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Lesson of the Day: ‘When You Love, and Loathe, Watching the N.F.L.’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘When You Love, and Loathe, Watching the N.F.L.’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until September 2021.

Featured Article: “When You Love, and Loathe, Watching the N.F.L.” by Kurt Streeter

The N.F.L.’s new season began on Sept. 10. But this sports year is unlike any other. Kurt Streeter, a Sports of the Times columnist, contemplates the return of professional football to a nation living on a raw and perilous edge and asks: Is this the distraction we really need?

In this lesson, you will examine the role of sports in society, explore the challenges facing the N.F.L. and other sports leagues this year, and consider whether fans should continue to watch games during a national crisis. In the Going Further activity, you will imagine what you would do if you were the N.F.L. commissioner and how you would lead a professional sport during these tumultuous times.

Before reading, write and share your views on the following five statements.

For each statement, state whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree or strongly disagree. Then discuss with your classmates or explore in writing why you think the way you do.

(Note to teachers: Ideally, you might do this as a Four Corners activity, but in a time of social distancing and remote learning, you might simply ask students to stand after you read a statement and each of the four response options.)

  • I am an avid sports fan.

  • Sports are essential during a time of national crisis to provide comfort and to restore a sense of normalcy.

  • Professional athletes should stick to playing their sport and not express their views on political or controversial issues.

  • Sports is just a game — and should not be played a during time of pandemic and protests.

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. The article begins, “It was the return of a lost love.” Why do you think the author chose to describe the start of a sports season this way? How does Kurt Streeter, the author, explain the deep connections between fans and sports — especially at this time? Do any of his descriptions resonate with your own experiences?

2. Yet Mr. Streeter also writes, “The return of a lost love comes with risk.” In your own words, explain these risks and why he “loved watching the games, but I loathed it, too.”

3. What are some of the challenges the N.F.L. faces, according to the author? Which do you find most significant? Why does the coronavirus pandemic put players in football at greater risk than those in other sports?

4. Mr. Streeter provides many rhetorical questions, including:

Is the return of our most popular sport sending a false alert that we have almost conquered the virus?

Will the deep desire for normalcy, heralded by the return of the N.F.L., add to our lack of focus, our fog of denial — and the difficulty we are having in our efforts to tame not only the virus, but racism?

Did the league’s sudden, large-scale embrace of Black Lives Matter have the gloss of a put-on?

Is the N.F.L. joining in the message? We’re back. We can do this. The normal days of old are just around the bend.

Choose one to answer. What would you say to Mr. Streeter, if the two of you could have a conversation?

5. What was the role of sports during previous national crises — like the Spanish flu epidemic and World War II, according to the article? How can we apply the lessons from those experiences today?

6. The column is not written in the language of a typical sports article — it is movingly personal, often poetic and deeply philosophical. What lines were most surprising, memorable or thought-provoking and why?

7. The article ends:

The N.F.L. is back, but should we still love it?

How would you answer Mr. Streeter’s final query? Does reading the article change any of your views from the warm-up activity? If so, why? Are you more or less likely to watch the N.F.L. or other professional sports now?

1. Share your thoughts.

Answer some or all of the following prompts.

  • What is it like to be a sports fan in 2020? How hard was it to go without professional sports during the lockdown? What did you do instead? What has the return of sports meant to you? Now that they are back, are you as avid a fan as before?

  • Mr. Streeter describes the challenges in returning to something you love during this time of pandemic and protests. Are there other things in your life you find hard to return to? If yes, tell us why.

  • What is your opinion on some of the recent political stances taken by professional athletes — such as N.B.A. players wearing messages of social justice on their jerseys or the boycott of games by sports teams following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.? Do you think athletes are too political these days? Or not political enough?

  • If you were the commissioner of the N.F.L., or of any other pro sports, how would you address the issues and concerns raised in this article? Would you have canceled the season? How would you have responded to protests for racial justice? The pandemic? What protocols would you put in place to ensure player safety? To provide fans with better, more meaningful experiences?

  • What are your predictions for the season? Do you think the N.F.L. can get through the season without a major stoppage? Who do you think will be the Super Bowl champs?

2. Conduct further research.

A) Learn more about an athlete, past or present, who took a political stand.

To find an athlete to explore, you might start with the Times Sports Topics page, or these Times articles:

Or you might research past sports icons like Muhammad Ali and his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War or learn why John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists in a Black Power salute during a medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics.

Perhaps you would be more interested in recent examples, like quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice; Megan Rapinoe and her teammates fighting for equal pay for the United States women’s national soccer team; the W.N.B.A. superstar Maya Moore leaving her sport so that she could try to help free a man she believed was unjustly convicted; or, just this month, the tennis champion Naomi Osaka wearing masks to the court bearing the names of Black people who were victims of violence.

What issues or causes did they fight for? What was the reaction of the sports world and the public to their stance? What lessons from their struggle can we apply today?

OR:

B) Research the role of sports during a moment of national crisis in the past, such as the 1918 influenza pandemic, World War I, World War II or after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

What specific challenges did the sporting world face during the crisis? How did sports help to bring communities and the nation together? How can we apply the lessons from those experiences today?

Synthesize your findings in a one-pager and share with your class.

About Lesson of the Day

• Find all our Lessons of the Day in this column.
• Teachers, watch our on-demand webinar to learn how to use this feature in your classroom.

Hands

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Hands

What message do you think this illustration is trying to convey? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related Opinion essay to see what it is about.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Word + Quiz: gourmand

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Word + Quiz: gourmand

: a person who is excessively devoted to or fond of eating and drinking

_________

The word gourmand has appeared in seven articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 31 in the obituary “Louis Nirenberg, ‘One of the Great Mathematicians,’ Dies at 94” by Kenneth Chang:

Louis Nirenberg, a mathematician who explored the complexities of equations commonly used by physicists and engineers, and who shared the 2015 Abel Prize, a top math award modeled after the Nobels, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 94.

…. Dr. Nirenberg struggled with cancer and other maladies in recent years, but, as a dedicated gourmand, he insisted on continuing to go out to restaurants.

_________

What’s Going On in This Graph? | Sept. 23, 2020

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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Sept. 23, 2020

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 2021.

This graph, showing the times of the 50 fastest U.S. women’s marathoners for 2000 to 2019, appeared elsewhere on NYTimes.com.

By Friday morning, Sept. 25, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graph’s free online link, additional background and questions, shout outs for student headlines, and Stat Nuggets.

After looking closely at the graph above (or at this full-size image), answer these four questions:

  • What do you notice?

  • What do you wonder?

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.

2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)

3. Below the response box, there is an option for students to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to their response which they can share with their teacher.

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, Sept. 25, we will reveal more information about the graph, including a free link to the article that included this graph, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

More?

• See all graphs in this series or a slide show of 60 of our favorite graphs.

• View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

• Learn more about the “Notice and Wonder” teaching strategy and how and why other teachers are using this feature from our on-demand webinar.

• Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

• Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Do Your Parents Overpraise You?

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Do Your Parents Overpraise You?

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 2021.

Do you regularly receive praise from your parents for your accomplishments — big and small? Do you ever think it’s too much?

Do you think there’s a downside to praise — or can one never get enough approval and validation?

In “Are You Overpraising Your Child?,” Paul L. Underwood writes:

“I love it!”

It’s a phrase I’ve uttered countless times, typically in response to a new offering from our family’s artist-in-residence, also known as my 6-year-old daughter. I’m being honest — it’s a treat when she dedicates her work to me, rather than the parent with higher approval ratings (her mother, my wife), and I take a fatherly pride in her choice of colors and attention to detail. But it turns out, I’m also undermining her efforts, by putting myself, and my approval, at the center of the conversation.

It seems like the right thing to say. After all, how many times have we parents been told that it’s better to pre-emptively praise (and reward) the behavior we want our children to demonstrate, rather than waiting to condemn them for misbehaving. But, as leading researcher Wendy S. Grolnick, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., puts it, praise also has a dark side.

This is because praising the outcome (“It’s beautiful!”) or the person (“You’re so smart!”) encourages the child to focus on those things. She might feel performance anxiety. He might question the conditionality of your love. (“If I’m a smart boy when I do this, I must be a stupid boy when I don’t.”) He might become more motivated by a parent’s pleasure than by the process that led to it. Future crayon masterpieces might become less fun for him to create — or disappear altogether when they’re not as highly praised.

Mr. Underwood presents six research-based approaches and strategies to parents on how to praise — or not praise — their child:

  • Praise the process, not the person.

  • Pay close attention to your child’s process.

  • Praise what your child has control over.

  • Don’t praise by comparison.

  • Beware of praise inflation.

  • Rather than praise, offer descriptive feedback.

The article concludes:

I’m lucky. Our daughter might not be tucking any colorful drawings into her backpack these days — in-person school in our hometown is delayed for at least a month, maybe longer — but spending long days at home allows her progress as an artist to proceed apace. Which means more masterpieces for me to praise. I don’t always get it right — “I love it!” is still my immediate, and authentic, response — but I’m working on it. And so is she.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • Do your parents overpraise you? Or do you find yourself wishing they would offer more praise and approval?

  • How do you feel when you receive praise from your parents, or others? In what ways do compliments and praise positively affect your self-esteem, character and growth? In what ways do they hurt?

  • Do your parents have pet compliments, like “good job” or “I love it”? What kinds of praise and validation would you most like to receive?

  • Do you agree with Mr. Underwood’s contention that too much praise can undermine children’s independence and self-confidence? Have you ever felt “pressure to live up to [your] parent’s praise”?

  • What do you think of Mr. Underwood’s six recommendations for the overpraising parent? Does his statement, “this is because praising the outcome (‘It’s beautiful!’) or the person (‘You’re so smart!’) encourages the child to focus on those things” resonate with your own experience?

  • What other recommendations and advice would you give to parents or anyone who gives too much — or too little — praise?

  • Are you good at giving praise yourself? What kinds of compliments do you like to give? Do you think you will be an overpraising parent?

About Student Opinion

• Find all our Student Opinion questions in this column.
• Have an idea for a Student Opinion question? Tell us about it.
• Learn more about how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Lesson of the Day: ‘The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “The Complex History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement” by Jennifer Schuessler

This past August, the United States celebrated 100 years of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which established American women’s right to vote. But we’re discovering that the traditional telling of the women’s suffrage movement — that it began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, was led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and ended with all women getting the right to vote in 1920 — is not the whole story.

Three museum exhibits seek to broaden that narrative. Though this article was written in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic had canceled the many yearlong exhibitions, parades and conferences planned to celebrate the centennial of suffrage, reading about these exhibits can offer a fuller picture of the fight for the 19th Amendment and teach us about the “messiness, complexities and compromises involved in any movement for social change.”

In this lesson, you’ll learn the lesser-known history of the struggle for women’s voting rights, including that of important activists, strategies and divisions in the movement.

To further explore the themes and ideas raised in this article, teachers can use our resource “19 Ways to Teach the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment,” which includes activities to help students learn a more complete history of the women’s suffrage movement, make connections to current events and find ways to “finish the fight.”

What do you know about the women’s suffrage movement in the United States?

Create a K/W/L chart to show what you know. In the left column, write down everything you think you know about how women won the right to vote, whether ideas, facts, names, places or anything else.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some prompts to get you thinking:

  • What period in history did the movement take place in? What was the social and cultural climate of the United States at that time?

  • How and why did the movement begin?

  • Who were some of the key figures in the movement?

  • What strategies did suffragists use to fight for their right to vote?

Then, in the middle column, write down what you want to know about the suffrage movement.

Read the article, then answer the following questions. As you read, you might annotate the text, using one color or symbol to mark what you already knew about the women’s suffrage movement and another to mark what you learned.

1. What are some of the common myths and misconceptions about the women’s suffrage movement that are being excavated in these exhibits? Why is it important to correct them?

2. This article says that suffragists staged “a dogged fight for the vote.” What evidence and artifacts collected in these museums support this idea?

3. Kate Lemay, one of the exhibition’s curators, says that the Voting Rights Act of 1965, not the 19th Amendment, is the “true conclusion” of the fight for women’s voting rights in the United States. What does she mean by this?

4. Why do you think these exhibits chose to highlight the stories of lesser-known activists like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin and Mabel Ping-Hua Lee? What do their stories tell us about the women’s suffrage movement?

5. Take a moment to closely study the images in the article. Taken together, what story do they tell about the women’s suffrage movement? What is interesting or surprising about that story?

6. Each of the exhibits profiled in this article ended in a different way. Choose one of them to examine. What message does its ending send about the 19th Amendment? What does it say about the role of voting today? What do you think of the curators’ decision to conclude in this way?

7. Return to the K/W/L chart you created in the warm-up and add your key takeaways from the article to the “Learned” column. In what ways do these lessons confirm, challenge or add to your previously held ideas about the women’s suffrage movement?

Show what you’ve learned about the women’s suffrage movement by trying one of these multimedia projects from our related teaching resource, “19 Ways to Teach the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment.”

  • Build a visual history of the women’s suffrage movement. This might take the form of a poster, comic strip, TikTok video, timeline or anything else that illustrates the important events, activists, themes and artifacts of the movement.

  • Reflect on what democracy means to you. Share your thoughts on the significance of voting and civic engagement in our recent Student Opinion question “Is Your Generation Doing Its Part to Strengthen Our Democracy?” What lessons from the fight for the 19th Amendment can you apply to politics today?

  • Create an infographic debunking common myths. On paper, or using a program like Venngage, create a piece that corrects the myths, misunderstandings and incomplete truths about the women’s suffrage movement.

  • Make a found poem or blackout poem. Use the words and images in the article to create a poem that speaks to the major themes and ideas of the complex history of the women’s suffrage movement.

  • Interview a woman about the right to vote. Talk to someone in your family or community about the first time she voted. What did it mean to her? What role does political participation play in her life? What issues in the upcoming election are most important to her and why?

Word + Quiz: aphasia

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Word + Quiz: aphasia

: inability to use or understand language (spoken or written) because of a brain lesion

_________

The word aphasia has appeared in four articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on June 9 in “Connecticut Hospitals Ordered to Allow Visitors for Patients With Disabilities” by Sheri Fink:

In March, fears rose that hospitals would run out of ventilators to help critically ill patients breathe. Mr. Severino released a bulletin putting states and hospitals on notice that protocols to decide which patients would — and would not — receive ventilators could not discriminate on the basis of disabilities, race or age, among other factors.

In April, his office resolved civil rights complaints against Alabama and Pennsylvania for ventilator triage guidelines that the office deemed discriminatory toward older patients and those with disabilities.

Mr. Severino announced a separate resolution on Tuesday that his office had reached with Hartford Hospital in Connecticut over a 73-year-old patient with Covid-19, Joan Parsons, who had difficulty speaking with medical providers because of a brain condition known as aphasia. The hospital had initially barred Ms. Parsons’ family members from being present to assist her, but it later allowed them to join her, according to one of her daughters, Susan Fandacone.

_________

Fall Fun

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Fall Fun

Along with many other museums in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History is reopening this month, and it has been reimagined to make visitors feel safer in the era of Covid-19.

But September is always a month of beginnings, even in a year where nothing is normal. What fall pleasures, large or small, are you looking forward to? Why?

Post it in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

About Picture Prompts

• Find all our Picture Prompts in this column.
• Have an idea for a Picture Prompt? Tell us about it.
• Teachers, discover more ways to teach with our Picture Prompts and learn how to use our free daily writing prompts for remote learning.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Coursera Launches Two New Entry-Level Professional Certificates in Partnership With Salesforce, SV Academy, and IBM

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Coursera Launches Two New Entry-Level Professional Certificates in Partnership With Salesforce, SV Academy, and IBM

By Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer, Coursera

Over half of the active workforce in the US does not have a college degree. This group has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, experiencing more than double the job loss rates compared to college-educated workers. 

Coursera has teamed up with Salesforce, SV Academy, and IBM to launch two new entry-level Professional Certificates to help these groups and others affected by the pandemic. Both programs will prepare learners for well-paying, in-demand roles projected to grow over the coming years. The certificates do not require any specific education or work experience, making them accessible to learners of all backgrounds. Starting today, learners can enroll in these programs for $49/month. 

  • Sales Development Representative (SDR) Professional Certificate from Salesforce and SV Academy — This five-course program integrates content from Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform, to prepare learners for a career in sales development. Nearly half* of open sales representative roles don’t require a four-year college degree in the US. The certificate covers SDR basics, including how to prepare a professional portfolio and develop a personal brand, the Conversational Selling methodology, and tech tools. 

“SV Academy is proud to partner with Salesforce to bring an in-demand career pathway to Coursera,” said Rahim Fazal, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at SV Academy, who does not have an undergraduate degree. “As the tech industry continues to grow and innovate, employers are increasingly in need of entry-level sales talent to develop new business and revenue. This certificate program introduces a brand new way for learners to access these exciting career opportunities by pairing human-centered skills with the latest technologies.”

  • Data Analyst Professional Certificate from IBM —  Data analytics roles offer a median wage of $65,000*. With a mix of theoretical coursework and hands-on labs, the program prepares learners for this lucrative career within nine months. Upon completing the eight courses, learners will have the skills to help companies make smart, data-driven decisions, and a portfolio of projects to share with potential employers.

“We have had great success with IBM Data Science and AI Professional Certificates on Coursera,” said Leon Katsnelson, Director and CTO of IBM Developer Skills Network. “Because skills are the new currency, it’s important to make acquiring in-demand skills more accessible for students and workers – regardless of their backgrounds. Offering the new IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate on Coursera will help learners develop skills and gain practical experience for working with data and ultimately, preparing for their next career steps.”

The unparalleled knowledge and experience of our industry partners make them top educators in their domains. We’re proud to welcome leaders like Salesforce and SV Academy to the Coursera partner community and expand our relationship with IBM to bring job-relevant credentials to learners everywhere.  

For more information, please visit https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates. 

* Source: Burning Glass Technologies. “Labor Insight™ Real-Time Labor Market Information Tool.” Accessed September 3, 2020.

 

Alison & the Ismaili National Council UK – a partnership in community learning

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Alison & the Ismaili National Council UK – a partnership in community learning

The Ismaili National Council UK is one of a variety of organisations around the world using Alison to bring online education and skills training to its members. Nymeth Ali, a member of the Ismaili community in the UK, tells us about the benefits of using Alison for community learning.

The Aga Khan Education Board (AKEB), a central institution within the Ismaili National Council UK, aims to support and promote learning as a means of improving the quality of life for all members of its community, regardless of background, age or current education level. For support in providing the community with upskilling and training opportunities, the AKEB sought a partnership with Alison.

 

Having researched a number of potential partners, the AKEB opted to work with Alison due to their extensive range of courses and their bespoke interface which tracks a learner’s progress, enabling us to provide support to individual learners.

With Alison, AKEB were also able to provide certificates and diplomas free of charge to learners in the community when they fulfilled a set of criteria as defined by the team. Learners also have the option to build their curriculum vitae via the Alison platform which is an invaluable skill to share with community members.

The partnership with Alison has been beneficial to the community, particularly during these challenging times which has seen an increase in the number of learners embarking on their learning journey with the AKEB and Alison. Alison have been readily available to offer support, providing an immediate response when the UK went into lockdown.

 

Since launching the partnership, over 400 learners have browsed the website and over 100 learners have started courses, with 30 certificates already distributed. The learner profile is 50/50 male/female and approximately 30% are aged 36 to 45 years old. Most of the learners are based in the wider London region, however we have learners in Birmingham, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and other locations. The courses that have been taken up are in the fields of health and well-being, computer science, programming, leadership, project management and languages. 

Education is an ongoing process and, with Alison’s support, the community is in a strong position to continuously introduce its members to online learning.

by Nymeth Ali (Ismaili National Council UK)

Click here to learn more about how your business/organisation can benefit from an educational partnership with Alison.

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