Week 5

Two great reads. Remember, September ends on Wednesday.

1. Finding censorship where there is none: This is an opinion piece about library censorship, or maybe not. While it talks about banned book week, it more closely looks at stats that tell a different story of censorship than many people would like to believe. This is a great lesson on why context to statistics and the source of statistic is so important. Have any books ever been banned from MA? Are there any books Derek would refuse to purchase?

2. Women at Arms — Mothers at War: A compelling read about women in the military and the drawbacks of being on active duty while being a mom. Look closely at the variety of sources, the depth of coverage, and the breadth of ideas presented. How does the NYTimes remain objective? What makes this a universally readable piece?

Week 4

Some good reads this week, but these two really stood out to me:

1. If Sports Ruled the World: this is a well written opinion piece about a topic I love — sports! But the crux of the piece is how sports reflect themselves in society and why we all (ok, some of us) crave the rules driven structure sports offers us. Is there an MA angle in here? A way to bring this idea -- be it in opinion piece or a sports feature?

2. What does the SAT test: this next edition will come out on October 22, right in time for SAT madness. You know you love the SAT!! How can we localize this idea? Maybe we can look at testing practices in MA classrooms? Are MA tests geared toward college style testing? or are there are antiquated practices that still linger? Are the testing practices of MA really pushing students to be critical thinkers? And what's the happy medium between critical thought and rote memorization? Ok, I may have gotten carried away with questions ....

Edition 2 Article Ideas

Please post your ideas for the second edition of the year. Be sure to read the other ideas BEFORE you post your own. You can elaborate on another person's post (with a citation, of course). Be specific and try to format each idea as such:

Article Idea:
Must interviews:
Why will people want to read this:

This edition will come out around October 22.

Week 3

1. A great read about getting to school. We have done stories about carpools and the distance traveled by students, but what other angles could we take on this? Are there MA parents that share the fear mentioned in the piece? Might this fear play a role in parents not letting students drive themselves?

2. Maybe it's too late to do a look at the first day of school this year, but what other story ideas could you take from this read about New Yorkers heading back to school? We did a day in the life of Travis, a day in the life of an unplugged student, what about a simple day in the life of a regular student?? an athlete? a dancer? a musician?

share your comments, ideas, brilliance ...

Week 2

1. Here's a great read on a somewhat overlooked topic: receipt length. Firstly, what do you think of this topic? Know that this story ran on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Secondly, what interesting facet of MA life could we express in a similarly styled story? Note the topic has to be somewhat fun but serious enough to make the reader scratch her head.

2. Check out this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal. It's about healthcare — the most heated topic of discourse in the press these days — but note the author. This is a perfect example of how it's important to consider a writer's intentions when expressing an opinion. Does the author's credentials bolster his claims or weaken them? How and why?

Share your thoughts, ideas, and moments of brilliance.