can come in and take 3-5 pictures. Ask what they are working on and then silently take your pictures and leave. Do not interrupt the learning of others.

Load the pictures onto your computer

• Using what you've learned on iPhoto so far, use the iPhoto options while considering the elements of photography. (Rule of thirds, repetition, action, emotion...)

Write a caption to go along with your photo

What to do until you receive a camera:

Answer one of the questions from yesterday.

Post your answer on "Castro Cougar Courier Copy"

• Unfortunately, there were only two posts yesterday from two entire classes.

Objectives:

I will understand the role of the photographer is one of observer and not distract the people or things.

I will use iPhoto to edit my photos while keeping in mind the elements of photography.

I will write a caption that is a full sentence, makes sense and is free of grammatical error.

Afghanistan blast kills at least 16

There is a current war going on in Afghanistan. There has been sixteen killed and 55 were wounded when a car bomb rocked parts of Afghanistan's capital Thursday.


Rural means of or pertaining of algriculture, And the teacher that got the top rural is name cheney seeks.

-Rocy And Adan:)

There is a war in afghanistan because a military chief said that he needs more troops to send in to the war. The Military Chief said that they have 134,000 soilders to take down.

Rural means of or pertaining to algriculture and the teacher that got the top rural is named cheney seeks they say that all the woman are causing problems.They also say that they are showing a really bad example of education in school.

In Arizona they are fighting to keep people away from the swine flu.They made a medicine that could protect you from the swine flu.


paul

Thursday Current Events

Directions:

• Write responses to the following. Please use full sentences and be careful for run-on sentences. Write at least 5 sentences.
  

• Search for articles pertaining to the following current events.

• List your sources.

Current Events - Questions:

1. Is there a current war in Afghanistan?
   
2. Who was named the top rural teacher in the U.S.? Define rural.
3. Find an article supporting health care reform. Find an article opposed to health care reform.
   

Objectives:

• I can look for the Who, What, Where, When and Why of a story. I can determine the "So what? Who cares?" factor.
  

• I can correct my spelling word choice and punctuation in my writing.

• I can use main ideas and details to support my writing.

• I will use the blogging tools to write an appropriate response to the current event questions.

My opinion on Obamas’s I think Obama had the right to say that Kanye West is a jackass because that was mean what he said to Taylor Swift he said that Beyonce had the best videos of all time’s that’s saying that Taylor Swift should of have won and that’s disrespectful.

OSCAR

I think that the news paper shoud not put Obama’s statment in the news paper or in the internet because when Obama what talking off the record nobody neded to tell the news paper . Obamas statment was that he called Kanye West a Jac$#% only because he interupted Taylor Swift.

Opinion

I think Obama is right to call Kanye West that word because Kanye West disrespected Taylor Swift when she won the award for “Best Video of the Year”. He said that Beyonce had the best video in the year.

-Alondra

Obama.

If Obama did or didn’t call Kanye West a “jacka**” that was just his opinion. Everybody is allowed to speak what’s on their mind. Just because Kanye west told Tayler Swift that Beyonce should of won that award and if Obama said that, why make it a big deal about it? Its like any other person calling Kanye West a jacka**. Everybody should stop saying stuff to Obama that, that was mean to say and when we people say it nobody gets mad. They should just forget about it. AND STOP TRIPPIN!!!!!!

-By:Rocy And Chris
Photo source: http://michellerafter.wordpress.com

ఒబామా

In my point of view I think President Obama has the right to call him an “jackass” because it’s a big disrepect to Taylor Swift. Beyonce is a great singer but it doesn’t matter there both great singers.


-AleidaGarcia

I don’t care what happened because it’s
Just a little award
And she should get over it.

EDWIN

Obama

I think Obama should of said what of he of wanted to say he is a normal person like everyone else and everyone has their own opinion.
Also the news reporter shouldn’t of told everyone what Obama said It was none of his business and they weren’t talking to him so he should of not said anything.

-Dixie
photo source: ustream.tv

WEEKEND AT HOME

ON FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL MY DAD PICKED ME UP. MY DAD ALSO TOOK WEDNESDAY HOME. AFTER HE DROPPED HERE OFF MY DAD SAID THAT WE WERE GOING TO THE STORE. WE WENT TO RANCH MARKET TO GET TRIPAS. WE WERE GETTING TRIPAS BECAUSE DONA CONSUELO AND HERE FOUR DAUGHTERS AND NIETA. WHEN THEY GOT THEIR MY DAD WAS PREPAIRING EL ASADOR. THEY WERE DOING TRIPAS OUT SIDE AND INSIDE THEY ALSO MADE CHILLE FOR THE TRIPAS. THE REST OF US WERE WATCHING T.V., PRANK CALLING WATCHING A MOVIE OR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES. WHEN THEY LEFT IT WAS PROBABLY 10 WE HAD TO STAY UP AND CLEAN THE HOUSE SO I DIDN’T SLEEP UNTILL 11.

ON SATERDAY I WOKE UP AT 7 IN THE MORNING TO HELP OUT CLEANING BUT THEN MY CUSIN AND HER PARENTS CAME TO MY HOUSE AT 9 IN THE MORNING THEY LEFT AT 10 A.M. ALEJANDRA TOLD ME TO GO TO HER HOUSE. I ASKED MY PARENTS AND THEY SAID YES. WHEN I GOT TO THEIR HOUSE WE WENT STRAIGHT TO THE REFRIGERATOR. MY TIO MADE US EGGS AND TORTIAS WITH SALCHICHAS WITH NOPALES WITH LEMON AND SALT “THEY WERE GOOD.” THEN WE WENT TO HER ROOM AND TALKED AND LISTEN TO MUSIC. LATTER WE SAW MY CUSIN GABYS QUINCENERA THEN HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3. AT AROUND 6 OR 7 MY PARENTS CAME AND ME AND MY CUSIN WENT TO SAY HI.
AT AROUND 8 OR 9 MY COUSIN SAID “DID YOU CURL YOUR HAIR” I SAID “NO” AND SHE SAID THAT SHE WAS GOING TO FIX IT. ALL SHE DID WAS PUT A LITTLE BIT OF HAIR SPRAY SO THAT IT WONT FRIZZ. SHE ALSO DID MY MAKE UP. I WENT OUT AND EVERYBODY LOVED IT. IT WAS 10 AND WAS TIME TO GO HOME WE HAD TO SAY BYE AND FINALLY LEFT.

ON SUNDAY MORNING I WOKE UP CLEANING THE HOUSE BECOUSE IT WAS DIRTY. WHEN I WAS DONE విసితే'S CAME IT WAS ONE OF MY FRIENDS. SHE DREW A COUPLE OF PICTURS. MY COUSIN CAME AND GAVE ME A BAG.

CROSS COUNTRY

Today September 16, 2009 there is going to be a track meet at El Oso park castro and a lot of other schools are going to race. The last race we had someone got in the top ten so lets hope we get it again. Good luck cross country team.

What is Castro Cougar Courier Copy?

Hello and welcome to Castro Cougar Courier Copy!

This blog has been designed for students in photojournalism. The students will use this site to gain more experience using the technology involved. They will be working on text, photo and video functions as well as design features.

These stories, photos and designs will need editing and fine-tuning. Once this material is edited and peer-reviewed, select stories will by chosen to be placed on Castro Cougar Courier. In a sense, this is our drawing board.

Please remember that this is purely a brainstorming site, however, we'd love to hear feedback. You can leave comments on articles or email castromiddle@gmail.com

Thank you and enjoy!