Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Around the World with Nellie Bly

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to a young lady named Nellie Bly. Nellie is an intrepid reporter who travels the word in search of the day's most important and interesting news stories. No matter how complex or convoluted those stories might be, how serpentine their history, Nellie is devoted to condensing them into short, easily-understandable stories which are designed to educate and inform her readers, who range from middle-school aged to - well, to me. And she does a truly remarkable job of it.

Nellie is the brainchild of Mike Peterson, a professional newspaperman who is involved in the Newspapers in Education Program. NIE is aimed at introducing schoolchildren to newspapers with the goal of ensuring future generations of informed, smart kids. Mike created Nellie in cooperation with a talented cartoonist and named her for the pioneering female reporter Nellie Bly, a remarkable journalistic role model for young people.

Mike is also responsible for "Drawing Conclusions" (also available at nelliebly.org), a feature which weekly chooses a hot topic and explores how two different editorial cartoonists address it. Like "Around the World with Nellie Bly", "Drawing Conclusions" encourages young people to think critically about the news coverage they see, and teaches them to understand that news often comes with perspectives attached.

You'll love "Around the World with Nellie Bly" and "Drawing Conclusions" if you have kids or if you have the opportunity to teach or guide kids. You'll like them a lot even if you don't.

ronnie

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, thanx so much for this! I teach a civics class for kids in Grade 5 and I really think it will be helpful. I am in Ottawa, ON but I can see how we can use this. I suppose it's crazy to ask if its available in French, ehe? It is based in NY?

11:06 p.m.  
Blogger ronnie said...

I'm really glad you like it. It's not available in French, but if your school had a translation budget (I know, I know) you could contact Mike about getting permission to translate it. In the meantime, I'm glad I've introduced another educator to Nellie!

1:36 p.m.  
Blogger ronnie said...

Oops, forgot to add, yes, Mike works for a NY-based newspaper, and if you do want to reach him and have any trouble reaching him through Nellie's website, contact me via the blog and I'll put you in touch.

1:38 p.m.  

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