This graph, showing the new coronavirus as compared to other infectious diseases, appeared elsewhere on NYTimes.com. It uses a log scale, the same type of scale used for measuring earthquakes, where an increase of 1 on the log scale represents a 10-fold increase in the original scale.
By Friday morning, Feb. 28, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graph’s free online link, additional background and questions, shout outs highlighting student comments and headlines, and Stat Nuggets.
After looking closely at the graph above (or at this full-size image), think about these three questions:
What do you notice? If you make a claim, tell us what you noticed that supports your claim.
What do you wonder? What are you curious about that comes from what you notice in the graph?
The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order. Start with “I notice,” then “I wonder,” and end with a catchy headline.
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment online. Teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students say.)
3. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. By Friday morning, Feb. 28, we will reveal more information about the graph at the bottom of this post. Students, we encourage you to post an additional comment after reading the reveal. How does the original article and the moderators’ comments help you see the graph differently? Try to incorporate the statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets in your response.
More?
Read our 2019-20 introductory post, which includes the archives of past releases by topic and graph type.
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 newsletter so you never miss a graph, and add our 2019-20 “What’s Going On in This Graph?” live-moderated discussion Wednesdays to your Google calendar (2/26, 3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25, 4/1, 4/8).Graphs are always released by the Friday before to give teachers time to plan ahead.
Go to the A.S.A. K-12 website, which includes This is Statistics, resources, professional development, student competitions, curriculum, courses and careers.
Working full time for the U.S. State Department, Aleks Jarcev has mastered time management while earning his degree online.
Aleks Jarcev grew up spending endless hours playing computer games and even attempting to build them. Now, after three months in the MCIT Online program from the University of Pennsylvania, he is coding video games on his own.
As a teenager, Jarcev and his friends would bring their computers to each other’s houses, network them together and play interactive games. When it came time for college, he decided to pursue psychology. After college, he got a job working for the U.S. State Department and didn’t think that he would ever get back to his childhood love of tinkering with code. Then life took an unexpected turn: Jarcev’s job relocated him to Croatia. Once there, Jarcev reconnected with an old friend who was now working for a gaming studio as a software developer. Jarcev’s desire to design and create computer software was re-ignited.
Jarcev started poking around on ways he might study computer science. “I thought, ‘What could I do to try this out?’ So, I started looking around for some coding classes. Coursera sent me an email about the University of Pennsylvania’s online Master of Computer and Information Technology degree and I applied within days of receiving the email.”
With his background in psychology and experience conducting research in his current role, Jarcev felt comfortable with analytical thinking, but computer science was new to him. He started from the beginning, which is why a program designed for students without a computer science background such as the MCIT Online degree was a perfect fit.
The program’s flexible, online format also means that Jarcev can continue working full-time. Maximizing his time-management skills to stay on top of his MCIT Online coursework — he watches his lectures on Monday and Tuesday and works on his projects the rest of the week. The program’s community and collaboration through online forums helps Jarcev stay on track.
“Sitting down with people and actually looking at a problem and trying to see how we can fill each other’s misunderstanding is a great way to test my internal knowledge. I’m more active in this online format in terms of joining study groups and talking to TAs and being proactive about my learning than when I was on campus. I participate more in this online class format because it’s asynchronous – if I think of a question I can put it on Slack.”
Jumping into a completely new field isn’t easy, even when the program is designed to support people without a computer science background. Jarcev can remember the moment when it “clicked.” During the second assignment of his first introductory class, he had been working on a problem for more than two days and couldn’t figure it out.
“I pored over the problem again and again. But, then, it clicked. I finished the assignment that night because it was so exciting to understand it. It just flowed from there on. There are always new concepts that are added on that aren’t easy, but once you get over that initial hurdle you can really walk on your own two feet.”
Jarcev’s quick progression is the most rewarding part of the program, he said. When he started Introduction to Software Development, one of the first introductory courses, he had never written a complete line of code. By the end of the course, he had created a video game with his classmates. Soon after, he landed an internship with his dream company.
Jarcev’s advice to anyone considering the Penn MCIT Online degree is to take the leap. “If you are interested in this career, this is a viable option. It is a true commitment and a true university experience,” he said. “MCIT Online is a tight knit community. I have made friends and I have met people face-to-face. I feel like a Quaker and I think most people in the program do. The professors and TAs are all great, professional, and truly encouraging. The top-notch faculty are committed to your success, which is a great thing to experience.”
Jarcev hasn’t decided how he’ll use his degree just yet, though he is interested in joining a large technology company. As he progresses through his third semester, he is finding that the places he can go with computer science are vast. In less than two years, Jarcev went from someone who loved computer games but couldn’t write a single line of code to a capable software developer, excited about the new world that is now open to him.
The University of Pennsylvania’sMCIT Online degree is designed to take people with no computer science knowledge and prepare them to launch careers in software engineering or to innovate in their current fields.. Upon completion of the degree, on-campus MCIT alumni have gone on to earn jobs with competitive salaries at technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Bloomberg. Learn more about MCIT Online and the application process on Coursera. The Fall 2020 application deadline is on May 1, 2020.
3. What was the essay writer’s personal connection to the Year of Africa? How did he or she draw meaning from the events of 1960? How did those events affect the writer and the writer’s family?
4. What political or cultural impact did the Year of Africa have on particular African countries or the continent as a whole, according to Ms. Getachew or the essay writer?
5. What was the impact of colonialism on Africa, according to Ms. Getachew or the essay writer? How are the effects of colonialism still present on the continent?
6. What is the legacy of the Year of Africa for the continent and the world? What can we learn on its 60th anniversary?
Going Further
Choose one of the following activities.
1) Analyze and respond to a photo featured in the article.
David Adjaye, a Ghanaian-British architect and the designer of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, wrote in his essay:
It is fairly easy to describe what the eye sees, but it is the invisible aspects of a photograph that can transform our understanding of a person, a place and a moment in time. Photos show us how people in the past saw their world, and they help us imagine the future.
Photographs contain a diverse set of particulars, each of which can arouse new interpretations and themes. Photography arrived in Africa in the middle of the 19th century, when the medium was still experimental. The pictures here, taken a century later, hold fragments and memories of some of the most crucial events in the continent’s recent history.
They understatedly capture moments when countries were gaining independence. While the images themselves may be familiar or expected, it is their hidden layers that are the most captivating. They are meaningful time capsules of early nation-building — the making of monuments, buildings and infrastructure.
Such sights influenced future generations’ thinking about how to rebuild the continent in the context of emerging African modernity — continually documenting, and in turn constructing, history in a dynamic fashion.
Look through the photographs in the article. Select one and consider some of the following questions from our Critiquing a Photograph worksheet.
What is the subject of this image? What is the setting?
What draws you to this image? How does it engage the viewer?
What feeling or feelings does it evoke? What ideas or themes does it suggest? What mood or tone does it set?
What story does the image tell about the Year of Africa? What does it “show us about how people in the past saw their world” and how might it “help us imagine the future”?
2) Research an aspect of the Year of Africa through a deeper look at one of the 17 countries that gained independence in 1960.
In an interview in Times Insider, Veronica Chambers, the editor of “A Continent Remade,” describes her goals in compiling the ambitious article and notes:
What I hope that readers will take from it is a sense of possibility on the continent that I believe continues to this day. A sense of beauty, a sense of community. And I hope, interest: I hope they will continue to read some of the writers that we have. It’s really hard to capture a continent, and 17 countries and 50 pages, but I hope that it whets readers’ appetites for more.
The article and its many essays only scratch the surface of an incredibly complex year and the many complexities of the 17 countries they feature. Among the many rich areas for further research topics and themes and exploration, here are two to help you dig deeper.
Cultural legacy of the Year of Africa then and now: If you’re interested in the cultural ideas, themes and movements discussed in the essay, you might research one of the artists cited in the article, such as the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, or Sanlé Sory of Burkina Faso; investigate Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry, which generates about 2,500 movies a year, making it the second-biggest producer in the world; or learn more about trends in television, street art or music in Senegal.
The legacy of colonialism in Africa and a continuing struggle for full independence: The novelist Imbolo Mbue writes in her essay:
But from whom are we independent?
What good is independence in the age of neocolonialism? Europe still plays the flute and our government dances. We owe billions to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Western nonprofits arrive at a steady speed to improve our education and health care systems. Chinese interests have descended on our resources, taking away the livelihoods of many.
For additional New York Times resources, visit the Times Topic page for Africa, which includes up-to-date news on the continent, as well as links to archived articles.
Should every new government building in the nation’s capital be created in the same style as the Lincoln Memorial?
That’s what the Trump administration is considering in a new executive order. The Times reports:
A draft of an executive order called “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” would establish a classical style, inspired by Greek and Roman architecture, as the default for federal buildings in Washington and many throughout the country, discouraging modern design.
But the proposed order has drawn fierce opposition from architects, calling it a “complete constraint on freedom of expression.”
What do you think? Should every new government building look like the White House? Will it make the nation’s capital more beautiful? Or will it dampen architectural creativity and diversity in design? Who should decide how these buildings are designed?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to see more images of the kinds of classical buildings the order promotes, as well as the modern ones it wishes to discourage.
3. especially of leaves; located at the base of a plant or stem; especially arising directly from the root or rootstock or a root-like stem
_________
The word basal has appeared in eight articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 11 in “Ultra-Black Is the New Black” by Natalie Angier:
For artists, black is basal and nonnegotiable, the source of shadow, line, volume, perspective and mood. “There is a black which is old and a black which is fresh,” Ad Reinhardt, the abstract expressionist artist, said. “Lustrous black and dull black, black in sunlight and black in shadow.”
So essential is black to any aesthetic act that, as David Scott Kastan and Stephen Farthing describe in their scholarly yet highly entertaining book, “On Color,” modern artists have long squabbled over who pioneered the ultimate visual distillation: the all-black painting.
For an entire generation, MySpace was a gateway to the addictive social networking platforms that are now a ubiquitous feature of our lives. And for many members of that same generation, MySpace was a gateway to another inescapable part of modern life—writing code.
Since the site’s demise nearly ten years ago, certain totems of the MySpace experience have stuck in our collective memories—e.g. the top 8, auto-playing music, and, of course, Tom. But of all the features that made MySpace the cultural sensation that it was, the ability to style a profile page with HTML and CSS might have left the biggest footprint behind.
For tens of millions of people, tinkering with anchor and style tags to personalize a MySpace profile was an introduction to code as a means to solving a problem, to expressing something about yourself, or to just experimenting and seeing what happened. The flat-out necessity of having a customized profile brought forth an entire ecosystem of theme sellers and HTML tutorial writers, early pioneers in their own right who commodified their coding knowledge while convincing millions that writing code was something they could do too. So let’s look back on what made MySpace so code-friendly, and on how that friendliness eventually played a part in the site’s downfall.
A Place for Friends
In a 2009 New York Times review of the book Stealing MySpace,Michael Agger described MySpace as the “product of striving, nighttime Los Angeles, where you go to be famous, to be something new.” Its allure was in allowing users—the vast majority of whom were teenagers and young adults—to invent and express a three-dimensional, digital version of themselves, from their profile photo, to the eight friends they considered closest, down to the font and background images on their profile pages.
Changing the styling of your MySpace profile was a way to distinguish yourself from your friends. With a cursor depicting a favorite movie character, or font color combinations that recalled a favorite sports team’s colors, users could use every pixel on the profiles to set themselves apart.
MySpace wasn’t the only platform that allowed this kind of expression through code—Xanga, Tumblr, Pitas, and plenty of other platforms allowed users to customize their profiles with HTML and CSS. But as the most popular of the bunch by far, with over 110 million active users at its peak, MySpace was the standard-bearer, and the one that left the biggest legacy behind.
A Happy Accident
The code-friendly nature of MySpace was actually borne out a mistake. As Julia Angwin explains in her aforementioned 2009 book Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Site in America, MySpace’s lead developer quit one month after the site launched in 2003. This left the remaining team with a site written in Perl, which nobody else at the company was familiar with. In response, the team paid developers Gabe Harriman and Toan Nguyen to rewrite the entire site in Adobe’s ColdFusion.
However, while rewriting MySpace, Harriman and Nguyen made a major mistake—they failed to block users from adding their own HTML and CSS to their profile pages. In Angwin’s telling, the team’s mistake was what “allowed users to build colorful backgrounds and wallpaper and load them onto their MySpace pages. Suddenly teenage girls could decorate their MySpace page with hearts and glitter and smiley faces the same way that they were decorating their lockers and book bags.”
This mistake created security vulnerabilities and crippled page load speeds. According to Angwin, a panicking product manager alerted Harriman that “someone hacked our site” after first noticing a profile with altered font colors and background images. But the accidental feature set was an immediate hit with users. The company decided to hold off on patching up the mistake because “users come first, and this is what they want,” former MySpace staffer Jason Feffer told Angwin. The rest is history.
How Profile Customization Worked
The MySpace profile editor was freeform enough to allow inline style attributes, tables, embedded widgets built in Flash or JavaScript, and just about anything else that could be expressed in HTML. Taking advantage of this freedom was only possible with either a rudimentary understanding of HTML and CSS, or access to code snippets that could be blindly copied and pasted.
Embedding a Flash widget with the Myspace profile editor
The overwhelming hunger for customization among the userbase spawned an entire sub-economy of layout sellers, tutorial pages, and ad-heavy websites that provided code snippets.
The header of a profile customization page called “Graphics 4 myspace” (archived ca. 2006)
This was a legitimate income stream for many users who already had a bit of coding knowledge. For example, PatrickJS, a Y Combinator-backed founder who we previously profiled , told me his first experience as an entrepreneur was creating and selling MySpace layouts.
Many of these layout specialists did more than just create bespoke layouts for a fee—they sought to teach the fundamentals of HTML and CSS, empowering anyone who visited their profile to create and edit layouts themselves.
One such account was known as “Mack,” or the “Profile Master.” For a time, the Profile Master’s page was linked to directly from the “About me” section on Tom Anderson’s profile. Tom was every MySpace user’s first friend by default, so his profile was among the most visited pages on the most visited website in the United States [https://mashable.com/2006/07/11/myspace-americas-number-one/]. The prime real estate he granted to the Profile Master speaks to the fact that HTML and CSS were not just features—they were a foundational part of life on MySpace.
The “About me” section of Tom Anderson’s MySpace profile (archived ca. 2005)
The “Profile Master” account featured written tutorials on concepts like “Text Effects,” “Adding Borders,” and “JavaScripts” (sic). These articles are no longer online, but the rest of the archived “Profile Master” page suggests that they were intended to empower users to code profile changes themselves, rather than wait around for the Profile Master’s help.
A snippet of the Profile Master’s “About me” section (archived ca. 2005)
There were plenty of other layout pages that adopted this same approach, with names like “Myspace Layouts” and “Graphics 4 myspace.” Knowingly or not, these pages introduced a generation to some of the same web development skills that are now an invaluable asset in numerous career paths.
Another snippet of the Profile Master’s “About me” section (archived ca. 2005)
They might seem like silly relics of a slightly embarrassing fad now, but these pages were valuable educational resources for a population that may not have had access to such an education otherwise. Computer Science education was not as prevalent at the high school level as it is today, and Codecademy was years away from being founded. These pages were likely the most widely-accessible coding tutorials available to the general public at the time.
The Demise of MySpace
The sort of unrestrained self-expression MySpace enabled was great for users, but it wasn’t very appealing to advertisers. Brian Stelter’s 2008 New York Times profile of MySpace and its founders, written three years after the News Corp purchased the company for $580 million, focused heavily on the “big contrast between the chaos that is comfortable to many MySpace residents and the neatness that appeals to consumer product companies.” With the acquisition came increased pressure to turn a profit, and highly-customized profiles were seen as a hindrance to that.
Around the same time of the Times profile, Facebook began to emerge as a legitimate MySpace competitor. Its profile pages were (and still are) the polar opposite of MySpace—almost sterile in comparison. If MySpace was the equivalent of a high schooler’s decorated locker, Facebook was the nurse’s office.
Facebook also attracted a different demographic than MySpace, thanks in large part to its early policy of requiring a college email address to create an account. This combination of factors led to a platform that was seen as safer by advertisers, with a slightly older user base that had more money to spend. As Stelter put it at the time, “Facebook, with its cleaner interface and higher demographic profile, is also seen by some advertisers as a better bet.”
You know how the rest of the story goes. While Facebook used its reputation with advertisers to morph into the behemoth it is today, MySpace took half-hearted steps to mimic it—like doing away with code editing—before essentially vanishing.
After MySpace, no social network has been quite as code-forward. The limits of customizability on Facebook and Twitter profiles are your profile photo and cover image. On Instagram, it stops with the profile picture.
These social networking sites still allow for MySpace-level personal mythmaking, but without ever writing a line of code. Higher bandwidth and platform optimization around multimedia have made photos and videos the preferred form of expression. In other words, Boomerangs and Snapchat filters are the new glittering backgrounds and auto-playing Soulja Boy songs.
None of these platforms have opened themselves up to code editing, likely due to the same security and advertising concerns that led to MySpace’s demise. It’s fair to predict that they probably never will.
But even though coding and social networking are no longer kindred spirits, plenty of professional platforms have taken MySpace’s lead and leaned into code customizability. For example, email platforms like MailChimp and Customer.io, as well as blogging platforms like WordPress and Ghost, are much more powerful tools when you’re comfortable with HTML and CSS.
The MySpace generation has grown up, left the site, and entered an economy that’s hungry for the same web development skills that MySpace users got a taste of while fiddling with their profiles. So if you’re feeling nostalgic about a href and img src= being regular parts of your life, know that it’s easier than ever to brush up on those skills and take them further.
We’ll probably never see another social networking platform with MySpace’s combination of code-friendliness and overwhelming popularity again. That is, unless you build the next one.
Note: This article was originally posted in the Summer of 2018.
Elham Arabi is a lead instructional designer and learning consultant at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She advocates using evidence-based approaches in learning design and in her collaborations with subject-matter experts. Elham also works as a consultant with students who have learning challenges. She incorporates science of learning how to learn in her course designs. She is also doing her PhD in Interaction and Media Sciences. She is using practice-based research approach for her dissertation to bridge the gap between science and practice.
Previous research has identified didactic instruction an effective approach for learners who lack prior knowledge. The evidence suggests that the degree of guidance should vary with the age of learners. Direct instruction can be more beneficial for younger learners (e.g., elementary and middle school children), whereas older ones gain more with non-directive guidance or guided discovery (1). Different research findings indicate that guided discovery is more effective than lecture-based instruction in that learners develop a deeper understanding of concepts and their underlying structure.
In their study, Schwartz and colleagues (2), proposed an alternative approach to didactic instruction in teaching simple concepts in classes. They argued that didactic teaching undermines the processes of discovery, but withholding the explicit instruction and allowing learners to discover by themselves enhance deep learning and increase transfer. They conducted two experiments to investigate this theory.
In experiment 1, the authors compared two groups of students: the first group invented solutions with contrasting cases to come up with the ratio of density before receiving instruction on the concept of density; the second group received the instruction first and then practiced with the same cases. The contrasting cases in this activity consisted of three levels of structure: 1) surface features which were irrelevant to the concept, 2) density or deep structure, and 3) ratio structure, which was the invariant under transformation across all the levels.
The authors conducted the study in two phases. In phase 1, Day 1, the first group received a directive asking them to invent an index and some examples of it. They were then asked to do the contrasting cases worksheets. The second group received the one-page instruction on the concept of density, with its formula and some worked examples. In Day 2, both groups were tested on the recall of information by drawing the structures in the worksheet within 10 minutes. The authors found that the second group did not recreate the deep structure, which indicated their understanding of the ratio structures, while the first group performed better. Further, both groups performed the same in surface feature recall.
“Why I Won’t Teach My Son ‘Black Codes’” is a four-minute animated film that touches on themes of race and parenting. It profiles Debra, a new mother, who describes her hopes and fears about raising a black son in America. Although her son is just 1, she knows soon he will be perceived as a “big black boy.”
Can she overcome the “systems” she feels are in place to oppress her young son?
Students
1. Watch the short film above. While you watch, you might take notes using our Film Club Double-Entry Journal (PDF) to help you remember specific moments.
2. After watching, think about these questions:
What questions do you still have?
What connections can you make between this film and your own life or experience? Why? Does this film remind you of anything else you’ve read or seen? If so, how and why?
3. An additional challenge | Respond to the essential question at the top of this post: What challenges do parents face in raising and protecting their black sons in America?
4. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
5. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
• Read our list of practical teaching ideas, along with responses from students and teachers, for how you can use these documentaries in the classroom.
• Want to make sure you never miss a film? Add Film Club to your Google calendarto receive weekly reminders and see our full publishing schedule for the 2019-20 school year.
Hoping to move past one of the biggest scandals in baseball history, the Houston Astros are turning to one of the most accomplished managers on the market: Dusty Baker.
The Astros announced on Wednesday that they had hired Baker, who has 22 years of major league managing experience, to replace A.J. Hinch, who was fired along with General Manager Jeff Luhnow over the sign-stealing scandal deployed by the Astros in 2017 and 2018.
…. Baker has been known much more for his gregarious personality and people skills than his skills as a baseball tactician. But at each of his previous stops, Baker’s teams saw immediate improvement in his first season as manager. A tough task lies ahead with the Astros, who still do not have a general manager.
Welcome to our fifth writing unit of the school year. Below you will find a detailed description of each element, which you can customize to make your own unit. To learn more, visit our writing curriculum overview.
Unit Overview
Right now, the concept of “student voice” is having a moment.
Thanks to the work of people like Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg, the Parkland students and the teenagers in the streets of Hong Kong, the power young people can wield when they stand up for a cause is clear. And the fact that many members of Gen Z, the most ethnically and racially diverse generation the United States has ever seen, will vote for the first time this year, makes those voices even more critical. As the Times video above puts it: “We wanted to know what young Americans think. After all, they’ll get to decide the direction of this country.”
On our site, we’ve been offering teenagers ways to tell the world what they think for over 20 years. Our student writing prompt forums encourage them to weigh in on current events and issues daily, while our Student Editorial Contest has offered an annual outlet since 2014 for formalizing those opinions into evidence-based essays.
Now we’re bringing together all the resources we’ve developed along the way to help students figure out what they want to say, and how to say it effectively.
Here is what this unit offers, but we would love to hear from both teachers and students if there is more we could include. Let us know in the comments, or by writing to LNFeedback@nytimes.com.
Start With Our 500-Plus Prompts for Argumentative Writing
How young is too young to use social media?
Should students get mental health days off from school?
Is $1 billion too much money for any one person to have?
Teachers tell us their students love looking at these lists, both to inspire their own writing and to find links to reliable sources about the issues that intrigue them. In fact, every year we get many contest submissions that grow directly out of these questions. Several, like this one, have even gone on to win.
But even if you’re not participating in our contest, you might use these prompts to invite the kind of casual, low-stakes writing that can help your students build skills — in developing their voices, making claims and backing them up with solid reasoning and evidence.
And, if your students respond to our most recent prompts by posting comments on our site, they can also practice making arguments for an authentic audience of fellow students from around the world. Each week we choose our favorites to honor in our Current Events Conversation column.
Find Lesson Plans on Every Aspect of Argument Writing
Over the years, we’ve published quite a few lesson plans to support our Editorial Contest — so many, in fact, that we finally rounded them all up into one easy list.
Understanding the difference between fact and opinion
Analyzing the use of rhetorical strategies like ethos, pathos and logos
Working with claims, evidence and counterarguments
Helping students discover the issues that matter to them
Breaking out of the “echo chamber” when researching hot-button issues
Experimenting with visual argument-making
Teach and Learn With Mentor Texts
You probably already know that you can find arguments to admire — and “writer’s moves” to emulate — all over the Times Opinion section. But have you thought about using the work of our previous Student Editorial Contest winners as mentor texts too?
Use the work of teenage winners to help your students identify “writer’s moves” they can borrow: Teachers have told us there is no better way to prepare students to enter our contest than to have them examine the work of previous winners. On our current site, you can find the essays of the top winners and the runners-up from 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. Invite your students to read one and answer the questions we pose in all our Mentor Texts columns: “What do you notice or admire about this piece? What lessons might it have for your writing?” Then, have them borrow one or more of this student’s “writer’s moves” and imitate it in their own work.
Get Practical Tips From Our Related Videos and Webinars
This year we have both high school and middle school categories, and you can find all the information you need, plus the entry form, here.
As always, all student work will be read by our staff, volunteers from the Times Opinion section, and/or by educators from around the country. Winners will have their work published on our site and, perhaps, in the print New York Times.
