writinginthewild.com

"nothing natural about it!"

  • Home
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Teaching Materials
    • How to Succeed in an Online Writing Class: Plan, Revise, Discuss
    • Open Source and Free Software for Students
    • Policies for Advanced Composition
    • Bibliography Assignment for Freshman Composition
    • Family Literacy Assignment for Freshman Composition
    • Syllabus for Professional Writing
    • Local Information for Coles County, Illinios
    • Oral Report Assignment for Professional Writing
    • Peer Critique Assignment for Professional Writing
    • Reading Charts
    • Resume/Cover Letter for Introduction to Professional Writing
    • Self-Commentaries
  • Sitemap
  • About
RSS

FactCheckEd

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Ray Watkins
Comments off

FactCheckEd.org is an educational resource for high school teachers and students. It’s designed to help students learn to cut through the fog of misinformation and deception that surrounds the many messages they’re bombarded with every day. Our site is a sister to the award-winning Annenberg Political Fact Check, which goes by the Internet address FactCheck.org. and monitors the factual accuracy of what is said in the nation’s political arena.

FactCheckEd.org, About Us

I am always a little suspicious of these sorts of projects. First, there’s the red/white/blue ‘U.S.A.’ patriotic theme. Then there’s the implied ‘one left plus one right equals fair and balanced’ liberal nonsense. Still, I think this can be a useful way to help students move from fairly simple ways of thinking about issues to fairly complex ways.

Also, I have more and more respect for their sister site, FactCheck.org, which seems honestly willing to let the chips fall where they fall. Their coverage of the debates, for example, does a good job of contrasting the hype of the Democrats with the often outright lies of the Republicans. Neither strategy is respectable, but it’s a difference that does matter.

Clinton may have lied about sex, but the Bush regime has been dishonest and violent in an unprecedented fashion. They’re now the most unpopular administration since Nixon. The Democrats are feeling less timid, and are starting to stretch the truth. The truth makes the Republicans really nervous. Where are the real independents in all of this? Politics1 has this comprehensive list of everyone running, mainstream or otherwise.

Amplify

Categories: Language, Miscellaneous, Online Places, Union, War, Writing
Notice: This work is licensed under a BY-NC-SA. Permalink: FactCheckEd
Hillary and O’Bama: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
How Not to Use Powerpoint

  • Share this Article

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1 other subscriber

  • View James Ray Watkins's profile on LinkedIn
  • Book Cover Image

    Get my book at Southern Illinois University Press, Amazon, or Powell's Books.

     

    The C.C.C.C webpage, A Taste for Language: Literacy, Class, and English Studies includes a short podcast interview with me along with links to these reviews:

    ... by Victor Villanueva in CCC 62.4 (June 2011)
    ... by Chanon Adsanatham in Teaching English in the Two-Year College 38.3 (March 2011)
    ... by Scott McLemee in Inside Higher Education (17 Feb 2010)

    Note: you need to be a member of NCTE, and a subscriber to the relevant journal, to read the reviews by Villanueva and Adsanatham; the review by McLemee is available to the general public.

  • Reading

    • 'Change.edu' and the Problem With For-Profits - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education 2012/02/01
    • Jonathan Franzen: E-readers are 'damaging to society' - CSMonitor.com 2012/01/31
    • The Time is Now: Report from the New Faculty Majority Summit | Inside Higher Ed 2012/01/31
    • MIT Mints a Valuable New Form of Academic Currency - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education 2012/01/26
  • Recent Comments

    • Irais on Corruption Studies, University Sports Division
    • Merle Carthens on Family Literacy Assignment for Freshman Composition
    • Hellen Wright on Bibliography Assignment for Freshman Composition
    • Queens Studio Cleaning Service on Family Literacy Assignment for Freshman Composition
    • email cover letter on Reading Charts
  • Links

  • Categories

  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • WordPress.org
© writinginthewild.com. Proudly Powered by WordPress | Nest Theme by YChong