Current Events

Click here to answer these questions.

What have you learned?

CLICK here to answer today's questions.

Mr. Uttech is at Sky Y!

Hello students,

Mr. Uttech is at Sky Y working with 5th graders.

Please work on these web sites on Monday and Tuesday. You may choose, but you must be working on these web sties.

On Wednesday, you may have appropriate free time.

If you combine with another class because the sub is gone, please adjust the schedule so that you work 2 days and have one day off.

Please remember our classroom rules: HONESTY, RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, CARING and DO YOUR BEST.

To earn your 100 points. Please open a WORD document and type a paragraph (4-6 sentences) for each game you play. You will have 4 paragraphs.

Write what you thought about each web site and what you learned.

1. CLICK HERE FOR Lemonade Stand
Math Objective: Students will explore supply and demand by playing a game that includes supply, prices and customers.

2. CLICK HERE FOR Free Rice
Vocabulary Objective: Students will study word definitions by choosing the correct answer and contribute to the world community by using the web site.

3. CLICK HERE FOR United States map
Geography Objective: Students will practice using their knowledge of U.S. States by using the website that allows them to see what they've chosen correctly.

4. CLICK HERE FOR The Problem Site
Objective: Students will try a variety of educational sites.

Write a story for the Castro Courier

Objective: Students will write and edit a story that describes life at Castro by focusing on the truth, the 5Ws and who cares.

CLICK HERE TO REMEMBER WHAT OUR SCHOOL ONLINE NEWS SITE LOOKS LIKE

1. Open a WORD document.
2. Write a story about something happening here at Castro.
3. Be sure to include:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• Who Cares?

4. Edit your story for publication.
5. Find a picture that adds to your story.

50 or 100?

Here are the assignments that you should have completed. Take today to make sure you do not have any incomplete work.

High School Quizzes

Reasoning Behind "Using Your Brain"

PSA

Current Events 4/8

IF YOU ARE FINISHED WITH ALL YOUR WORK, THEN:

CLICK HERE TO EARN THE EASIEST 100 points EVER!

High School Quizzes

Objective: Students will assess their readiness for high school by taking two quizzes and reflecting on the answers.

1. Open a Word Document

2. CLICK HERE for Quiz One

In your WORD document, write down 3 sentences what you think about the quiz. What does the quiz tell you about yourself?

3. CLICK HERE for Quiz Two

In your WORD document, write down 3 sentences what you think about the quiz. What does the quiz tell you about yourself?

4. Do you think that playing games helps you learn anything new about computers? Be honest.

5. Do you have any regrets? (Things that you wish you could do over again?)

6. CLICK HERE and write 3 sentences about one thing that interests you.

Reasoning behind “Using your Brain”

Objective: Students will decode the differing views out in the world and on the web by analyzing several websites and determining for themselves what they believe.

This assignment is intended to make you think. When a movie came out that said the world is going to end in 2012, a lot of people blindly believed it. What do you believe?

1. Open a word document.

2. Find two sources that say the world will end in 2012.

• Type the title of the web sites and the URLs (the web address)
• Type two sentences describing the websites.
  

3. Find two sources that say the world will NOT end in 2012.

• Type the title of the web sites and the URLs (the web address)
• Type two sentences describing the websites.
  

4. Find one source that says the world will end in a different year, other than 2012.

• Type the title of the web site and its URL (the web address)
• Type two sentences describing the website.
  

5. Explain why you think there are so many different ideas about when the world will end.

6. Which source do you trust the most? Why?

PSAs Continued

Please continue your work on the PSAs. Look below for reminders about what to do. You should be:

Planning:
1. Working in Word
2. Have an idea, "What do you want to tell people?"
3. Researching information: statistics (numbers), data.

Producing:
1. Finding pictures to help tell your story
2. Working in iMovie to create a 30-45 second clip.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IDEAS

Public Service Announcement (PSA)

What is a PSA?
PSAs are intended to let people know about specific issues. The most common topics of PSAs are health and safety.

What do PSAs do?

• Gets the viewer's attention
• Convinces the viewer that they can make a difference
• Makes every word and image count
• Uses emotions to compel your viewer
• Clearly calls the viewer to action

What are some examples of PSAs?

• Drug Abuse Prevention
  
• Nutrition
• High School Dropout Prevention
• Stop Bullying
• Hearing Loss
• Wearing your seat belt

Source: http://www.ivieawards.org/categories/psa/psa.html

Guidelines for your PSA:

• be serious
• have a clear message
• be no longer than 30-45 seconds
• have important information
• have accurate information
• use someone who looks believable
• use someone famous (but does not have to be)
• use someone who is likeable and respected
• use someone who can act ( is credible)
• use someone who is dressed appropriately for the part he is playing
• give statistics (when appropriate, e.g. number of people that die because they were not wearing seatbelts)

Source: TeacherNet

Assignment:
Create your own PSA. It could be about one of the topics listed above or you could make it about something here at school.

• What do you want people to know?

Things you will need:

• Research from the internet (remember where you found it)
  
• Photos that you take or from the internet
  
• You will need to write out what you are going to say and how you are going to say it.
• Video
• Use iMovie to produce your PSA

Objectives:
Students will be able to discuss topics that affect them and others and give information through the use of PSAs and iMovie. Students will be able to analyze topics and create ways to get a specific message out to others through the use of PSAs and the iMovie editing process.

Current Events 4/8

Answer these questions, then free time.

CLICK HERE for today's Current Events questions.

Please use full sentences.

Please list your source. Where did you find the answer?

Ethics

Ethics addresses questions about good and bad, right and wrong.

How will we address ethics in our stories, articles, photos and videos?

Please finish these sentences and then write three reasons why each is important.

1. Responsibility. A storyteller will always...

2. Freedom/Independence. A storyteller will...

3. Truth and accuracy. Every storyteller will make sure to...

4. Impartiality/Fair play. In every controversial issue, the storyteller will make sure to...

If you do not know the meaning of a word, please look it up! Click here for dictionary.com

Observing again

10,000 hours to mastery. That's what it takes to be really good at something. So if this assignment feels familiar, don't worry, perfect practice makes perfect. Try it again, see what you can learn new this time around.

As writers/photographers/videographers of Castro Middle, we need to OBSERVE what is going on around us and report the truth.

Go to Time

or

National Geographic

• Look at five pictures
• For each picture, make five observations.
  
• Write your observations in WORD or PAGES.
• Drag the picture into WORD or PAGES with your written observations.
• Remember to record where you got the photo from.

Journalism

Go to cnn.com

Find a story that interests you.

Open a WORD document.

Type the WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHAT, WHY and HOW of that article.

Current Events

Please answer these questions to earn extra points for your team.

Yearbook Ads

Objective: Students will create visually attractive advertisements for the Castro Yearbook by working in Pages.

Language Objective: Students will create a memorable sentence or phrase to sell the Castro Yearbook by utilizing techniques of advertising.

Directions:

1. Click HERE for advertising techniques. Be sure to read the examples in italics to help you understand the concept.

2. Pick one of the techniques.

3. Apply the technique you choose to your poster for the Castro Yearbook.

4. Open the program PAGES.

5. Create a visually appealing and attention-grabbing advertisement for the Castro Yearbook.

What Needs to Be Included:

Price: $25
Hardcover
Color
Pick up an order form and pay in the office
Pay before May 6
First come, first serve, so buy now!

Today and the rest of the year

A focus on CAREER and tech education

OBJECTIVE: Students will describe how they focused in the previous quarter and how they will focus in the next quarter by writing three paragraphs or creating a power point with images.

OPEN WORD and write three paragraphs answering questions 1, 2 and 3.

Or

OPEN POWER POINT and design a power point slide show using images to describe questions 1, 2 and 3.

1. Please write a paragraph about this past quarter. Do you think you did your best on the assignments? Could you have done better?

2. What do you want to do in the last quarter of school? You have a wonderful opportunity to learn new skills or make current skills better.

3. Here are some options to work on: Pick one, then write a paragraph about WHAT you want to do, WHY you would be good at it, WHY it would be important and WHO does it matter to?

• Work in iMovie to create a story for Arizona Storytellers.
• Work on Castro Connection power point news
• Work on Castro Cougar Courier to create our school news
• Work in iMovie creating movies, advertisements, interviews or public service announcements
• Work in iMovie with a stop motion project
• Work using Twitter to see positive reasons to use social media
• Create advertisements to sell the yearbook
• Work with the green screen
• Work with photoshop
  

OR

• Find work!

Maybe you’re done with school and just want to move on. Well, you’re still going to have to do something. Find a website of a business or company you want to work for. Find out what it takes to work for that company. Do you have what it takes yet? How can you get what it takes?

Your Story

1. Watch a story on Arizona Storytellers. by clicking on Watch the Stories.

2. Watch at least 10 stories. Watching stories will give you an idea of what others have done and how others have presented their ideas.

3. Click on Share Your Story.

4. Read "Styles and Ideas for your Story."

5. Click Next: Telling a Good Story.

6. Read the OBJECTIVE of this project by clicking on FAQ.

7. Decide what story you want to tell by typing an outline in WORD. If your story is good enough, we will submit it to Arizona Storytellers.

Assessment

Today and tomorrow we will be taking an assessment.

Don't worry about it. People at district just want to know how much you know.

GO TO LEARNING.COM

In the orange login on the right, type in your username, password and district is:

Cartwright

Listen for my instructions.

Current Events - March 2, 2011

Hello class!

Sorry I can't be with you today. We will continue our iMovie interviews on Thursday and Friday. You are doing a great job with that assignment.

Today, please be caring, respectful, honest, responsible and do your best!

You will be answering questions today about current events. Think about how your interviews around school might be like these current events.

CLICK HERE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

Remember, "I don't know" or "IDK" are NOT acceptable answers. You have the internet to search for your answers. Use it! Be sure to write where you found the information.

Also, please write 3-4 sentences of your own thought and ideas.

Rules of Journalism

OBJECTIVE: Students will analyze the rules of journalism by relating the rules to their stories about Castro.

As we report our stories, there are nine rules we must abide by.

Please open a WORD document.

1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.

• What does this mean to you?
• How will you find the truth when you work on your story?
• If you can't find the truth, how can you still write your story?

2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.

• What does this mean to you?
• How can you be loyal to students, teachers and staff as you tell your story?
• If you can't be loyal, how can you still write your story?

3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.

• What does this mean to you?
• How will you verify facts in your story?
• If you can't find out if everything is true, do you still tell your story?
  

4. Journalists must maintain an independence from their stories.

• What does this mean to you?
• How will you remain independent in your story? (Do you take sides?)
• If you can't find every side to the story, how can you still tell your story?

5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.

• What does this mean to you?

6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

• What does this mean to you?
• Will people criticize your story?
• How will you deal with people who criticize your story in a respectful way?

7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.

• What does this mean to you?
• How will you make your story interesting and relevant?
• If your story is not interesting and relevant, do you still tell it?
  

8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.

• What does this mean to you?
• How can you be short and to the point, but also tell everything you need to tell?
• What if your story is too long? Too short?
  

9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

• What does this mean to you?
• If there is a story, but you know you should not contribute to gossip and rumors, do you still tell the story?
  

Story Telling

Imagine that you are the principal of Castro Middle School.

Write a story that describes what the school would be like with you as its leader.

Write three paragraphs (each paragraph should be 3-5 sentences). Your story should have a beginning, middle and end.

Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Then, answer these questions. You may have new ideas after writing about what it would be like to be the principal.

Improving Our Storytelling

The words we've been working on this week will improve our storytelling. It makes us think WHY are we telling a story.

OBJECTIVE: Considering our words for this week, students will analyze the "WHY" of a story by thinking about several different scenarios.

PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

Is your story worth telling?

Objective: Students will analyze the seven ideas that help make a story newsworthy by defining the words and creating their own definitions using a power point slide show.

Program: Power Point
Number of slides: 7
Google: Images and definitions
Use your brain: Come up with your own definition.

Part One: Using the dictionary on the computer or dictionary.com, look up and write definitions for these words.

These words help determine whether a story is interesting, newsworthy or important. If a story does not have these elements, your audience may not be likely to listen to your story.

Conflict
Action
Timeliness
Novelty
Impact
Proximity
Prominence

Part Two: Discuss with a partner what these words mean to you. Write definitions in your own words or give examples from your own life.

Part Three: Find a picture online that helps describe the word. Explain your picture.

Part Four: Put your pictures and your writing (captions) into Powerpoint to create a final project.

Edit Movies and Current Events

Today's Choices

• Continue to edit your movies.
• Click here to answer these questions if you are done.
• Free time when you finish the questions.
  

Edit Movies and Story Telling

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to construct a story by using iMovie.

Continue to work on this project. If you are finished, begin the next story telling project.

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to construct a story by using Domo Animate.

Think about:

• Genre
  
• Characters
• Problem
• Solution
• Your story must make sense.
• Someone watching must be able to know what's going on.

Click here to explore!

Purpose

Keep in mind, as you edit your movies, the goal should be to tell a story.

• You should have a purpose to your movie.
• Your audience should not have to struggle to figure out what's going on.
  

Movie Editing and Plan

Since today is a short day, we will return outside tomorrow to do more filming.

Today, continue to edit what you have and plan what you want to get tomorrow.

For editing:

• music and sound effects
  
• photos
• text - title, alone or over the video, credits
  
• transitions
• blue edit button with clip, video and audio adjustments, cropping and rotation

For planning:

• What is the point/purpose of your story?
• Will your audience be able to follow your story? Does it make sense?
• When you got your video were you too close? Too far away? How can you adjust?
  

Movie Planning

To be able to go out and create a movie, we must PLAN.

First, answer these questions. If you answered these questions on Friday, great. Now, write out your story.

In WORD, write out your dialogue and your scenes. You must have a well-defined plan before you can begin recording.

Create a WORD document like the one you see to the left. Write out what happens in your movie. Write it out just like you would write out a story so that you know what you want to film.

OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to create a movie by planning out the dialogue, the scenes and the character development.

Current Events 2/3/11

OBJECTIVE: To discover what events are affecting the nation and world by using proper search techniques and giving correct information with viable sources.

Write in full sentences.
Use proper grammar.
Edit for spelling.
List your source. Where did you find the answer? Not google. Google is a search engine that led you to the source.

CLICK HERE TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Castro Cougar Courier

Let's review our school news:

OBJECTIVE: Students will write, take photos and edit video to show what is going on here at Castro by using Word, iPhoto and iMovie and posting their well-planned story onto the Castro Cougar Courier.

Take a look at some recent stories posted on our site:

Castro Cougar Courier

Continue to plan out your ideas. Be mindful of the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and WHY.

--------------------------------------

Now for the SO WHAT?

In PAGES, define these words:

Conflict
Action
Timeliness
Novelty
Impact
Proximity
Prominence

Use dictionary.com.

Write a dictionary definition and then write your own definition.

Find a picture online to help describe each word.

You should finish with 7 pages. One word, dictionary definition, your definition and pictures on each page.

What are Others Doing?

OBJECTIVE: To observe and analyze "Do Something" examples from fellow Castro classmates. Consider options to help, build and grow their plans or your own plans.

OBJECTIVE: Continue to search online for what you can do to positively impact the world by using Do Something.org as a starting point.

Do one of the projects! Go to freerice.com and use the login mruttech and password castro. Be sure to click on the groups and click on Castro Middle School.

Here are some more examples. The projects are listed as a student idea first and then an already established organization:

Big Kids, Little Books and First Book

World Hunger and Free Rice

Music in Our Schools and Music in Our Schools Month

GED Help

Helping Kids With Cancer

Do Something is ACTION, not just thoughts

The dosomething.org website allows students like you to actually plan out your ideas. Take some time to think out your idea further.

And continue to explore the website for ideas and examples of other students your age making a change to make this world a better place.

CLICK here to continue to think out your idea before we post your idea.

Then start searching for websites that relate to your topic. For example, if you chose:

Animal Welfare, just type 'animal welfare' into google or check out http://www.azhumane.org/

Violence and Bullying, just type 'bullying' into google or check out Olweus

Discrimination, check out http://www.tolerance.org/

Be sure to bookmark sites you find or take notes in WORD

Change for Good

If you could positively change the world, what would you do?

Today, let's explore our responses a little deeper.

You will be searching for information on dosomething.org. There are questions to answer, but the main purpose is to get you familiar with the website. Once you are familiar with the website, if you are inspired to do something, then let's do it!

1. Go to DOSOMETHING.ORG

2. Answer these questions.

Current Events

What is going on in the world?

It is important for us to think about, study and find out what is going on in our world. We can search and read about current events on the internet.

1. Click here to answer the questions

2. You can search for your answers using news.google.com

3. Remember to write down where you found the information. You can cut and paste from the address bar.

4. Write 4-5 sentences for each answer.

Think about the Future

OBJECTIVE: To consider the skills you will need to get a job by searching for jobs online.

Click here to answer these questions

You can use these websites to help you think about and answer the questions.

monster.com

jobing.com

http://www.azcentral.com/jobs/

twitter.com/rhcmiddle

Gossip Vs. The Truth

Gossip Versus The Truth

Please open a WORD document.

Write 3-4 sentence answers. Write in complete sentences with proper grammar and correct spelling.

1. What is gossip?

2. If you hear something about somebody, do you believe it right away? Why or why not?

3. What does it mean to “get more sides of the story?”

4. Do you think it is a reporter’s job to influence people’s ideas or inform them about what happened? Why?

Choose a story on azcentral.com.
Read the story and answer these questions in the same WORD document:

1. Write the title of the article:

2. What is the main idea of the article?

3. Did the author inform you or influence you?

4. Do you think there is another side to the story?

5. Who would you talk to in order to get another side to the story?

Reading the News to Help With Castro News

OBJECTIVE: You can learn how stories and what kind of stories are considered newsworthy by reading and answering questions about current events.

Check out the news today and answer these questions.

Search for the answers using google and click on the NEWS link at the top of the google page.

WHY: By looking at newsworthy stories, we will begin to determine what is newsworthy for the Castro Cougar Courier.

Steps to Produce Content for our School Online News

OBJECTIVE: To give timely, truthful reports about what is happening at Castro by writing, taking pictures or editing video to post on Castro Cougar Courier.

CLICK HERE TO WRITE OUT YOUR PROJECT IDEAS - When you write out your project ideas and I talk to you about it, then you may go out with the camera to get pictures to tell your story.

1. Have a topic.

• Who, what, where, when and perhaps most important, WHY?
• Click here to go to the Castro Cougar Courier to see old story ideas.
  

2. Get permission.

• Mr. Uttech must know who is in your group before you go out.
  
• Teachers and students must know what you are doing before you enter a classroom or take their picture.

3. Take a picture or pictures.

• The pictures must help tell the story.

4. Evidence

• You must have strong evidence of your work outside the class.
• If you are gone for 10 minutes, you must have many pictures and quotes.
• If you are gone for 10 minutes and only have one picture, it shows me that you were probably just wandering around.

5. Edit

• You must edit the photos and story before you post it online.
• Go back and read to see if it makes sense, edit your pictures in iPhoto.
  

Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'"

Click here to answer these questions: Please answer the questions by using complete sentences, proper grammar and correct punctuation.

Explore the following websites. Watch videos, read articles, look at the pictures.

http://www.thekingcenter.org

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

Then take a look at this website.

http://mlkday.gov/

Photos that tell a story

Photos can be used to tell a story.

As writers/photographers/videographers of Castro Middle, we need to OBSERVE what is going on around us and report the truth.

Go to USA Today

or

The Orlando Sentinel

1. Look at five pictures

2. Write your observations in WORD.

3. Drag the picture into WORD or PAGES with your written observations.

4. Remember to record where you got the photo from. (Copy and paste the web address)

Photo Story - About You

Photographs can tell stories just as easily as the written word, and sometimes better. We wrote our thoughts last week.

This week, please take pictures of your thoughts relating to caring, respect, honesty, respect, responsibility and do your best by showing different facial expressions. You may also choose other feelings such as anger, sadness, frustration, curiosity or others.

Objective: Create a photo story by showing several different emotions and using the functions of Photo Booth and iPhoto.

1. Start by taking pictures in Photo Booth.

• Be sure to go to "Edit" and "Auto Flip New Photos"
  

2. Click on your photo and click on the iPhoto logo in the bottom left.

3. Now in iPhoto you can edit your photo.

• Click on 'edit' and explore.
• Click 'done' when finished editing a photo.
  

4. In iPhoto, go to file, click on "New Album..." and create a Slideshow.

5. Drag the pictures you like into your Slideshow.

• Decide how your photos will best describe you.
• Decide if the order of your photos are important.
• You should have at least 7 photos, transitions, music and a title.
• Click on "themes," "music" and "settings" to explore.
  

6. Export your slideshow as a medium sized file to iTunes.