RON’S STORY

Ron French’s currently did an article about a 60 min story about Betsy DeVos about public school in Michigan. Currently, Michigan schools need funding, Which will help the teachers.

The Funding will also help students, and school buildings, so it can be a safe as good academics ready for the students learning the process.

Betsy Devos is U.S. Secretary of Education. She has been doing this for a long time, but in the 60 min, video clip.She seems to lack knowledge of how Michigan school are performing academically.

Ron French decide to help Betsy and other understand how Michigan school k -12 are truly doing from 2003- 2015

Ron also shared links from his articale site call bridage about Michigan summits from GrandRapidess and Detroit and what they say about the school education system.

Grand Rapids summit: West Michigan leaders join the chorus for state education reform
Detroit summit: Getting past politics to give Michigan the schools it deserves

Doing this help clear up some misunderstanding that Besty may need to know about the school system and how other views the system. Why it is important to give funding to the schools that are struggling curttlly all of the michgain schools.

Being biased sure doesn’t pay off

Ethics really does play a big role in one’s everyday communications and overall viewpoints in life.

When journaling or reporting on topics and issues, one’s unique writing skills will be influenced by one’s ethics as well. This is why being non-biased really does play a major part in getting the correct information because facts are a must.pexels-photo-373076.jpeg(free art from Google library)

Being non-biased while reporting allows the writer to focus more on facts than feelings; now don’t get me wrong, I personally believe all stories should have a sense of feeling, but it can also hinder a writers viewpoint. I, myself as a writer, have fallen victim to writing under emotions toward a story which needed more attention on the facts than the overall issue at hand. When reporting, one can easily hinder their own story by not paying attention to being a non-bias and letting their own feeling affect the fact.

I watched a video on how “Jouranalists Minimize their own Bias,” and i found it to be very helpful because it touched on fact checking, credibility and the importance of not being bias when writing.

Elements of Style provides a refresher on grammar, punctuation

As I mentioned the first day of class, “The Elements of Style” by Strunk & White is a quick read but an invaluable one for everyone who needs to brush up on grammar and punctuation. I think the punctuation pieces of this book are especially relevant for some of you in this class.

So I’m linking here to the free online version of the book, and I am suggesting specifically the elements related to commas (it’s the first major section). I’m seeing in a lot of your work a lack of commas — and this text is GREAT at explaining exactly when to use them and when to leave them out.

I hope it’s helpful!  I find myself reading elements of this book every once in a while to remind me to stay sharp when writing.

 

Data stories: What the class picked

Here are the data stories that class members picked to talk about. I’m linking to all of them here so we can discuss on Wednesday. Each of you can talk about your own selection and explain why you picked it, what makes it a “data-driven” story and what you took away from it.

Myles: 

The Guardian: Young voters, class and turnout: how Britain voted in 2017

Snapshot of the election blog.
General election coverage in data blog at The Guardian’s website.

Zahara:

Washington Post: America’s chaotic, crazy, challenging, great, tumultuous, horrible, disappointing year/  A look back at the ups and downs of public opinion in 2017.

Screenshot of WaPo's year in review online.
The Washington Post’s year in review package.

 

Olivia:

CDC: Autism Spectrum Disorders data

Screenshot of CDB autism disorder data page.
CDB’s website for data on autism.

Josh:

World.LiveUAMap: Russian Ministry of Defense shows photos … 

Liveuamap

Chanel:

New York Times:  How Effective Is Your School District? A New Measure Shows Where Students Learn the Most

Screenshot of NYT schools project online.
New York Times UpShot project on schools.

 

Safa:

New York Times: Can requiring people to work make them healthier?

Screenshot of NYT story on work and health.
New York Times story in UpShot on work and healthfulness.

Noor:

NPR: Veteran Sues After Scalpel Found Inside His Body 4 Years After Surgery

 

Screenshot of NPR story.
NPR story about a lawsuit over a scalpel left inside a patient and found four years later.

Zeinab and Aya:

The Guardian: Read this before you have a baby (especially if you’re a woman)

Screenshot of Guardian series.
Guardian story on the impact of motherhood on lifestyle and choices in the United States.

Ashley:

New York Times: Why it’s still worth getting a flu shot

Screenshot of the image from the NYT article.
New York Times story on flu vaccines and whether they are worthwhile to get.

Eric:

New York Times:  Where Athletes in the Premier League, the N.B.A. and Other Sports Leagues Come From, in 15 Charts

Screenshot of NYT sports package.
New York Times data package in athletes from throughout the world.

 

Travis:

Coinmarketcap.com: Crytocurrency market capitalizations

Screenshot of bitcoin chart.
Database shows crytocurrency rates.

Jennifer:

New York Times: Why trying new things is so hard to do

Screenshot of NYT story with image.
New York Times story on why trying things can be hard.

News discussions: Here’s the lineup

Last class, you all volunteered for leading the news discussions at the start of every class for the first several weeks. Here’s the schedule. Please let me know if you have any problems with your assignment! I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Remember, 3-5 stories in your category, and please choose from more than one news source. You can find the news sources I’ve mentioned in class on the home page of this site. I’ll continue to add to those as we find new sources throughout the semester.

New York Times home page
The home page of the New York Times online.

Jan. 24:

  • Nation/world: Safa
  • State/local: Keturrah
  • Wildcard: Olivia

Jan. 30: 

  • Nation/world: Jennifer
  • State/local: Aya
  • Wildcard:  Zeinab

Feb. 7:

  • Nation/world: Josh
  • State/local: Ashley
  • Wildcard: Eric

Feb. 14: 

  • Nation/world: Chanel
  • State/local: Noor
  • Wildcard: Zahara

Feb. 21:

  • Nation/world:
  • State/local: Myles
  • Wildcard: Travis