Teaching and Learning with The New York Times

The Learning Network

The education blog extension of the New York Times website is a fantastic resource. To be honest, I haven't always been keen on the idea of using lessons plans off the internet or the scanner because of the usual inadequacy and formulaic nature of the activities. In order to be fair, there are amazing ideas to be found on the internet; the key is to use discretion when choosing which ones to use. Which is why I was thrilled to find that the Times offers daily activities and lesson plans which are stimulating and efficient as well as smart and sophisticated. Engaging with NY Times news and art content, the activities are wonderful at honing in on critical thinking skills and also encourage an interaction with culturally relevant material. The website offers a wide variety of lesson plans that are listed by categories ranging from Language Arts and Social Studies to Current Events, Fine Arts, and Media Studies. There is also a section which contains hand-picked journal articles with discussion forums for teachers to share and analyze their own methods and strategies with the theories and practices offered in the given articles. One of my favorite sections of the website is a student opinion forum which offers students the opportunity to deal with currently relevant issues and respond to them on a respectable and sophisticated platform. Everything about this website screams cultural relevance, and it is undeniable that it is 'hip.' There is a lesson plan that seeks to bring The Academy Awards into the classroom through an analysis of both film and culture. There is a lesson plan which engages in critical thinking about contemporary fashion. There is a lesson plan which drives students to personally respond to the issues related to global warming. Critical thinking and broad cultural analysis runs as a major current throughout this website. Another perk of using it on a regular basis is that it can ingrain into students the importance of keeping up-to-date with the news and, especially, the New York Times, which is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of newspaper excellence in the U.S.