I attend Howard Middle School in Orlando, Florida, an Orange County Public School.  On the crazy week we had of FCAT you had to stay with one teacher and one class all the days you were testing.  They put you in alphabetical order with your grade and selected a teacher based on the teacher’s last name.  On Monday, we had 70 minutes to finish part 1 of the Reading test.  The next day for part 2, was exactly the same.  On Wednesday, we took both parts of the Math and it was 140 minutes. Then on Thursday the 8th graders were taking their Science FCAT.  The newest edition to the FCAT this year was the 6th graders, having to take the Reading portion on the computers!

All year teachers prepare us for FCAT.  So everything you learned in Math and Language Arts was for a reason!  The stories in the Reading FCAT can be biographies, others will be poems or maybe a panflit. Questions will ask you what it’s mostly about or like what two words have almost the same meaning. You have to read the questions carefully. They’ll throw in questions talking about “which of these statements is NOT true?” So make sure to not skim the questions!

In my opinion, the Reading was straightforward and not all that confusing. Every question I was able to go back and re-read and find the answer somehow. It had a few fictional stories, I guess to entertain us. The Math is personally where my heart dropped.

In conclusion, next time I know I should pay more attention when we were reviewing, because I literally didn’t know how to do solve certain problems. Also, I’m going to try and re-read some questions because on the Math I had read a word wrong and when I went back I noticed.  It was too late though, the papers were collected out my hand.  For the Reading, I think I did okay because I read everything and picked what made sense to me.  Sadly, I was the first one done, so now I’m like,” what did I do wrong?”  I guess we will all find out when the scores are released… Good luck!!!

Also Howard Middle’s basketball team got accepted to play at the all-stars jam session. That was an honor for the boys and girls. The girls played against St. Joseph’s girls, known as the lady eagles. They were beaten by the Rangerette’s. The score was 47-11.

The girls moved on to the next round and versed Carver middle. We had a good run but didn’t make  it through to the end. Lost by 4 and the score was 34-38.

But on the other hand we had a blast at the convention center with the slam dunk contest and many more. We met famous stars like Blake Griffin and Jeremy Lin. I hope that the All-stars games come back to Orlando.

Students will soon have to take Geometry, Algebra II, Biology, Chemistry or Physics, plus one equally rigorous science course, and pass standardized exams in those subjects to graduate.

My opinion is I would rather have FCAT because it’s easier. My chances of passing would depend on the final exams more and would have to take more tests. Its like FCAT extreme with a different name. And i like FCAT because after the test its like a free day.

They will not eliminate Reading FCAT until further notice. On the bright side teachers can now focus on their own curriculum instead of preparing for the FCAT. My teacher Ms. Sfalanga Says,”students think this is a good thing because FCAT is getting eliminated, but in reality all it is is a different kind of test and most likely will be tougher.”

For school, what you need is:  pencils, erasers, notebooks, rulers, glue, tape, colored pens, white out, dividers, binders and a bookbag. Having these items will help you succeed in school. Though it has to be organized. That way you know where everything is. If you have these things i bet you’ll never have to bother friends, peers or teachers.

When you have your school supplies your life is easier. You don’t have to stress trying to remember if you brought a pencil or not. Also if you mess up writing with a pen, you have your OWN white out, not having to ask your teacher. And it helps you have responsibility so that you don’t loose your things. When you have responsibilities that teaches you not just to keep track of your stuff but also to take better care of them.

When you’re not prepared from school, that’s just horrible. Some teachers will deduct points, other would actually give you a detention. Just think about how long it would take looking for white out or something, that right there makes you have to interrupt the teacher. Also what if it happens to be a day where you’re just out of luck and none of your friends want to lend you a pencil or your teacher. That won’t make you so successful. What if you don’t have a sharpener and you have to wait in line so that other kids that were infront of you get their pencils sharpened 1st. If you would of had a hand held sharpener to begin with then you would have had more time to get ready.

In conclusion, it is very important to have your supplies. There are consequences if you don’t have them. Having your supplies will make your life easier. You won’t waste time or annoy your teachers or classmates\peers. Also you don’t really need much, just the basics.

Stevenson Bassy is an 8th grade student at our very own Howard Middle School.  He has played every sport so far this year and is looking at a very successful future.  Stevenson was voted to be most likely to succeed by our students.  As of right now Steve helps Ms.Lee’s son Trelawney S. with basketball skills at school and on his own time.  He also helps local kids in his neighborhood with sports and homework.  I won’t say any names, but Steve also helps students at Howard with their Algebra homework.  I won’t lie… Steve helps me with basketball sometimes, too, like how I shoot, when to release the ball, etc.  Steve is the perfect student to win this award. He helps everybody in every kind of way.

The Humanitarian Award is given to people who help their community in every way possible.  Last year, the award was given to Billy Flowers, also an 8th grader at Howard.  The award has been given out across our wonderful country. It’s always nice to know that one of our students have been given this award. That goes to show you if one of our students can win it then anybody can.  All you have to do is try to help your community in any kind of way.  The little stuff matters folks–everybody must help to make our country a better place to live in. This award shows that Steve is one of those people that help our community. Orlando is known as “The City Beautiful,” so let’s try to make it stay like that. Everyone needs to help. Let’s stay BEAUTIFUL !

Mrs. Fisher and Leticia
(L) What is your new years resolution ?
(F) My new years resolution is to have more patience with my students and to not get upset when they don’t  do their work.
(L) Out of all them why did you pick that one ?
(F) Well I wanted to choose something that will  benefit  my students and impact them.
(L) Do you have people who support you?
(F) Yes! My husband. He reminds  me to calm down and go with it.
(L) Have you seen a difference in your self since you have done this?
(F)  I have, but I still have to remind myself from time to time to calm it down.

Mrs. Kowalski and Leticia
(L) Do you have a new years resolution ?
(K) Yes, mine is to go to the gym for at least 4 days a week.
(L) Why did you pick this?
(K) Because  I paid for a membership and never go.
(L) Do you have some one to support you?
(K) Oh yeah. My husband and my friend because if I miss a day, my friend gets on me about it.

Danmaris ( 6th grader) and Leticia 
(L) What is your new year resolution?
(D) Well mine is to be good to my mom.
(L) Why did you pick that?
(D) My mom encouraged me to. I cant remember what she said but she just did.
(L) Have you seen a difference since you have been nice to your mom?
(D) Yeah, well, I got more stuff.
(L) Like what?
(D) Like a phone and a Tablet.

A lot of people have different resolutions and they pick them for different reasons. There are no right and wrong new year resolution. It’s what you want it to be and why.

You can receive a detention for many different reasons. For lockout–getting to class late, disrespecting a teacher or staff, not doing what your suppose to do, like maybe eating in class. Detentions aren’t the baddest thing you can receive, for instance you can get suspended, or ISS, but that’s for something big, like fighting. That doesn’t mean you should do what your not suppose to, because detentions are still bad. You should always serve your detentions, even though they don’t show up on your record. If you don’t serve them, you get a referral and that DOES go on your record.

There are different types of detentions you can receive. There is administrative, teacher detentions--which is with your teacher–or the lunch detentions. Some detentions are early in the morning before school starts, but most of them are after school. In detention usually you either do work they give you, homework, or maybe even clean. Not all detentions are the same.

There is a relief though, you can avoid them! You can avoid lockout detentions by getting to class on time. Which means reducing the time you spend in the hallway talking to your friends and packing up faster in your last class. Also, do what your suppose to do. Trust me, it’s not that hard. No back talking to teachers or disrespect no matter how mad you are. If they already warned you about it twice, don’t do it again. Keep yourself out of trouble. Wait until lunch to eat and talk to your friends about out-of-school stuff on your own time. If you do what I mentioned I guarantee you that you ‘ll stay out of trouble or you won’t get into it as much.

So the next time you’re talking to your friends in the hall way remember you don’t have that much time! Also think about having to waste time after school or having to get up earlier than you want to just to go to a detention. Come on now, be smarter than that. Stay out of trouble and serve your detentions. Or better yet, don’t be disrespectful and follow the rules so you won’t even have to worry about getting them.

In yearbook we do a lot: we make posters, set up the school dances and we even have to work at them. So while your getting your dance on, remember who set that up for you.

We have to take pictures at least one time a week and, let me tell you, taking pictures every day begins to get boring. But we have to do it so YOU guys can have a good yearbook .

Lastly, if you haven’t noticed, whenever there’s a dance coming up Yearbook staff is in the back selling tickets, missing out on lunch. We can’t get up to talk with friends or anything. All we can do is get up and get our lunch.

In this middle school you have 7 different classes, each with a different teacher. They  teach different subjects, such as: Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and so forth. They really do a good job. I HOPE I GET THE SAME TEACHERS NEXT YEAR!

Teachers have many students. Mrs. Raab said she has had as many as 150 students during a school year. That is a lot of students for 6 periods. I would imagine that is an extreme amount of paper grading. If I was a teacher, I would go crazy with the amount of papers grading each day, more so each week, month, and quarter. Now I know why teachers are stressed daily. Come on, let’s give them a break! In return for this work, we get an education.

We need to see the teacher for who they are as a person rather than just a teacher. How he or she may act may not be the same when they are not teaching. When they’re not in school they are probably thinking more about school. Sometimes, I think they just need a break from us students. What they do is really work their butts off for us.

I  hope they enjoy a peaceful break because they work really hard for us students. Even though it’s hard work, I would like to be in their shoes one day!

The Howard Hype is an online newspaper made for the yearbook staff in Howard Middle School. Everyone in the yearbook staff  writes a story of their choosing every two weeks. As long as the story isn’t bad or vulgar, you can type your heart out. The Hype has been sponsored/run/co-taught by Page15. Mr. Ryan is a BIG help when we’re in a jam during our story.

The Howard Hype has now updated this new style, has brought a big twist, and is kind of in this decade, the modern day iPod. If you compare last year’s page to this year’s, you can see how it’s improved to make the website easier to navigate and fun to look at. Now that everyone’s submitting stories it will fill up quick. Good thing there is a search bar.