Publications

 7th Grade Class

We have begun the semester with a bang! Even with the snow days we have turned in: a partner interview, story 1, story 2, current events 1-3, and our first set of agenda words. We are moving right along.

 

The way things work in Publications

Grades –     40% daily work – agenda words and current events

                   60% projects – the stories written by student

 

Daily work:

          Agenda words – these are words (7 letters or more) that are put on the board daily. Students receive 10 points per week for copying the word and the definition into their agenda or class work spiral.

 

          Current events – the Edmond Sun and the Oklahoman provide classroom papers for this work. Students are required to find 3 articles per week to read from the paper. They cut out the article (all parts if a continued story), glue them into their class work spiral, and answer the questions in their spiral. The questions are: who (who is the article about? Who does this affect?); what (what is the story covering? What is it’s impact); where (where does the story happen?); when (when did this occur? if no date is given, use the date of the paper); why (why is this story interesting? Why do people care?); how (how does this affect you? How does this impact the world?). Question words and questions are flexible in their wording, as long as the student answers all 6 questions.

 

Projects – the stories:

          Each week the students sign up for one of twelve story topics. At the end of the semester they will have written over all twelve topics and be able to compile their own personal paper.

Each topic is different, and each student is working on his or her story for two weeks.

So, a story that is due April 20, would have been assigned on April 6. At any given time each student will have two stories that they are working on. The only exceptions are the first story assigned each semester – that one is due a week after it is assigned, and the last story. As they turn in a story, they sign up for the next one.

 

The story assignments:

ALL work must be edited and the rough draft must be turned in with the final draft. Without an edited draft, the best grade possible is 50% because less than half the assignment was done.

 

Student interview – must have at least 10 questions and responses to interview a student. This must be written into paragraph form and edited by a peer editor. THEN it must be typed to turn in. 

Eagle’s Eye on Summit – Write an article about one of the classes you are taking, usually electives, and what you are doing in that class.

Movie Review - Write a review of a movie that you would or would not recommend. Reviews should be written similar to the previews seen at the theater- just enough information to tease the reader, without giving away the ending. Only G and PG rate movies may be reviewed since we are a middle school paper.

Sports – This is a story about sports at Summit.

Polls - The student comes up with a question, such as, “What is your favorite television show?” and asks at least 35 people. Then they write up the results. They may use excel, or simply list the data. This requires an additional sentence discussing their expectations of the poll compared to the actual results.

Music - This article is about music, without quoting lyrics (copyright infringement). They may talk about their favorite artist, type of music, band/orchestra concerts, etc.

Dear Eagle - the students come up with 3 problems that are happening in the school and write them up like a “Dear Abby” column with an answer to the problem. This article is not published with the authors' names.

Teacher interview – same as student, only interviewing a teacher.

Mystery person – same as student interview, only written so that someone can guess the identity of the interviewee.

Current Events – an article written about something that is happening in the world and how it ties to Summit.

Special Events – an article about something that is happening at Summit out of the ordinary, ie: Book Fair, socials, special speakers, fund raisers, etc.

Others - This is a story over anything that has not been covered in other topics, such as jokes, puzzles, and special interest stories.  

What we do:

Join the staff of the Eagle Express as we create a newspaper for our school! As reporters, you will keep your peers updated. Excellent writing skills are essential for this class; therefore, a recommendation from your sixth grade writing teacher is required.