Observation Assignment

The scoreboard at Nelson Field is counting down the last few minutes before the start of the second half. The McCallum band finishes up their half-time performance. The band is made up of many people, moving around the football field on the same beat while playing their music with a big sound. McCallum also has their blue brigade and color guard with their big flags out on the field. They finish the performance and walk off the field with to all the parents in the stands clapping. Up next is Lanier's band. They walk onto the field and right away you can see a difference between the two bands, even before a single note is played. Compared to McCallum, Lanier's band is tiny. They probably have half the people that McCallum does, and the instruments the students are using don't look as nice. It is obvious if you just compare the two percussion sections. The McCallum percusion has about 12 members marching, all playing snare drums, bass drums, toms and cymbals. In "the pit", an area on the sidelines where percusionists are not marching, McCalum had about 12 more students, playing big keyboards and more cymbals and another bass drum along with some of the smaller percussion equipment. Lanier, however has only a few students playing snare drums and much smaller bass drums. When Lanier plays, the stadium seems to big for their small sound. It sounds like they are aways away instead of just six rows of bleachers down from me. As they walk off the field, all the football parents settle in for another half. The scoreboard indicates that the first half was good for the McCallum half of the stadium. 28-0 is the score as the Knights kicker starts off the second half. The second half starts off the same way the first half went. On the Vikings third play of the drive, a defensive linemen got pass the offensive line and brought the quarterback. After three plays McCallum is already set to get the ball back. The punt is a bad one, only moving the ball down about 25 yards. The stadium is not very electric at this point in the game, most likely because they see the path this game is going on. The stands are only full around the 50 yard line, with the exception of the band which is a little way out. The McCallum offense makes its way onto the field.

Observation Practice

The scoreboard says 28-0 Knights as McCallum kicks off to start the 3rd quarter. I am six rows up from Lanier's 35-yard line. The spectators are mostly parents, with a few students mixed in. A sack on third down forces a punt and it is not long until McCallum puts up 7 more points. The other half of the stadium finnally gets something to cheer about as Lanier gets a long completion. It gets quiet again, though, once a referee signals a false start. It is another 3-and-out for the Vikings.

Current Event Quiz # 3

1. The Pope said that the U.S. should use its power to help heal a broken planet. The speech was delivered to Congress. The story says tens of thousands of people were invited to watch on a jumbo screen at the Capitol. He is the first pope to give a speech to a joint meeting of Congress. House Speaker, John Boehner invited him to come.

2. There are a lot of different opinions about whether the official used racial slurs. Mack Breed has resigned and the two players will attend an alternative school until Jan. 15. Mike Motheral, the chairman of the committee, was upset about the official, players, and coach Mack Breed not being at the hearing.

3. The students and teachers were mad about the school district moving teachers around. Teachers were moved to comply with class size. It hurt Maplewood's sixth grade because one teacher now must teach a class of almost 30 students, all at different learning levels. In a similar protest at Bryker Woods, a teacher who was going to be moved was allowed to stay.

4. John Whitmire asked the attorney general for his opinion on whether the state's open carry law will allow holstered firearms on school properties. Whitmire thinks that the law will not allow openly carried guns on school properties, but you could interpret it so that they are allowed n parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways. The attorney general has 180 days to respond, but it might not matter because the open carry law will allow those with a license to carry weapons.

5. There was a memorial service for Daniel Hampton, a Burnet paramedic and firefighter, on Thursday. He died on September 18. I think the story was covered well. It was short and sad and had lots of quotes from people that knew him.

6. Obituaries are made up of lots of memories and a kind of run down of the person's life. You can only find a summary of a person's life in an obituary. I think that one of these would take a lot of research, but not much in the way of getting quotes. It would be fun.

Interview Assignment

Interview of Tiffany P.

"What is the best thing that has happened to you?"

"It's hard... I think the best thing is still waiting to happen."

Current Event Quiz 1.2

1B. Yesterday's presidential debate gave long-shot candidates a prime time stage so they could prove they are worthy of attention. Donald Trump was the focus for the other candidates.

2. John Brennan, the CIA director was at U.T. yesterday for the release of 2500 daily briefs given to JFK and LBJ. A trend toward openness in government led to the announcement. The public can go to the CIA's website to access the briefs. PDB's are like a diary of challenges and insight for a president. It   is important because is show what a president is thinking.

3.Hungarian security forces used water cannons and tear gas on asylum seekers. Now refugees are trying to get to the Serbian-Croatian border which is an area that has active land mines.

4. A McCarthur High School student got detained for a homemade clock he brought to school that looked like a bomb. A school official declined to confirm the suspension another school officials said they were only concerned with student safety and not with the kid' faith. Barack Obama called the clock "cool" and half a million others tweeted the hashtag #IStand-WithAhmed. People in Irving fear that tis is connected to a city council resolution past last spring because it endorsed a bill that would stop judges from making decisions because of "foreign laws".

I first learned about this story when I read it right now. Social media isn't as reliable or fair to all the parties as it is in the news. For the news, people could lose their jobs for writing something that isn't reliable or fair, while in social media people can say almost whatever they want without any big consequences. In the news, people are forced to be more reliable and fair than in social media.

I think the story was at the right place. It seems that everything has worked itself out involving the issue and it doesn't really affect anybody outside of Irving. It is a scene that is very sensitive to people in this country, though. If I was the editor, I would have put the story where it is now.

Current Events Quiz 1 continued

5 Co-mingled means that they are combined together. Clinton appologizing and what may take place involving with the controversy are co-mingled in this story. In 2002, Clinton was late to appologize for supporting the invasion of Iraq.

6 Two Jon Jay football players are suspended for attacking an official. An assistant coach was also suspended for saying that the official needed to pay for cheating them. Some students say the official used racial slurs at them.

The Ohio State Buckeyes beat Virginia Tech at Blacksburg, Virginia, 42-14 on Monday night. Cardale Jones started at quarterback while Braxton Miller found his new spot on the team at wide reciever. Cardale Jones passed two touchdowns and ran in a third. Braxton Miller scored on a 54-yard pass, and a 53-yard run. Ohio State stays a unanimous number 1.

This story has a lot of currency. I think the reporter did a good job for the amount of space he had. The story had observations and an interview. It was well written and had all the stats everyone would want.

Curent Event Quiz 1

Current Event Quiz 1

1 The two student graduate assistants assaulted a gay man in 2004. The university officials say they can't talk about the hiring because of laws protecting students information. I don't think the university knew that the student graduate assistants knew about the assault before the hire because nobody wants people like that involved with them.

2 The city of Baltimore gave the parents of Freddie Gray a $6.4 million settlement after police killed their son. The mayor thinks that it will help the city and avoid more costs. The trail for the officers who killed Freddie is still going on.

3 Vice Chancellor Sig-mar Gabriel said that Germany will let in 500,000 refugees each year. Some blame Germany for giving such a good offer to refugees that they are willing to risk their lives to get there. German leaders responded by reducing the cash given out to refugees. People who left to Germany from countries not at war, are now needing to be pushed out of Berlin.

4 Ted Cruz invited Donald Trump to his anti-Iran nuclear deal rally. Unlike other Republican candidates, Cruz is not going after Trump. He said that he invited Donald Trump to increase the publicity of his rally. Trump is not one of Cruz's standard targets because he has never held office.

5 On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton apologized for her private email as secretary of state. Two republicans in Congress are thinking about giving Clinton's former personal server legal protection so that he might testify.

RESEARCH SCENARIO, PART 2

Research Scenario, part 2 

The reporter used lots of sources throughout the article. He used lots of interviews with people like Linda Anderson, a person who works for APS, the site where the teachers got the PowerPoint, Matt Cardoza, a person from the Georgia Department of Education, and Timothy Guiney, the prinicipal of the school. The reporter also used a document, the PowerPoint, which I find to be most reliable because it is a primary source. I feel like the reporter did a good job with the story, but I didn't think that this was such a big deal. In my opinion, this was only a big story for the people within the school district. I don't think it needed to go beyond the county that this took place.

Research Scenario, Part 1

RESEARCH SCENARIO, part 1

If I were assigned to this story, I would first talk to one of the students in the biology class. I would ask for a copy of the PowerPoint presentation. If I got a copy of the presentation, I would go on the district website and try to find the approved lesson plan. Then, I would compare the PowerPoint to the approved lesson plan. If they were similar, I would interview some of the people complaining, and see what they would like to be done to avoid the subject of creationism in school. If the documents were different, I would talk to the principal about his thoughts on the subject.