The NYT’s Learning Network offers students and teachers several current event resources. They include an Article of the Day and Teenagers in the Times – stories about young people in the news (most are about college students). Another resources writing prompts based on pictures or student opinion questions. Comments are welcome from students 13 and older, and are moderated by NYT staff before publication.
The site also offers quizzes, word of the day and student crossword puzzles. In the Film Club section, students evaluate and comment on images posted early in the week. Later in thee week, the NYT reveals the image caption and background story, so students can compare their impressions of the image to how it was used to illustrate a story. NYT also sponsors a variety of writing, vocabulary, illustration contests for students.
For teachers, there is an archive of of hundreds of lesson plans based on events covered by the newspaper. Teachers have free access to five lessons per day. Access to more requires a subscription.
The Learning Network is a fantastic resource for current events and for language arts teachers, as well as middle and high school students.
