Good morning! Are your students working on college essays? Planning to participate in our Tiny Memoir Contest? Reading personal narratives as part of their curriculum? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you’ll want to bring them to the November edition of Ask a Journalist! — The Learning NetworkCrafting Personal Essays
What makes a personal story compelling enough to keep you reading or listening? How do writers find and develop their voices? What editing strategies can help make a narrative more powerful? And how do you choose just a handful of essays to publish when you receive thousands? These are the kinds of questions we imagine young people might ask this month’s featured journalist, Miya Lee. Ms. Lee has spent over a decade choosing and shaping personal writing for the popular, long-running New York Times Modern Love column, and she’ll be answering readers’ questions in November. From now until Nov. 15, we invite students to read one or more of the Modern Love essays we feature, all of which were written by high school or college students, and then post thoughts and questions for Ms. Lee. She’ll respond after that. Recent Times reporting about schools
More teaching resources from The Learning Network
An activity for your studentsU.S. teenagers ages 13 to 17 were asked whether boys or girls excelled in various categories at their school. What would your classes say if you polled them on the same four categories without first showing them the chart below? Do they think boys or girls excel at getting good grades? Having leadership roles? Being teacher favorites? Speaking up? Or are boys and girls about equal at these things? Why did they answer the way they did?
Next, show your students this chart and compare their answers to those of the teenagers who were surveyed. Then invite them to join our conversation about this topic on Oct. 29 when teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate a live-moderated discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time. Before you go, see what teens are saying about the businesses they would start.
We asked young people “What business would you want to start?” and over 100 teenagers posted ideas, some of them so detailed they could launch any day now. Here are a few short excerpts: A chamoy candy business, but not like the others. My candies will be different spice levels. For example, mild will be jalapeño, medium will be mango habanero, and very hot will be ghost pepper or Carolina reaper. — Jesus, California A sports app: a platform that connects athletes, fans, and local teams in one place. — Shane, Illinois A company dedicated to Taiwan’s traditional folk arts, so the world can see the unique music and artistry that exist only in Taiwan. — Ke Min, Taipei A platform where individuals can connect to play golf and, funnily enough, discuss business. This would be a great opportunity because many entrepreneurs and working professionals enjoy playing golf, as it allows for networking in a relaxed environment. — Kayla, California I’d create ‘try it’: a place created for people to find what they like outside of their boring lives — specifically guided toward students without a sustainable financial situation. I’d make it so you come in, take a quiz about things maybe you’ve seen that would possibly interest you, or what your past interests consist of, and recognize a pattern. There would be scheduled classes given in the area found to be free or cheap, organized by us. We’d have supplies to lend, from yarn and a hook to a digicam. — Alena, Illinois We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to LNfeedback@nytimes.com. More next week.
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