The Eagle's Eye; Issue 1, Vol. 12; Akins High School

Page 1

Eagle’s Eye The

Band Leadership Pg. 9

Follow the Eagle’s Eye on our new website www.AkinsEaglesPublications.com W. Charles Akins High School

Student Life

Employment

Balancing work and school difficult for some students

“Everything That Concerns You”

Academics

Austin, Texas

www.AkinsEaglesPublications.com

Flipped Classroom

New teaching methods take place outside of classroom

Elianne Candelario Staff reporter

Waking up, getting dressed, and going to school, going to work, going home, sleeping, waking up and doing it all over again. This is the routine many students follow everyday. While having a part time job is great to pay for expenses, juggling both school and a job might be tougher than it seems. “I spend almost all of my spare time working on homework,” senior Alexis Colunga said. Many students deal with the struggles of growing up and having to start taking on more responsibilities such as paying for their gas, school supplies, and clothing. “I use my paycheck to pay for gas, car payments and save the rest,” Colunga said. Because working a part time job does take a lot of time away from the day, students that do have a job are restraining on how much they can do each day. “I have no time to spend with friends on weekends because I work,” Colunga said. On the other hand, some students choose to only work on weekends so they’d have plenty of time during the week to work on anything school related and even hang out with friends after school. “I do my homework on the weekdays, see friends at school and work at iHop on the weekends,” senior Venessa Buol said. Doing so, Buol only works ten hours a week, which leaves her with more time to focus on her grades, dancing and her social life. uSee “Employment” pg. 4

Performing Arts

Musical

Journey Theatre presents award winning musical Liz Hernandez Staff reporter Last year it was Sweeny Todd, the year before that was Hairspray. This year it is Westside Story. Akins Journey Theatre will be presenting their annual musical in the theatre this year. “It is a classic and one of the top-10 plays on Broadway,” Director Maureen Siegel said. “Westside story was appropriate for this year because I feel like we have a strong cast of singers, performers, and dancers.” The play is strongly based on a Romeo and Juliet modern day story but instead of families battling against each other like in the original Romeo and Juliet play by William Shakespeare, it is now gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, who are featured in West Side Story.

the insight

uSee “Theatre” pg. 9

inside

Elianne Candelario

Surfing the text books Freshmen Jaelene Cerrito watches a video assigned by her English teacher using Youtube. “I like it better than reading out of the book,” Cerrito said. “It is so much faster listening and taking notes from a video instead of reading through a book and taking notes.”

Students having problems using popular video website for learning Ben Livingston Sports Editor

A new school year brings a new set of ideas, goals, and a new method of learning. The campus has been introduced to a fresh way of life known as “Flipped Classroom.” This system of education is redefining how students will approach a school day. Teachers will find an educational video, or construct an instructional video or lecture, then have that material for the student to access at home. This way, a student is able to get a grasp on the knowledge before the class begins, enabling a discussion or a series of questions to be asked, hopefully speeding up the learning process in order to move on to the application of knowledge. The aim is to have more learning at home and more worksheets and questioning in the classroom. Flipped classroom provides a lot of opportunity to view information at home, for any help on work that may be needed at home or anywhere with access to video viewing websites. Some students have been able to find some use out of the flipped classroom structure. In mathematics classes, students have indicated it can be helpful for problem solving and homework. “I can replay videos on my own leisure, and the pressure of interrupting a teacher mid-lesson is completely gone,” senior Katrina

Faculty and Staff

Agudo said. “I feel like I’m interacting with the lesson when I take notes along side being online rather than sitting in a seat and nodding my head.” In some classes, teachers have utilized the flipped classroom format in order to communicate through email or websites like Edmodo, giving video opportunities to students. Other teachers have recorded themselves giving lecture, with visual aids in order to help explain. “My government teacher lectures us through video and tells us to ask questions in class,” said senior Leif Montgomery However, for some students, there has been difficulty accessing the videos. “I have trouble viewing the video at home sometimes just because of Firefox or my computer,” senior Cynthia Arteaga said. Potential connectivity issues to the Internet or individual computer issues can greatly prohibit the learning process. Some students don’t learn as well on their own at home opposed to with the teacher in class. “I would prefer to learn everything in class. I learn better in a class,” senior Joseph Hernandez said. For some students, it’s an issue of having questions but not having the teacher on hand to answer them. uSee “Flipped” pg. 4

New Teachers, New Staff

New school year brings campus turnover Dez Moore Editor-in-Chief Unfamiliar faces introducing themselves to students as they enter their new classes. The campus has seen an arrival of many new teachers and staff this year. The entire district has seen a overhaul in teachers and staff. “At the end of last year the district was not in a financial exigency anymore,” Assistant Principal Matthew Lopez Brandi Hosack said. “People were Getting adjusted now comfortable with retiring or Algebra teacher Leslie Wood explains a problem to sophomoving away.” Many teachers that taught last more Julio Gallegos. Wood is a first year teacher at Akins.

Losing streak snapped Halftime stage shared Akins has been waiting and a struggling fan base have plagued this team. In two and a half long years to 2010, the Eagles see a football win went 0-10. from the varIn 2011, sity Eagles. the Eagles Countless also went losses 0-10. Now against in 2012 the rivals, varsity Eagles inner dimight have fivision foes, and powerhouse nally ended the inLuisa Veronica Talamas football programs, famous 27-game losing multiple coaching changes, streak. Check out page 11.

In the past, the Diamond Dazzlers had their time to shine during halftime of the varsity football games and the band had their seperate time to shine. Now both, the Dia- Luisa Veronica Talamas monds and the

band must share the stage while performing at halftime. Does the band want to share their stage with the Diamonds? Do the Diamonds want to dance a r o u n d the band? Is anybody excited? Turn to page 8 for the details.

year left the school, leaving spots to be filled for the next school year. “We have had very low turnover before,” Hosack said. “Teachers could now leave or retire feeling secure.” Some students enjoy the fresh faces on campus and appreciate the roster turn over. “I like the new teachers on campus,” senior Nicole McClellan said. “We started a new year and with new teachers it makes the environment more relaxed.”

5

uSee “Turnover” pg. 4

things to know

Chick-Fil-A criticized... pg. 2 College and Career Center... pg. 5 Foreign exchange student... pg. 6 Sinsored band... pg. 8 New coaches... pg. 11

Vol.12 No. 1

October 15, 2012

Opinions...pg 2, 3 News...pg 4 In-Depth...pg 5 Student Life...pg 6-7 Entertainment...pg 8, 9 Photo Essay...pg 10 Sports...pg 11 Community Page... pg 12


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