Introduction to the Odyssey

After reading An Introduction to the Odyssey, pg. 740, answer the following questions in complete sentences. Use the text to support your answers - or use quality Internet sources to help you out.

1.Who is traditionally accepted as the author of the Odyssey?

2. How is the Odyssey related to the Illiad?

3. When and where does the Illiad take place?

4. Where is Odysseus's home?

5. What is a Homeric simile?

6. Where does the phrase "Achilles heel" come from?

7. Why are we still reading this work, a few thousand years after it was written?

8. Related to question 7, what is a canonical work?

9. The Odyssey is filled with adventures and battles. How was war conducted in the 12th century B.C.? What did soldiers eat, and wear?

10. What is double determination? This might be tricky to find - take your time and ask questions if you are stuck. You may want to expand your Google search to something such as - double determination odyssey.

Copyright & Plagiarism 101

Understanding copyright law and the ins and outs of plagiarism is central to being a quality journalist or publisher of any kind.

Whether it's the student newspaper, yearbook or any other publication, there are clear, real, actual laws governing what we can use and not use when it comes to using other people's work.

After watching the PowerPoint presentation on copyright law, complete this webquest - Activity I Scavenger Hunt and Activity II, You be the judge. (Ignore the third activity).

Complete this assignment in a Word doc or write out your answers - your choice.

Heroes & monsters: An introduction

Heroes and Monsters: Introduction to Collection 10

1. When you think of a hero, what qualities come to mind?

2. Which of these traits does Shrek share with heroes; how is Shrek a hero?

3. What are traits of monsters and evil villians you see recurring in TV, movies and literature?

4. Do traits of heroes ever overlap with monsters? Do the good guys ever share characteristics with the bad guys?

5. Did Shrek cross this line - moving back and forth between a hero and a monster?

6. Go ahead and google "characteristics of epic hero." List five traits of an epic hero.

7. What's an epic poem?

8. Who is Homer? Not Homer Simpson, but Homer who is credited with writing The Odyssey. Was he a real person? Was he a "he?"

9. What is a muse?

Cashing in on corruption

1. "Shattered Glass" has given us a lot to think about; one question is what Stephen Glass is up to now. This is harder to uncover than I suspected - so see if you can help find out what he's doing, or has done, since his public fall from grace.

2. One person who has not vanished after a fall from grace is former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who we met in a previous blog entry. Now he's doing guest spots on Fox News, appearing as an "expert" on corruption - and discussing the health care bill and possible issues of corruption with that huge piece of legislation.

You don't need to watch the video of him on Fox to answer this question: Does his appearance on Fox News weaken that network's credibility in your eyes as a serious news organization? Why or why not?

3. Some call journalism our culture's noblest profession, because it protects our most precious freedoms. What is meant by this statement?

4. What's the relationship between good character and good journalism?

5. After you watched this movie, has your opinion of the credibility of journalists shifted or changed in any way?

Writing good editorials & opinions

Editorials & opinions

Editorials are a newspaper's position on an issue; opinion columns are personality driven.

There are four basic types of editorials:

• Explanation
• Critique
• Praise
• Persuade

Entertaining is a fifth function - often used in opinion columns.

Purpose of an editorial

An editorial is designed to convince other people that you are correct. Be confident in your stance - passion is key to a powerful editorial or opinion.

Good editorials are based on research and facts. Have your facts in order before you take your stance and write! I repeat, get all of your facts in line before you put your fingers to the keys.

Timeliness: Good editorials typically tie in with the issues of the day, and have a compelling news angle embedded inside.

Structure:

Intro - Just as with our reviews, we want a strong catchy intro where you state your thesis, and take your position. Remember the six Ws.

Body - In the following short paragraphs, back up your opinion and thesis with clear and well-argued points.

Consider mentioning the other side of the argument - and shooting down that argument before continuing on with your main points. That's an effective editorial technique: Bring up the opponent's best point and crush it.

Conclusion - Wrap up by repeating your main point, and making a strong call to action; give the reader something to really think about.

note: Unlike our previous reviews, editorials and opinions typically don't use "I."

Examples:

Here's a NY Times editorial on the benefits of taxing soda and other sweetened beverages.

Here is an opinion in the Beacon Journal that uses a very effective technique when arguing that Obama is not overly apologetic.

This Washington Times editorial uses a very effective intro as well: There's no mistaking the thesis and black and white delivery of facts in this piece on Obama energy policy.

So, let's get started with our first of three opinion pieces: Our local angle. Remember, research forms the basis of good opinions.

Writing Workshop II: Differences in Media

The way different news media treats the same event can be radically different. First we are going to take a look at a local news broadcast's handling of a recent Sea World employee's death.

This event made a national media splash, after a killer whale grabbed an employee (a whale trainer) and dragged her under the water until she drowned.

Note the TV news caster's emotional tone in his voice, his dramatic body language, and the way he repeatedly tells us that "children witnessed this!" The video is here.

That's one huge difference between TV and the Net: Time. The TV news clip has just seconds to grab our attention and deliver to us the news. But the Internet media consumer has more time to slow down, read, click, listen, etc.

So if you want the news basics in a hurry, TV news works. If you want more in-depth coverage, the Net may be the way to go - as we are about to see.

Next we are contrasting the TV news treatment with a story found on NPR's website. NPR's analysis is much more thorough, and also includes a video clip - which is comparatively more calm and rational in its tone and approach. (NPR's clip found here).

In addition to the video clip the NPR story offers significant background material, including a statement from the Humane Society, and a report from the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

As more information became known about this event, we can see the NPR report was updated: Starting at the bottom of the page and scrolling to the top, the story was updated four times as more information came in.

Finally, an interesting aspect of online news media is the additional perspective that comment sections can offer to stories. Oftentimes, the comment section sheds new light on a story, or brings out diverse ethical, legal and political issues that enrich a story's event coverage.

Of course comments can sometimes be just plain ridiculous, but most commenters appear serious in these social forums. The NPR story is found here.

So ... Take out your Venn Diagram worksheets (pg 34) and fill in the news event box.

Then fill in the styles, techniques, methods, layout, structure, etc. that the TV and the Internet news stories use to tell this killer whale tale. The middle circle is where they overlap - similarities the two stories share.

One similarity is the topic itself. One difference is TV uses emotion. Another difference - Internet stories have comment sections.

Cheat Sheet: (Don't read this)

What's the big deal about a thesis statement anyway: It's just your main point.

Same for summary/last paragraph: Just restate your main point, but try to do it in a slightly different way, or add a new fact or point.

Our main point seems to be shaping up along the lines of:

"Different types of media can cover the same event in different ways. TV does X. The Internet offers readers Y." Yeah, it's that simple.

Our story outline follows block format we already know:

• Intro
• TV
• Internet
• Summary

Just connect your paragraphs using sentences with transition words!

Freshman Lit: Comparing news coverage

Imagine that the events in "The Sniper" really happened - and you saw media coverage of this event from two sources.

First you saw a TV report, on the local evening news. Next, you went online and read a report from a news website.

1. How do you think these two stories would differ in their coverage? Be specific: First talk about the TV report and what it would feature.

Next, discuss how you think the Internet would approach the story - what would differences between the two sources be?

2. Would you rather watch TV news or read about it? Why? Be specific.

3. What are the common elements of any good news story? What qualities to good news stories share?

4. Why do different media present news so differently?

5. If you were a news reporter, what question would you ask the sniper if you had the chance to interview him?

6. Transitional words and phrases are the glue holding together good stories. They help you move from paragraph to paragraph - and from idea to idea. They help you kick things off, and sum things up.

To Do:
List ten transitional words and phrases: