Margin Notes

Crafting a robust writing unit demands significant time and effort from teachers. From sourcing mentor texts to designing supportive activities and delivering mini-lessons, the process can be overwhelming. But what if all this groundwork was already laid out for you? What if your role was to seamlessly integrate a writing unit with your curriculum, engage alongside your students, and provide focused feedback? Enter the NYTimes Learning Network.

Each year the NYTimes produces 8 writing units that are free resources for educators. Here is how they describe their approach:

Our writing curriculum is both a road map for teachers and an invitation to students. For teachers, it organizes our offerings — writing prompts, mentor texts and student contests — into eight distinct units, each of which focuses on a different genre of writing that your students can find not just in The Times but in all kinds of real-world sources.

For students, it offers confirmation that they have something valuable to say, a wide range of choices about how to say it and a global audience eager to listen. Promoting student voices has always been a pillar of our site, and through the opportunities for publication woven into each unit, we want to encourage students to go beyond simply consuming media to becoming creators themselves.

Each unit:

• Is designed for grade 6-12
• Supports holistic planning with the end in mind
• Provides a step-by-step guides for noticing craft moves
• Includes writing prompts to turn into quickwrites
• Provides daily writing practice
• Incorporates mentor texts for mini-lessons
• Ends with a writing contest (if you choose)

Units from 2023-24 include :

• Documenting and Reflecting on Teenage Lives
• The Personal Narrative
• The Critical Review
• Informational ‘How-To’ Writing
• The Photo Essay
• Argumentative Writing
• Podcasting
• Independent Reading & Writing

Start your planning by visiting the writing line-up here!