Laker News
SECOND EDITION 11/1/18
News Crew....Reporters, Writers, Editors
- Eric, Emily, Jordan, Lindsey, Austin, Spencer
- Lydia, Jordan, Emily, Shea, Jessica, Alessandra
- Ben, Makena, Dalton, Justin, Michael
- Braedy, Lindsay
- Sarah, Lily, Jesus, Nikki, Katie
- Dr. Hudson-Advisor
"In Our Opinion" By: Eric, Emily, Jordan, Lindsey, Austin, Spencer
Should Phones be Allowed in class?
Having phones out in class can be both good and bad. We came up with some arguments for both sides. Read our article and decide whether you think they should be allowed in class or not!
There are some problems that having a phone in class may cause. One issue is a lot of kids tend to get off task naturally, so having the ability to pick up your phone and checking social media, play games, or visit YouTube can be a distraction. When there is a kid that is off task, then the other people around them can get distracted too. Your phone can also get damaged stolen from you while at school. If your teacher gets involved they lose a lot of class time looking for it. Also, it costs a lot of money to replace a broken or stolen phone. Another big problem is cheating. Since the phone is small teachers can't easily monitor what you are doing so that allows you to cheat or be off task.
Even though there are a lot of bad things about phones in class, on the flip-side, there are some good things. One thing is it is helpful to have your phone because you have better contact with your parents and you have another resource in case you leave your MacBook at home. It has been proven that kids work better when listening to music. So it may be helpful to some kids to use their phones to play music as they work. Also, If a kid works till the end of class and needs to copy notes from the board, they can just snap a picture. This saves time so they won't have to be late to their next class because they were copying down information.
Both sides have very good reasons to allow or disallow phones in class, but for now, it seems that phones cause more distractions than help students. The only way phones in class could work is if all kids will follow the instructions, not use them for entertainment purposes, and not abuse the power they have.
"WHAT WE THINK"...Survey By: Braedy S.
LAKERS READ! Recommended By: Lindsay O.
The Pros of Cons
By Alison Cherry, Lindsay Ribar, and Michelle Schusterman
This book follows the story of 3 very different girls (Vanessa, Callie, and Phoebe) meeting at a convention center in Texas. Vanessa Montoya-O'Callaghan is a fanfiction writer for a little-known YouTube series based on Alice in Wonderland. (Fanfiction is when fans write about shows, books, or movies they are interested in.) She has been looking forward to WTFCon (We Heart Fandom Convention) because it is where she will meet her online girlfriend, Soleil for the first time. But Vanessa begins to feel that Soleil is not who she expected her to be. Callie Buchanan's father is a taxidermist. She is his assistant. He has brought his prize stuffed turkeys to the World Taxidermy and Fish-Carving Competition. But, she learns a tragic secret about her father that completely ruins their relationship. Phoebe Byrd is a drummer attending the Indoor Percussion Association Convention. But, she hurts her hand as the result of an accidental bag swap, has to deal with friend (or ex-friend) fights, and has confusion about how her guy friend really feels about her. Follow the realistic, relatable, and hilarious adventures of these girls while being overly excited to discover new antics and find out who will turn out to be friend, enemy, or more than a friend.
"GET TO KNOW A LAKER" Staff Interview Mr. Lawler
Mr.Lawler...Sarah, Lily, Jesus, Nikki, and Katie
Mr. Lawler is one of the well known science teachers at this school. He works with Mrs. Luffman and they teach 7th grade science together. Mr. Lawler says he loves his job. He went to UNC to study to become the great teacher he is today. His goal is to help students have faith and believe in themselves. He wants this because when he was a kid growing up, he thought that he was not smart and could not be a good learner. As he grew up he came to realize that he was in fact smart. He decided in his career he wanted to not only teach kids the required academics but also show kids, at an earlier age than he learned, that they are smart and can get good grades in school if they believe in themselves. Mr. Lawler has been teaching for three years now and continues to show kids the possibilities of achieving their goals. We went on to ask if he could have any other job what would it be and he responded: a professional weightlifter. He said although that would be pretty cool, that he really enjoys his job of teaching. Mr. Lawler is a big inspiration to us and everyone in his classes.
Random Act of Kindness
As we all know Coach Tessenair is a very nice person to students and teachers. He helps many students every day, when outside of school his great personality doesn't change. We've interviewed many different people but Coach Tessenair's story stood out the most. He said, "About 2 weeks ago I went to a grocery store and a lady couldn't afford all of her groceries, so I paid for what she couldn't afford." This was a very kind thing he did for someone. He said she had kids with her and they wanted to get some juice and snacks but she couldn't afford them. He said, "I couldn't stand the kids crying...I felt bad so I paid for the stuff they couldn't get." Coach Tessenair is a very kind and generous person not only in school but also outside. Next time you see somebody in need try to help them or if you see somebody that is sad try to cheer them up and maybe your story could be in "The Random Acts of Kindness" section of our Laker Newspaper.
CONTEST: PUSH-UP POWER! By: Ben, Makena, Dalton, Justin, Michael
This week there will be a contest held in the library. The contest will be to guess how many push-ups do you think Mr. Smith can do? In order to enter in the contest you will write your full name and homeroom teacher on a slip of paper and put it in the "Contest" box located in the library. We will pick a winner from the box to win a poster of your choice from the library! Stop by and place your guess in the box today!