Media Caution
Should children play football?
5 Reasons why you should let your son play football
Would I let my son play football?
School Uniforms
The argument against school uniforms
Arguments in favor of school uniforms
Why did we choose these sources?
For both topics, we have chosen them based on issues that would be relevant to male and female students. The first set of articles focus on football and safety. The NY Times article is written by a former NFL linebacker. So although the article is a personal account, the author could be considered an expert in the field. He states in the article that many people have asked him if he would allow his sons to play football if he had the choice. It recognizes the fact that people are concerned about this issue of football and safety, especially with young children.
The player that wrote the article, Scott Fujita, was a NFL player for ten years. Politically he is liberal and has gone on record as a supporter of women’s rights and gay rights as well. He was also named the Saints “Man of the Year” in 2009 for his charitable activities. It's no wonder that parents with children look up to him as a role model in football. Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, David Fleming, wrote an article about Fujita titled "A Linebacker with a Conscience." A Yahoo Sports writer, Michael Silver, wrote an article titled "Saints' Fujita Defies Stereotypes." Both discuss his family life- his father was a Japanese Internment victim and his mother was white, which explains why he is such a strong supporter of civil liberties. He certainly seems like a guy that understands people and is comfortable addressing his fans.
This article also includes some facts about young students and injuries that he has heard of occurring. His honesty is apparent as he touches on both sides of the argument while ending the article with the fact that he is simply happy that he doesn't have a son. He does state that he is happy about all of the benefits that football has brought him, but understands the risk that is involved, especially with children. The New York Times, like any other journalism company, has had it's ups and downs with public opinion, but the website is widely read.
The other website is published by a much smaller company, the National Football Post. The site is geared towards fans citing that "their team of insiders have been close to the game." The information seems factual on this cite, but there are no citations to prove this. There's one comment on the page from a female reader disputing the use of the word "son" in his title.
The author of the column has a twitter @jackbetcha, but I was unable to find any formal profile from the National Football Post, but when I googled his name a few hits came up. He owns a company called JB Sports where he manages around 20 NFL clients. Also, he played college football for Texas A&M, so he knows the sport well. It seems as though he is a big supporter of football which explains his stance on involving children in the sport. I tried to find if Jack had kids, like the other author, but I couldn't find any information online confirming that idea. He might change his opinion on involving children in the sport if he had some of his own like Fujita.
The last two articles are centered around the argument of school uniforms. The first site is written by About Style. The site claims that "you’re getting trusted answers directly from someone who knows what they’re talking about." I'm not sure what's backing up that claim, but they seem to believe that they know what they're talking about. It was very difficult to find other sources that referenced this website. The fact that it was so difficult to find anything linked to this website raised red flags about its credibility. What we do like about this article is the short and concise information that is easy for middle school students to access and understand. This article's homepage is http://www.about.com/style/ . The logo this company used is very close to the logo used by the trademarked company Style. Based on the similar logos, it would seem that www.about.com/style is trying to emulate Style, and perhaps confuse novice users that are visiting their site. The author doesn't seem much more credible. Michelle Kouzmine is a stay at home mother that has been the guide to kid's fashion for a decade. She has two girls that she claims are "fashionistas." So although this might give her some sort of credibility in children's' fashion, she's clearly biased against school uniforms. Although if you click the hyperlinked "school uniform" in her article, it brings you to other articles she has written on the topic. She does actually comment on the pro side of the argument in another article: http://kidsfashion.about.com/od/doityourselfstyles/tp/The-Pros-Of-School-Uniforms-Why-Students-Should-Wear-School-Uniforms.htm.
The last article is written by HatToss.com. We chose this website because at first glance it looks credible, especially to a sixth grader. The homepage is nicely laid out and it has images of graduation caps giving students the idea that this site is credible in the education world. Upon further inspection, the article is nicely laid out and easy to read as it numbers the reasons why uniforms should be worn. The website's main purpose is to help recent grads find credible programs. When I googled the site, there wasn't much coming up. The company does have a Twitter feed with a description that states, "Helping you excel in college and beyond. We blog about lifelong learning, your career, and personal well-being." Most of their Twitter posts don't seem to even be about education.
The author of the article is "Staff Writers," and when I clicked on the hyperlink it provided four staff writers: Bethany Perryman, Jeffrey Trull, Jennifer Cardona, and Royale Scuderi. Perryman is a blog writer with a philosophy degree. She has her own website but the link provided does not bring you to anything. Trull is a freelance writer with a degree in engineering- his writing usually focuses on finances and debt-free living. Cardona seems the most qualified on the topic with a degree in education and a current job as a middle school teacher. Lastly, Scuderi is a freelance writer that focuses around life-coaching. It's interesting that the website would not just have Cardona write the article instead of listing all of their names on the topic.
For each reason they provide, you are able to click a hyperlinked title. The first, second, sixth, and seventh links do not work. The third links to DailyMail, the fourth links to a PDF (that actually has a citation page), and the fifth links to the Maryland Gazette. So we've chose all of these articles because they lie somewhere on the spectrum of credibility. We want students to use the evaluation tool to access what components of each website are credible and which are not. This formula will help students decide what information is credible or not.
The player that wrote the article, Scott Fujita, was a NFL player for ten years. Politically he is liberal and has gone on record as a supporter of women’s rights and gay rights as well. He was also named the Saints “Man of the Year” in 2009 for his charitable activities. It's no wonder that parents with children look up to him as a role model in football. Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, David Fleming, wrote an article about Fujita titled "A Linebacker with a Conscience." A Yahoo Sports writer, Michael Silver, wrote an article titled "Saints' Fujita Defies Stereotypes." Both discuss his family life- his father was a Japanese Internment victim and his mother was white, which explains why he is such a strong supporter of civil liberties. He certainly seems like a guy that understands people and is comfortable addressing his fans.
This article also includes some facts about young students and injuries that he has heard of occurring. His honesty is apparent as he touches on both sides of the argument while ending the article with the fact that he is simply happy that he doesn't have a son. He does state that he is happy about all of the benefits that football has brought him, but understands the risk that is involved, especially with children. The New York Times, like any other journalism company, has had it's ups and downs with public opinion, but the website is widely read.
The other website is published by a much smaller company, the National Football Post. The site is geared towards fans citing that "their team of insiders have been close to the game." The information seems factual on this cite, but there are no citations to prove this. There's one comment on the page from a female reader disputing the use of the word "son" in his title.
The author of the column has a twitter @jackbetcha, but I was unable to find any formal profile from the National Football Post, but when I googled his name a few hits came up. He owns a company called JB Sports where he manages around 20 NFL clients. Also, he played college football for Texas A&M, so he knows the sport well. It seems as though he is a big supporter of football which explains his stance on involving children in the sport. I tried to find if Jack had kids, like the other author, but I couldn't find any information online confirming that idea. He might change his opinion on involving children in the sport if he had some of his own like Fujita.
The last two articles are centered around the argument of school uniforms. The first site is written by About Style. The site claims that "you’re getting trusted answers directly from someone who knows what they’re talking about." I'm not sure what's backing up that claim, but they seem to believe that they know what they're talking about. It was very difficult to find other sources that referenced this website. The fact that it was so difficult to find anything linked to this website raised red flags about its credibility. What we do like about this article is the short and concise information that is easy for middle school students to access and understand. This article's homepage is http://www.about.com/style/ . The logo this company used is very close to the logo used by the trademarked company Style. Based on the similar logos, it would seem that www.about.com/style is trying to emulate Style, and perhaps confuse novice users that are visiting their site. The author doesn't seem much more credible. Michelle Kouzmine is a stay at home mother that has been the guide to kid's fashion for a decade. She has two girls that she claims are "fashionistas." So although this might give her some sort of credibility in children's' fashion, she's clearly biased against school uniforms. Although if you click the hyperlinked "school uniform" in her article, it brings you to other articles she has written on the topic. She does actually comment on the pro side of the argument in another article: http://kidsfashion.about.com/od/doityourselfstyles/tp/The-Pros-Of-School-Uniforms-Why-Students-Should-Wear-School-Uniforms.htm.
The last article is written by HatToss.com. We chose this website because at first glance it looks credible, especially to a sixth grader. The homepage is nicely laid out and it has images of graduation caps giving students the idea that this site is credible in the education world. Upon further inspection, the article is nicely laid out and easy to read as it numbers the reasons why uniforms should be worn. The website's main purpose is to help recent grads find credible programs. When I googled the site, there wasn't much coming up. The company does have a Twitter feed with a description that states, "Helping you excel in college and beyond. We blog about lifelong learning, your career, and personal well-being." Most of their Twitter posts don't seem to even be about education.
The author of the article is "Staff Writers," and when I clicked on the hyperlink it provided four staff writers: Bethany Perryman, Jeffrey Trull, Jennifer Cardona, and Royale Scuderi. Perryman is a blog writer with a philosophy degree. She has her own website but the link provided does not bring you to anything. Trull is a freelance writer with a degree in engineering- his writing usually focuses on finances and debt-free living. Cardona seems the most qualified on the topic with a degree in education and a current job as a middle school teacher. Lastly, Scuderi is a freelance writer that focuses around life-coaching. It's interesting that the website would not just have Cardona write the article instead of listing all of their names on the topic.
For each reason they provide, you are able to click a hyperlinked title. The first, second, sixth, and seventh links do not work. The third links to DailyMail, the fourth links to a PDF (that actually has a citation page), and the fifth links to the Maryland Gazette. So we've chose all of these articles because they lie somewhere on the spectrum of credibility. We want students to use the evaluation tool to access what components of each website are credible and which are not. This formula will help students decide what information is credible or not.