Newspaper In Education serial story committee meets, sets future plans; download 2023 series by June 30

Jun 1, 2023

The Missouri Press Foundation's Newspapers In Education (NIE) serial stories annual meeting was on Wednesday, April 19, via Zoom. Missouri Press Foundation Director Michael Harper and Missouri NIE Coordinator Helen Headrick were joined by three attendees.

Headrick provided this recap following the meeting:

“I reported on the number of downloads for last year’s serial story, Generations of Missouri, which was 101. The 2021 story, Miles and the Monarch had 111 downloads. The current serial story, Inventors and Scientists, presently has 93 downloads. The closing date for this set of features ends on June 30, so this number will increase. (NNA members can download here: https://bit.ly/3CeuCXj)

“We are already at work on the 2024 serial story, which isn’t actually a story but a set of eight features about the total eclipse of the sun, which will occur in April 2024.

“Just as in 2017, the path of totality will go through Missouri, across the southern part of the state. This series will cover the science of eclipses, art, language arts and history.

“Linda Maxine Godwin will be writing many of these features. She is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and logged over 38 days in space. Dr. Godwin is a professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Missouri. She taught in the department for eight years after retiring from NASA in 2010.

“Attendees suggested ideas for content. Hannah Spaar would like NIE to focus on media literacy. Teaching children and adults how to evaluate news is vital to our industry. Local newspapers are valid sources of news, and this needs to be reinforced. Harper and I brainstormed some ideas for this.

“Tammy Witherspoon talked about girls who use NIE and asked about why there wasn’t much content on women. This is an area that we can address. She also spoke about developing ways to interact with NIE, such as having featured people willing to answer questions, via email or live. She mentioned having our Congressional committees report on Capitol Hill content. First–hand, first–person interaction with the students is an interesting approach that will need to be developed.

“If you have ideas or requests, please send them to me. We want NIE to work for you and your constituents, so we need your input.”

Email Headrick at hheadrick@mopress.com.