fbpx
Home Blog Page 1298

Lesson of the Day: ‘France Battles Over Whether to Cancel or Celebrate Napoleon’

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Lesson of the Day: ‘France Battles Over Whether to Cancel or Celebrate Napoleon’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Featured Article: “France Battles Over Whether to Cancel or Celebrate Napoleon” by Roger Cohen

When President Emmanuel Macron of France laid a wreath at Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb on the 200th anniversary of his death, he entered into a heated debate about whether to celebrate or reject the former emperor.

In this lesson, you will learn about the different perspectives through which people have come to understand Napoleon’s legacy and why his actions from hundreds of years ago are stirring up controversy today. Then, you will debate to what extent we should commemorate actions by historical figures that have been both celebrated and criticized.

What do you know about Napoleon Bonaparte? Take a minute to jot down words, phrases and images that come to mind when you hear his name or think about France in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Do you think of Napoleon as a hero, a harmful figure, both or neither? Why?

Watch the five-minute video “History vs. Napoleon Bonaparte,” from TED-Ed. The video asks the question: Did Napoleon save the French Revolution or destroy it? As you watch, record the two sides of the argument by taking notes in two columns: “saved the revolution” and “destroyed the revolution.”

After watching the video, which perspective do you agree with more? Why? If you’re not yet ready to take a side, what more do you want to know about Napoleon, his actions and the time period he lived in?

Read the article and then answer the following questions:

1. What was “risky” about President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to lay a wreath at Napoleon Bonaparte’s tomb?

2. What are the two main ways that Napoleon, and his legacy, are understood today in France?

3. What do those who are against celebrating Napoleon think should happen to his remains and Les Invalides, where his remains are held? What are their reasons for taking that position?

4. What is Napoleon’s connection to slavery in France and in French regions and former colonies?

5. Roger Cohen, the writer of the article, compares conversations happening now about Napoleon’s racism, misogyny and imperialism to similar ones happening in the United States about Thomas Jefferson and in Britain about Winston Churchill. In what ways are these figures similar and different? Can you think of other historical figures whom people are challenging in similar ways where you live?

6. In what ways has Mr. Macron encouraged people to look critically at France’s colonial past? Do you think his laying a wreath at Napoleon’s tomb goes against those actions? Why or why not?

7. How do Guadeloupians feel about Napoleon, according to Josette Borel-Lincertin, the Socialist president of the departmental council in Guadeloupe? Why?

8. Why has Napoleon become more relevant in France during the pandemic? What are the things that those who admire him value about him and his legacy?

Where do you land in this debate? Draw on the notes you took from the video in the warm-up activity, as well as what you learned from the article, to support your position. Then, in writing or a class discussion protocol, like a Fishbowl, respond to the following questions:

  • Do you think Napoleon should be celebrated for what he gave to France and the ways his legacy positively influenced the country? Or do you think the harm he inflicted as a “racist, imperialist and misogynist” should mean that he should not be celebrated nor revered?

  • In the article, a spokesman for the French government said: “To commemorate is to have your eyes wide open on our history and look it in the face. Even with respect to choices that today look questionable.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Do you think Mr. Macron, and other world leaders, should commemorate and pay respect to history, even if it reflects harmful choices and actions that carry a legacy today? Why or why not?

  • According to the article, “Mr. Macron wants to confront difficult history, because he believes that openness will heal.” Do you think confrontation has the ability to heal? Can you think of any examples from history to support your response?

Extension: Who is a figure in your country’s history who is polarizing to people today? The article mentioned Thomas Jefferson and Winston Churchill; are there other historical figures you know who people have both celebrated and criticized? Engage in a debate about this person’s legacy using the prompts above.

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.

Flaming Phone

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Flaming Phone

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

What do you think this image is saying? 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 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.

Word of the Day: disheveled

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Word of the Day: disheveled

: in disarray; extremely disorderly

_________

The word disheveled has appeared in 75 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 30 in “The Lessons of the Pirate League” by Rory Smith:

At first glance, the three men sitting around a table in the Embajadores restaurant in downtown Bogotá made unlikely companions. True, they were all roughly the same age, in their mid- to late-20s. And, as they traded tales of adventure, their accents would have given away that all three were Argentines, a long way from home.

But that is where the similarities ended. One member of the party was tall, blond and always immaculately dressed. Alfredo Di Stéfano was arguably the most famous athlete in South America; he would go on to become the most celebrated player of his generation. It was a status he took seriously.

His guests, on the other hand, must have bordered on the disheveled. Ernesto and Alberto were both doctors, but they had been traveling for months, tracing the spine of South America on a pair of dusty, beaten-up motorbikes, living out of their saddlebags, often sleeping under the stars. Their faces were bearded and their clothes worn.

Can you correctly use the word disheveled in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how disheveled can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try using multiple Words of the Day in a 50-word story that you submit to our Monthly Vocabulary Challenge.

Film Club: ‘For One Young Migrant, a Family Separation Nightmare’

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Film Club: ‘For One Young Migrant, a Family Separation Nightmare’

For the past three years, David and his son, Adelso, have communicated only by phone. Adelso is just one of about 5,500 children who was taken from a parent, as a result of the Trump administration’s family separation policy. They’re among more than 1,000 families who have been waiting for the Biden administration to follow through on a promise to reunify them. Now there is a new sense of hope as the Biden government starts to reunite a handful of families. But David and Adelso’s story — split between Guatemala and Florida — offers a firsthand look at the continuing psychological effects of separation … … and how the delay in reuniting families has in some cases encouraged people to make a desperate trek back to the U.S. David and his son spoke with us on condition that we not use their full names and conceal their identities. Since he was jailed and deported, David has kept a low profile in the countryside, evading the gangs he says extorted the trucking business he worked for and threatened his family before they fled to the U.S. David was deported to Guatemala after serving 30 days in a U.S. prison for the crime of illegal reentry. Neither David, his wife or their other children have seen Adelso since. “We can make America, once again, the leading force for good in the world.” Days after he took office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to reunify families separated under the Trump administration. “The re-establishment of the interagency task force and the reunification of families.” This week, as migrant apprehensions approached the highest level in 20 years, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would bring four mothers to the U.S. to reunite with their children. The U.S. will reunify another 35 or so families in the coming weeks as part of a pilot project, which David and Adelso might be a part of. But this is just a start, and the process for reunifying all families could take months, and even years. In David’s town of several thousand people, I found three other parents who were forcibly separated from their children under “zero tolerance.” Melvin Jacinto and his 14-year-old son tried to enter the U.S. to look for work that would pay for, among other things, his daughter’s hip surgery. Melvin and his wife Marta’s son, Rosendo, now lives with a relative in Minneapolis. They, too, rely on video calls to stay connected. The reality is that work is really scarce here. Melvin takes what jobs he can find, but the family relies on money sent from Rosendo, their teenage son, who’s now working in the U.S. We visited the homes of two other fathers who were separated from their kids at the border and were told they’d already made the return trip to reunite with them. She allowed me to speak with her husband on her phone. He said he reunited with his son in Fort Lauderdale, and was staying in a house with other migrants. We heard of other parents as well, deported to Guatemala and Honduras, who’d already made the perilous journey to reunite with their children. According to immigration lawyers, about 1,000 separated kids have yet to see their parents again. They’ve had to grow up fast, placed in the care of foster families or relatives. For the last three years, Adelso has been living with his aunt, Teresa Quiñónez, in Boca Raton, Fla. He’s been attending school, and plays soccer in his spare time, but he still struggles with the trauma of what happened in Guatemala and at the border. Unlike some of the separated kids, Adelso does have support. “Yes, definitely, I would go there in the morning, too Yeah —” His aunt Teresa came to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor, and later became a legal resident. She stepped in to give Adelso the care she didn’t have when she came to the U.S. as a teenager. “I can say that I understand his pain, not being with mom and dad. Living with someone familiar, somehow — still, it’s not the same.” Once a month, Adelso talks with a child psychologist at Florida State University’s Center for Child Stress and Health. The service is paid through a government settlement for families separated under the “zero tolerance” policy. Adelso is one of several children affected by “zero tolerance” that Natalia Falcon now works with in South Florida. “I’ve been working with Adelso and his family for a little bit over six months. We see a lot of sleeping issues. You know, they can’t sleep, they can’t fall asleep or the nightmares, right. We have to look at nightmares very delicately. Those recurring memories, flashbacks of that traumatic event as one of the main symptoms of P.T.S.D. Studies show that childhood trauma, left unaddressed, can negatively affect health and relationships long into adulthood. “I don’t want him to get depressed, taking him to that place, like, ‘Oh, I just want to be alone.’ That’s why I try to bring him out and do things with him.” After being separated from his dad, Adelso spent two months in a New York shelter with other separated kids before Teresa finally won his release. “I still remember seeing him coming out of the airport. His little face, like — it’s heartbreaking, and sometimes I see him now, he has grown so much in this, in this time that he came here, he has become so mature and that’s hard to see too because it’s like life pushing you to be that mature. You are not enjoying your being a child.” For now, Adelso and David continue to work with their lawyers and hope to be part of the first wave of reunions. As for David, he told us that he can only wait so long, and that he has also considered paying a smuggler to cross back into the U.S. and claim asylum again.

What’s Going On in This Graph? | May 12, 2021

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
What’s Going On in This Graph? | May 12, 2021

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, May 12, 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, May 14, 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.

We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!

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.

Coursera teams up with Goodwill® and Facebook Elevate to offer scholarships focused on helping impacted workers transition to digital jobs

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Coursera teams up with Goodwill® and Facebook Elevate to offer scholarships focused on helping impacted workers transition to digital jobs

By Leah Belsky, Chief Enterprise Officer, Coursera 

While the recession has nearly ended for high-wage workers, job losses persist for low-wage workers. To support learners most impacted by the pandemic’s economic downturn, we have joined forces with Goodwill®, the leading workforce provider in North America, as well as industry partner Facebook. Together, we are rolling out thousands of scholarships to help learners develop in-demand digital skills and get back to work. 

As part of Goodwill’s Rising Together™ coalition, Coursera and Goodwill will provide 2,000 scholarships to learners in need, including people impacted by the criminal justice system, veterans, and underserved high school students. Scholarship recipients will have free access to more than 5,000 courses as well as hands-on projects and Professional Certificates that teach job-relevant business, technology, and data science skills. 

“Our society is at a critical crossroads on our journey to build a resilient workforce and economic mobility for all Americans,” said Steven C. Preston, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. “The need for digital skills is more urgent than ever. Our partnership with Coursera and Facebook represents one critical step in closing the increasingly widening skills gap so that thousands of job seekers, particularly people of color and women, have access to continuous upskilling and learning opportunities so they can both obtain jobs and build their careers.”

Additionally, Coursera industry partner Facebook is offering 6,000 scholarships for its entry-level Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate through its community and learning platform Facebook Elevate. The scholarships are part of Facebook Elevate’s commitment to diversity and are designed to help Black learners enter the growing field of social media marketing. Entry-level Professional Certificates on Coursera, such as Facebook’s social media marketing program, help learners of all work and educational backgrounds enter well-paying, high-growth careers in just a few months.

“Companies across the globe are rapidly changing and seeking diverse talent with digital skills. The new Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate Program is a helpful tool for job seekers to grow their digital skills and prepare for the opportunities of tomorrow,” said Judy Toland, vice president and head of scaled solutions, global business marketing at Facebook.

The scholarships from Coursera and Facebook Elevate will be distributed through Goodwill workforce development programs, which provide job training and employment services, including career planning, resume guidance, and interview prep, as well as wrap-around supports, such as access to mentoring, child care, and transportation. For years, Goodwill has fostered learner success through its on-the-ground support for its communities. Although Goodwill’s physical job centers were—and some still are—impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and closures, it has continued supporting learners virtually, including using fully online career resources on Coursera. 

Accessible, job-focused learning programs, such as entry-level Professional Certificates, can help workers find good employment, earn a living wage, and contribute to the economic recovery in their own neighborhoods. We’re honored to partner with Goodwill and Facebook Elevate to equip learners of all backgrounds with the digital skills that unlock greater opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.

 

Alison Anniversary Interviews: Mike Feerick

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Alison Anniversary Interviews: Mike Feerick

Mike Feerick founded Alison on the principle that anyone, anywhere should be able to learn anything, at anytime, for free. The inception of Alison in 2007 as a social enterprise marked a radical shift in online learning. Motivated by Article 26 of the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights (“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free.”), Mike and the Alison team created an online learning platform that offered free education to people all over the world and which was both sustainable and scalable.

Now with over 20 million learners and 3.5 million graduates, Alison is a world leader not just in education, but empowerment. Our 2,500+ courses have enabled millions of people around the world to rise above their circumstances, to choose and pursue their own life path, and to achieve the goals they’ve set for themselves.

Hi Mike, tell us what inspired you to choose a career in education?

I’ve always believed that education underpins all human advances, whether that be political or economic, social or personal. Quality education is the cornerstone on which positive change is built and unfortunately, it has remained the privilege of a relatively small percentage of the world’s population. I founded Alison with the goal of bringing quality education to anyone who needed it, regardless of income, background, or any other factor.

Education is unique among progressive forces in terms of the disproportionate size of its positive effects. A little learning goes a long way. Whether as a teacher or a provider of free online learning, education remains the best way for an individual to have the best chance at changing the world.

What’s your single proudest achievement in the education sector?

My proudest achievement in education is founding Alison. I say that not just because of the sheer number of people we’ve empowered but because we were pioneers in the sector. When we started Alison, there was no one else providing free education like it. I had no lead from anyone else that it was possible, I had to figure it out for myself. I believed that you could provide free quality education through a sustainable and scalable model paid for by advertising and that the social impact could be massive.

I’m proud of having seen the opportunity and having gone for it, and for having done it because it was the right thing to do. When I graduated from Harvard I could have gone into Wall Street but I wanted to do something more socially-focused. You’ve got to do something meaningful with the time and the talent that you have. Alison hasn’t just helped millions individually, we also set the benchmark by showing people what was possible.

What has been the most important development you’ve witnessed in education in your professional lifetime?

The internet, hands down. Not just because of the breakthroughs in communication it has enabled but because of the free flow of knowledge and skills that has been made possible via these new communication tools, and the incredible changes that it has led to. The access to resources the internet has provided has allowed countless people to enhance their personal capacity endlessly. The internet is unequalled in terms of what it has done to enable and empower people.

Why is free education so important in addressing global inequality?

There’s so much inequality in the world. The statistic I repeat ad nauseum is that only 7% of the world’s population have ever been to college. People in the western world grossly overestimate how educated the world is and how accessible education really is. Free education is vital in order to empower masses of people at scale, equally, regardless of income, race, sex or gender.

Not only are millions of people being denied their right to an education, but at the same time, there are employers struggling to find people qualified to carry out jobs across a number of sectors. There’s a huge shortage of people for jobs and yet there are so many people around the world who could be doing this work if only they were empowered through education and free workplace skills training.

 

Why do you think that online learning has been such a game changer when it comes to democratising education?

It comes down to the cost of delivery: with online learning, education can be free, or rather, online you can enact a model by which advertising facilitates free education. Because free education isn’t actually free, it’s paid for by the learner’s value as a consumer and their potential purchase of a product or a service. This online model is already driving educational costs to zero and allows for all knowledge to become freely accessible and instantly available. We want to be a champion in making this potential happen. Just because something is possible does not mean it will automatically happen.

What in your opinion is the most pressing educational issue globally?

Unfortunately it’s the strength and resistance of the status quo in the education sector itself. People tend to underestimate just how huge a business education is (approximately $5 trillion per annum, according to UNESCO 2020) and how protected it is by people who want no change in the status quo.

Teachers often have the very purest motivation, but behind them are management and often investors who see a balance sheet and not an education scorecard. While many politicians want to increase access to education, they’re surrounded by people who are bought and paid for by the education industry and who, while they’ll talk about how they want change, don’t want to see any real change whatsoever. At Alison we’re driving down costs across the industry and putting knowledge out for free digitally. We know that by upsetting the old market we can create a new, much larger market of people accessing education who’ve previously been excluded.

If you were to recommend one online course to our Learners, what would it be and why?

Touch Typing is invaluable for all online or computer-based work. Over the course of your professional life it will save you months of time and, so often at work, it’s only 5 minutes that can make the difference!

What advice would you give to Alison’s Learners who are using free online learning to empower themselves?

Always keep learning. Education never stops, regardless of age or qualifications. By continuing to empower yourself, you also empower those around you – family, friends, community. The positive ripples of education are endless.

Lesson of the Day: ‘In a First, Researchers Discover a Pregnant Egyptian Mummy’

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Lesson of the Day: ‘In a First, Researchers Discover a Pregnant Egyptian Mummy’

Students in U.S. high schools can get free digital access to The New York Times until Sept. 1, 2021.

Featured Article: “In a First, Researchers Discover a Pregnant Egyptian Mummy” by Allyson Waller

Archaeologists and scientists in Poland were shocked to discover that a mummy that had previously been identified as a priest was in fact a pregnant woman.

In this lesson, you will learn about what researchers know about women in ancient Egypt, and also consider what more you would like to know.

In your journal, or with a partner, brainstorm what you know about ancient Egyptian mummification and women’s health in the past.

  • What do you know about mummification in ancient Egypt? What beliefs do you have about who was mummified: age, class, religious status or gender? Where did you get your information? Teachers? TV shows or movies? Books?

  • What have you learned in history about pregnancy and women’s reproductive health? Have you learned about birth control or pregnancy as part of history or social studies classes or texts?

  • Is it surprising to you that researchers recently discovered the first pregnant mummy? Why or why not?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. How did scientists at the Warsaw Mummy Project realize that their previous analysis of the mummy was incorrect?

2. What additional information were scientists able to piece together about the mummy? How did they draw these conclusions?

3. What makes this discovery so significant within the field of Egyptology? What is most interesting or surprising to you about the discovery?

4. How did the “mummy of a lady” become known as the mummy of a priest? Why do scientists think she ended up in a coffin of a priest?

5. What research has been done about women in studies of Egyptology? What questions does Alexander Nagel, a residential research associate in the anthropology department at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, have about women in ancient Egypt?

6. After reading the article, what questions do you have about women’s experiences, lives and death rituals during that time period?

Choose one of the articles or videos below to learn more about an aspect of women’s lives in ancient Egypt.

Smithsonian Video | What Hieroglyphics Say About the Women of Ancient Egypt

Ted-Ed Video | The Truth Behind Egypt’s Female Pharaohs and Their Power

National Geographic Article | This Ancient Egyptian Woman May Have Died in Childbirth

BBC Bitesize Article | The Weird History of Contraception

World History Encyclopedia Article | Women in Ancient Egypt

  • Based on what you read or watched, what questions do you still have? Why do you think we know so little about women’s experiences — particularly related to reproductive health — in ancient Egypt?

  • Do you think there are parallels to these gaps in knowledge as it relates to women’s health and experiences at other points in history? What do you think are the causes of these gaps in knowledge? What are some possible solutions?

  • What implications, if any, does this lack of information have on the present day?

Spend some time navigating the Warsaw Mummy Project. While you cannot explore the recently discovered pregnant mummy, you can look at an X-ray of mummified cats and a mummified child.

Before moving the mouse over the mummy to expose the X-ray image, write down what you notice about the mummies from the outside. Are you able to identify what kind of animal or person is mummified inside? What clues do you see about what it might be? What bones or body parts can you observe in the X-ray image of the cat or child?

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.

Word of the Day: benefactor

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Word of the Day: benefactor

: a person who helps people or institutions, especially with financial help

_________

The word benefactor has appeared in 68 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 31 in “Napoleon’s Brother Lived in N.J. Here’s What Happened to the Estate.” by Daniel E. Slotnik:

After Bonaparte left New Jersey for good in 1839, the estate passed to a series of owners, many of them not overly concerned with its preservation. The only surviving remnants include the gardener’s house, a bridge, old foundations and mounds of buried brick that had once been the tunnels.

The site will soon be opened to the public and the contemporary buildings on the property, erected by other owners, will become Bordentown’s new city hall and police station. The gardener’s house will be a museum dedicated to the estate’s history.

… Ms. Mead said that she hoped to open Point Breeze to the public by this fall. Some potential visitors had already expressed interest through donations to refurbish the property, Ms. Mead said, including an anonymous benefactor from France who contributed $10,000.

Can you correctly use the word benefactor in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how benefactor can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try using multiple Words of the Day in a 50-word story that you submit to our Monthly Vocabulary Challenge.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day has been provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Annotated by the Author: Writing Reader Responses

By
onlinefreecourse
-
0
Annotated by the Author: Writing Reader Responses

In our “Annotated by the Author” series, we invite New York Times journalists and winners of our student contests to comment on their work to help demystify the writing and research process.

Chances are, a teacher has asked you to write a response to a text at some point in your school career, whether it’s to a novel, a persuasive essay, a historical document or anything else.

But what makes a great reader response? How can you make your writing not only clear and engaging, but a true reflection of your own thoughts, beliefs and experiences?

Two teenage writers are here to show you. For this edition of our Annotated by the Author series, we asked two winners of our 2020 Summer Reading Contest, Judy Wang, a sophomore at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass., and Nina Nzekwe, a junior at Los Alamos High School in Los Alamos, N.M., to annotate their winning essays.

In this contest, we invite students to submit short written responses on a New York Times article, photo, video, graph or podcast of their choice each week throughout the summer. Our favorite responses are those that go beyond saying “I liked it” or “I hated it,” and instead take us on a journey through their experience of the text.

In the videos below, you’ll see how Judy and Nina did just that. They explain how, in their essays, they made personal connections to the pieces they chose, challenged the authors’ arguments, clearly demonstrated their thinking, and wrote with style and wit.

If you’re inspired by Judy and Nina’s pieces, you can submit a reader response of your own to our 12th Annual Summer Reading Contest, which begins June 11 and runs through Aug. 20.

Judy won Week 6 of our 2020 Summer Reading Contest with her essay on “The Phantom Handbag,” an article from the Style section about the disappearance of handbags from everyday life amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I actually stumbled upon the article while just scrolling through The New York Times and exploring the different sections,” she told us. “And I was intrigued by the title and specifically the word ‘phantom.’ And I was like, oh, like a handbag is a physical thing, but how could it be phantom at the same time?”

First, listen to Judy read her winning essay; you can follow along below or in this PDF. As you listen, annotate the text, paying attention to the words and lines that communicate Judy’s thinking about the article and anything else that stands out to you.

On ‘The Phantom Handbag’

Even in my most distant memory, Mama always carried this one bag. Covered in black and tan stripes, the Burberry tote looked more like a lunch box than a handbag.

I hated it.

For one thing, it was constantly overflowing — used tissue paper, bandages, hair ties, foundation, random files from work. After years of nagging my mom to get a lighter, more organized bag, the “leather-lunch box,” with its increasingly fuller belly, stayed.

In “The Phantom Handbag” Lou Stoppard reminisces about the time when a fashionable handbag was a necessity, and questions whether it will be relevant after all the suffering. In today’s time, handbags seem altogether impractical: too tiny for the grocery store, too dangly for cycling, too bothersome for protesting. Coupled with the fact that new normals often create shifts in buyer trends, the future of bag buying doesn’t seem all that promising. Like Ms. Hillier said, “there are other things they can spend money on.” Indeed, as people realize there are more to bags than “a status thing,” high-street bag sales might plummet, but the things carried in these luxurious containers will endure.

Though my mom’s bag was a quixotic choice, I now know that within the countless frivolous objects is the wholehearted love of my mother: tissues for my frequent water spills, bandages for cuts, and ties for my long hair. Whether handbags will see their destiny no longer matters, as the love that was carried with the nitty-gritty will remain constant.

Then, watch the short video above of Judy explaining some of the choices — or, as we like to call them, “writer’s moves” — she made in her reader response. As you watch, consider what you can learn from Judy’s essay that you might like to try in your own writing.

Nina won Week 8 of our 2020 Summer Reading Contest with her essay on “Why America Needs a Royal Family,” an Opinion essay arguing for separating ceremony and celebrity from politics.

What drew her to the Opinion section? Nina told us: “Persuasive writing is interesting in that you can analyze how the author is trying to persuade you, even if the premise is more far-fetched or kind of out there.”

First, listen to Nina read her winning essay; you can follow along below or in this PDF. As you listen, annotate the text, paying attention to the words and lines that communicate Nina’s thinking about the article and anything else that stands out to you.

On ‘Why America Needs a Royal Family’

The royal family’s private life often intersects with their royal duties. Similarly in America, the extracurricular activities of politicians often overlap with their political affairs as well. Seeing this, writer Jennifer Weiner asserts that America needs its own “royal family,” separately-elected representatives who can perform ceremonial tasks while representing America’s overall values.

Ms. Weiner juxtaposes the royal family’s personal affairs with a soap opera, stating that, “The problem with a real-time soap opera … is that very few people are equipped to be its stars.” She appeals to a sense of familiarity by comparing the lives of the royal family and, in larger part, politicians to television melodrama, showing the reader that these matters relate.

I largely disagree with her argument and would like to propose one of my own: We need to separate the ribbon-cutting and the baby-kissing from politics and remove them entirely. Even now, politicians’ personal affairs distract from more important political matters, and an American “royal family” would only compound this issue.

What Ms. Weiner is asking for reminds me of a mascot, such as the Nesquik bunny — a hollow symbol of the values of carefree fun that the company supposedly has while its parent company, Nestle, commits child-trafficking and slavery in West Africa to harvest cocoa. America needs a lot of things, and a mascot isn’t one of them.

Then, watch the video above of Nina explaining some the “writer’s moves” she made in her reader response. As you watch, consider what you can learn from Nina’s essay that you might like to try in your own writing.

1...1,2971,2981,299...1,687Page 1,298 of 1,687

Recent Posts