WRITING SKILLS AND STRATEGIES

A New York Times Newspaper in Education Curriculum Guide
WRITING
SKILLS
AND
STRATEGIES
Teaching Language Arts
With The New York Times
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Teaching Writing: A Challenge for Everyone Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Time Frame for the Lesson Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Using the Student Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
New York Times Services For Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
CORRELATION OF LESSONS
TO NATIONAL LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
LESSONS
LESSON 1
Analyzing How The New York Times Is Written . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LESSON 2
Developing Analytical Reading Skills With The Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
LESSON 3
Developing Your Vocabulary With The New York Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
LESSON 4
Personal Writing With The New York Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Article: A Death in the Family: In So Many Words, a Wonderful Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
LESSON 5
Linking The New York Times to Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
LESSON 6
Writing a Review in the Style of The New York Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
LESSON 7
Outlining a Biography Based on a New York Times Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
LESSON 8
Vivid Language, Grammar and Stylistic Devices in The Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
LESSON 9
Developing a Research Project Based on a Times Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
LESSON 10 The New York Times in the Drama Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
LESSON 11 New York Times Photos as Prompts for Creative Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Written by Katherine Schulten.
Based on original material by Robert S. Greenman.
Additional material contributed by Ellen S. Doukoullos.
This guide did not involve the reporting or editing staff of The New York Times.
Copyright © 2008 The New York Times
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
INTRODUCTION
TEACHING WRITING: A CHALLENGE FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED
Teaching students to write clearly and stylishly can be as hard on the students as it is on
their teachers.
Many students have great difficulty writing. Putting words on paper (or a screen) often
seems to mystify young writers. They struggle with a range of questions, both broad and
specific, from “What is an essay?” and “Where do I get ideas?” to “What is a topic
sentence?” and when they’ve finished, “How do I know if I’ve been convincing?”
For teachers, reading their work can be frustrating, even painful, as the eyes blur and the
head begins to ache after hours of grading papers.
This curriculum guide can offer you help. Used in conjunction with The New York Times,
the guide and the lesson plans it contains are designed to make the task easier — even fun
— for you and your students.
Vivid writing, stimulating opinion and clear presentation of information and ideas are
hallmarks of Times reporting and editing. When your students are exposed to the rich
variety of The Times on a regular basis, they’ll find articles on a wide range of topics of
interest to them that will stimulate their thinking and serve as models of good writing for
them to follow in their assignments.
The vocabulary in Times news reports, features and opinion pieces will show your
students how to communicate their thoughts with style, even wit (as in Times
headlines). Many teachers have told us that test scores show marked improvement
when their students – as young as fourth graders – have The Times as part of their
daily reading and writing experience.
We invite you to have fun with these lessons and to use The New York Times to give your
students the skills they need to write with style and confidence.
TIME FRAME FOR THE LESSON PLANS
Each lesson plan has a wealth of material that can be used during a number of class
periods, as homework or for independent study. The lessons can be used in any order
you like. We recommend that you review the lessons in advance to determine which
activities to use and when; obviously, not every issue of The Times will include articles
relevant to each lesson.
USING THE STUDENT WORKSHEETS
Each lesson has a Worksheet with questions for students to answer individually or in small
groups. (Alternatives to making copies of the Worksheets are writing out the material on
the board or displaying Worksheets with an overhead projector.)
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
NEW YORK TIMES SERVICES FOR TEACHERS
nytimes.com/nie
SCHOOL DELIVERY CUSTOMER SERVICE
CALL: (800) 631-1222
FAX: (888) 619-6900
E-MAIL: schools@nytimes.com
Contact us to initiate school delivery of multiple copies for classroom use, report missed
deliveries to your school or to change or cancel deliveries.
HOME DELIVERY AT THE EDUCATOR RATE
AND SCHOOL LIBRARY RATE
CALL: (888) 698-2655
If you are a teacher or school librarian, call (888) 698-2655 to order a single home
delivery or library subscription and get more than 50% off regular rates.
THE NEW YORK TIMES LEARNING NETWORK
nytimes.com/learning
This is a special section of The New York Times Web site for teachers, students and
parents. Resources include a lesson plan each weekday based on an article in that day’s
paper, and an archive of subject-based lesson plans, with accompanying articles from
The Times. You’ll also find Times crossword puzzles, “Ask a Reporter” dialogues with
Times reporters, test-prep questions, parent involvement activities and more.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ELECTRONIC EDITION
For classroom use
The New York Times is available on your computer screen exactly as it appears in
print, with all the text and pictures of the New York edition of The Times. Students
can do keyword searches, move easily through pages and sections, zoom in on articles
and photos and much more. For information, visit nytimes.com/nie.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVE ONLINE
You can search more than 150 years of our Archive, including Op-Ed columnists,
multimedia features and more. Visit nytimes.com.
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
CORRELATION
CORRELATION OF LESSONS TO NATIONAL LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS
The lessons in this curriculum guide are correlated with relevant national standards from Mid-continent Research for
Education and Learning (McREL). These standards represent a compilation of most state standards.
Each McREL standard has subcategories, or benchmarks, for different levels of instruction. For details, see
www.mcrel.org/standards.
LESSONS
WRITING
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11
1. Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process
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2. Uses the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
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3. Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions
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4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes
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LESSONS
READING
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
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10 11
5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process
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6. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts
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7. Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of
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informational texts
LESSONS
MEDIA
1
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10 11
10. Understands the characteristics and components of the media
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LESSONS
VIEWING
1
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10 11
9. Uses viewing skills and strategies to understand and interpret visual media
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LESSONS
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
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10 11
8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
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SOURCE: “Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education,” by John S. Kendall and Robert J. Marzano (2000, 3rd ed.);
Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), Aurora, Colo. www.mcrel.org/standards/
Used by permission of McREL, 2550 S. Parker Road, Suite 500, Aurora, Colo. 80014; (303) 337-0990.
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
LESSON PLAN 1
ANALYZING HOW THE NEW YORK TIMES IS WRITTEN
PREPARATION:
OBJECTIVES
■ Assemble tools.
At the conclusion of this
■ Review possible questions and answers for the scavenger hunt.
lesson, students will be
able to:
● identify characteristics
WARM UP:
of the content, layout
ASK YOUR STUDENTS:
and organization of
■ “How many of you read, watch or listen to some form of news every day?”
The New York Times.
■ “What kinds of news are you interested in? From what source(s) do you get your news?”
● identify elements of the
■ “How is getting news from newspapers different from getting it from TV, radio or the
reporting style of The
Internet?”(Sometimes you get only the headlines, the Internet can give you just news you
Times in specific articles.
ask for, television is accompanied by images, newspapers often have more depth, etc.)
TOOLS NEEDED
NEWSPAPER ACTIVITY
● The New York Times,
Say: “You and your partner will be competing against other pairs of students in a
one copy per student.
‘scavenger hunt’ to answer questions using today’s New York Times. You will have 30
● Copies of the
minutes to record your answers on both copies of the Worksheet I’ll hand out. Hold on
Lesson 1 Worksheet.
to one copy for our class discussion, and trade your other copy with another pair so you
can check each other’s answers. Don’t look at the worksheet until I say, ‘Go.’”
■ Form pairs of students.
■ Distribute today’s Times to each student.
■ Distribute a copy of Worksheet 1 face-down to each student.
Students then complete as much of the “scavenger hunt” (page 7) as they can before
the time is up. Paired students should have the same answers on their worksheets.
Have each pair trade one copy of their completed worksheet for checking by another
pair during the class discussion.
ANSWERS
Most of the answers will come from that day’s Times. Here are answers to two
questions (see page 7):
2. The most important, or lead, article is on the front page, usually in the upper
right-hand corner.
8. There are no comics in The New York Times.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
After reviewing the questions/answers from the Scavenger Hunt, follow up with these questions
■ What are the qualities of a great newspaper? (Objectivity, accuracy, comprehensiveness,
depth, courage, originality in reporting, lively writing, etc.)
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
TEACHER LESSON PLAN 1
ANALYZING HOW THE NEW YORK TIMES IS WRITTEN
● Which of these qualities does The Times have, based on what you’ve seen today and
on other days?
● How could regular reading of The Times benefit you? (Improve your vocabulary;
learn about the world; prepare for classes such as history, geography, science, etc.; use
reviews to help you decide what movies to see, books to read, technology devices to buy, etc.)
EXTENSION/HOMEWORK ACTIVITIES
Assign activities. Establish due dates.
■ Explain to the class that every day at 4:30 p.m. eastern time, the top editors of The
Times have a “Page 1 meeting” where they decide which articles planned for the next
day’s newspaper are the most important, and should therefore start on the front page.
Have your students review the articles on the front page of today’s Times, and for
each article, list the reasons they think these articles were important enough to make it
onto Page 1.
■ Have your students assume the role of a Times reporter who covers a particular
“beat,” such as the White House, City Hall or a sports team, with students choosing
their beats based on articles in that day’s Times. Have students create a dialogue
between the reporter and his or her editor, with the reporter explaining why the
article is important and should go in the next day’s newspaper — maybe even on
Page 1 — and with questions the editor would ask the reporter about the article.
(Students may want to take a look at the “Ask a Reporter” feature on the Learning
Network www.nytimes.com/learning to get a sense of how reporters think.)
■ Have students create ads that will encourage their peers to read The Times, using
ads in The Times as models. Ask them to think about what types of articles would
be of special interest to them and their peers, and to focus on those kinds of articles
in their ads. Display the ads around the school.
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
LESSON 1
WORKSHEET: ANALYZING HOW THE NEW YORK TIMES IS WRITTEN
NAME_______________________________________
With your partner, find answers for each of the questions below in today’s New York Times. Write your answers on
both copies of the Worksheet. You should have the same answer on both Worksheets. (One copy will be exchanged
with another pair of students for checking.) Be prepared to explain your answers during our class discussion.
1. What is the title of each section of today’s New York Times?___________________________________
2. What is the headline of the most important news story today?________________________________
_________________________________________________Section/Page_____________________
3. Write the headline of an article that deals with a controversial issue:____________________________
_________________________________________________Section/Page_____________________
4. Find an innovation in science, the arts, business, technology or any other field reported in The Times today.
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. Find a news report in today’s New York Times focusing on:
● an international problem__________________________________________________________
● a domestic problem______________________________________________________________
6. What is the title of a movie or book reviewed today? _______________________________________
7. Find an adjective used to describe the movie or book reviewed._______________________________
8. What page are the comics on?________________________________________________________
9. Describe the subject of an article in today’s Times that in some way reflects the diversity of cultures
in America.______________________________________________________________________
Section/Page___________________________Headline____________________________________
10. Find a person profiled in any section of The Times today. Why is that person newsworthy now?_____
_________________________________________________Section/Page_____________________
11. Find an article that you don’t think will be covered in any half-hour TV news broadcasts today. Why
do you think it is in the newspaper but would not be on TV?________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
12. Find at least one item from anywhere in today’s Times that relates to something you are learning or
have learned in any of your classes this year.
Times item _______________________________________Section/Page_____________________
The class it relates to:_______________________________________________________________
Why?___________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
TEACHER LESSON PLAN 2
DEVELOPING ANALYTICAL READING SKILLS WITH THE TIMES
PREPARATION:
OBJECTIVES
■ Assemble tools.
At the conclusion of this
lesson, students will be
Background information: Many of the articles on the front page and in the news
able to:
columns of newspapers are known as “hard news” or “breaking news” – that is, news
● identify the main idea
of an immediate or urgent nature. Feature articles are sometimes called “soft news” in
of a news article (who,
that they usually have less immediate bearing on readers’ lives.
what, when, where,
why, how).
● analyze how details
WARM-UP
(quotations, statistics,
ASK YOUR STUDENTS:
etc.) in the article
■ “How do you think a reporter for The New York Times decides which facts come
support the main idea.
first in a news article? What comes next? And after that?
“Today we’re going to learn how reporters organize news articles they write.”
TOOLS NEEDED
● Today’s New York Times,
NEWSPAPER ACTIVITY
one per student.
■ Distribute the Lesson 2 Worksheet to each student. Review the directions for Part A.
● Copies of the
■ Distribute today’s New York Times to each student.
Lesson 2 Worksheet,
one per student.
■ Divide the class into pairs of students.
● Scissors, one per student.
Have students complete Part A of the Worksheet exercise.
● Small envelopes,
one per student.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
■ How did you decide which paragraph came first? And how did you arrange the
paragraphs that followed? (In most hard-news articles, the most important facts —
who, what, where, when, why and how – usually come first, with the rest of the
information in descending order of importance. Transition sentences and other clues
help students decide which paragraphs fit where.)
■ Did the headline use information from near the beginning of the article? (In news
articles the headline usually captures at least part of the main idea of the article.)
■ Direct students to the instructions for Part B on the Worksheet. Allow time to
complete, then discuss the answers in class.
ASK:
■ “How do you think The Times’s style of news reporting is different from that of
other news media? Give examples.” (Students might say The Times is more “serious”
or “in depth” than other newspapers, particularly tabloids; they might compare The
Times to news on 24-hour radio or TV stations or Web sites, like The Times’s Web site
www.NYTimes.com, which updates news continuously.)
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Writing Skills and Strategies: Teaching Language Arts With The New York Times
TEACHER LESSON PLAN 2
DEVELOPING ANALYTICAL READING SKILLS WITH THE TIMES
EXTENSION/HOMEWORK ACTIVITIES
■ Have students identify the “five W’s and an H” in each article on the front page of
today’s Times. (Most of the “W’s” and “H’s” will be in the first paragraph, or the first few
paragraphs, of each article.)
■ Have students compare how The Times reports a news story with how it is reported
by other media such as magazines, radio, television, tabloid newspapers and the
Internet. Have students create a chart that shows the similarities and differences,
illustrating the chart with material from The Times and other media.
■ Arrange for your students to be “freelance” reporters for your school newspaper.
Select a current news subject reported in The Times. Have them interview other
students about this topic and write up the report, using Times reporting style.
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