Every High School Student Can Save a Life
This letter, by Alexander Klee, 16, of Amity Regional High School in Woodbridge, Conn., is one of the Top 9 winners of The Learning Network’s Student Open Letter Contest, for which we received 8,065 entries. You can find the work of all the winners, as we publish them, here.Dear Governor Lamont,From cutting taxes for working…
What Elective Do You Wish Your School Offered?
Does your school offer elective classes? Have you taken any? If so, which have been your favorite? Why?Are there any elective classes you wish your school offered?For example, would you be interested in a class that teaches you about where your food comes from?In “OK, Class, First We Shoot the Deer,” Mark Josephson writes about…
Has Your Relationship to School Attendance Changed Since the Pandemic?
Take a look at the graph above. It shows rates of chronic absence in the United States since 2016. What do you notice? What do you wonder? What story does it tell about the state of education today? What headline would you write to capture the graph’s main idea?Does the information in the graph surprise…
How Does Your School Address Students’ Mental Health Needs?
During this school year or any point in your school career, have you had classes or special programs that have taught you how to deal with emotions, manage stress, know when to seek help from an adult and recognize when a friend is struggling?At your school, have any students formed groups or clubs intended to…
Is High School a Good Time to Train for a Career?
What career or careers interest you? Do you know what path will take you to your dream job? Will it require training, experience, a college degree or perhaps additional degrees, internships and so on?If you had the opportunity to start training for that career while you’re still in high school — earning college credits or…
What High School Is Like in 2023: The Winners of Our Multimedia Challenge
Blythe S., “Phone Calls”Chloe J., “Material Mirage: The Social Dilemma of Today’s Youth”Eduardo C., “My Brain Is a Southern Gothic Battlefield for Vampires in Tweed Suits and Teacher Rec Letters”Ela K., “chemistry class poem”Eva R., “A Day in the Life”Gabriella N., “A Life Without Music”Grant M., “This Feels Good”Hridya S., “Phone Pockets”Isabel N., “We are…
How Do You Feel About High School?
Thank You, Mr. Ziebarth, by Sean ZiebarthIt had been a rough day.I tried to give one student some advice, but he stood up and said, “Mr. Ziebarth, I don’t find this advice helpful, so I’m not going to listen.” He walked away.At times, teaching feels like this — lessons don’t land, students tune out. It’s…
Should School Be a Place to Celebrate Halloween?
Halloween is almost here. Will Oct. 31 be a regular day at your school or are there plans for celebrations? Will students and teachers dress up in costume? Will any of your classes have Halloween-themed lesson plans or “Monster Mash” playing while you work? What about the cafeteria menu — will there be items like…
What High School Is Like in 2023: A Multimedia Challenge for Teachers and Teens
Please read the details before submitting an entry. You can find more in the Frequently Asked Questions section below.Your submission must in some way respond to our focus question: What can you show or tell us that might help explain what it’s like to be an educator or a student in a secondary school right…
High School Stories: Recent New York Times Reporting on Secondary Schooling
Education stories have dominated headlines over the past year, as a quick glance down this long, long list will show. If you are participating in our new multimedia challenge, which invites students and educators to “show or tell us what high school is like in 2023,” we thought it might help to understand how The…
