Try This Tomorrow Archives

This vocabulary review game is an activity that came up in conversation with our Academic Support Teachers. This is a perfect option for those who have done the explicit vocabulary routine and are looking for ways to review this learning and keep the vocabulary words circulating in classroom discussion. This helps students review previously taught vocabulary by using questioning, reasoning, and elimination to identify a hidden word.

How to Set Up

The teacher selects a previously taught vocabulary word connected to the current text or unit and keeps it hidden.

Students work as a whole class, in small groups, or in partners to determine the word through structured yes/no questioning.

Game Rules

The teacher chooses a secret vocabulary word.
- The word should come from the current unit’s instructional vocabulary.
Students ask yes/no questions only.
- Questions must be designed to narrow down the meaning, function, or role of the word.

Examples:

- Is the word a noun/verb/adjective?
- Does the word describe a character?
- Is the word connected to the setting?
- Does the word represent a theme or central idea?
- Is the word used to show emotion?
The teacher answers only yes or no.
Hint system:
- After a set number of questions (e.g., 5–7 questions), students may earn one hint.
- Hints should support understanding without revealing the word directly.
- Example hints:
  - Word category (part of speech)
  - The section of the text it relates to
  - A synonym or related idea
  - A reminder of how it was used in instruction
Winning the game
- Students win when they correctly identify the vocabulary word.
- Encourage justification: students should explain why they believe the word fits based on prior answers.

Debrief

After the word is revealed, consider furthering the discussion to provide opportunity to use the word:

With a partner, come up with a sentence connected to the text that uses the mystery word.

Try this tomorrow to reinforce your vocabulary lesson!

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: THE NEW YORK TIMES WRITING CURRICULUM FOR 2026-27

Oct

Last week, we shared the New York Times Learning Network’s new 15-minute lessons. They’re one part of a much larger collection of resources for Grades 6–12 teachers. The Learning Network has also released its 2026–27 writing curriculum.

We’ve highlighted this curriculum before, and this year’s curriculum is worth another look. It brings together writing prompts, mentor texts, guides, student examples, and optional contests.

Here’s what you’ll find in the 2026–27 lineup:

Writing and Creating in the Age of A.I.: A new three-part introductory lesson asking students why people write and what changes when they use A.I. to help them compose.
Everyday Practice: Student Opinion questions and Picture Prompts for short, regular writing.
The Tiny Memoir: A personal narrative of just 100 words.
The “Coming of Age” Project: A visual piece about growing up in 2026, accompanied by a written artist statement.
The STEM Video: A short video built around a question and an interview with an expert.
The Open Letter: An evidence-based argument addressed to someone who can make a change.
The Podcast: An original audio piece on a topic and in a format students choose.
Independent Reading and Writing: Responses to something students choose to read, watch, or listen to in The Times.

The curriculum page links to resources for each piece, including guides and examples of student work. There’s also a “Want More?” section with materials from past projects, such as cultural reviews, how-to writing, photo essays, and poetry. Teachers can spend so much time looking for resources online, so we wanted to highlight this as a great place to start.

TRY THIS TOMORROW: A NEW COLLECTION OF LESSONS

Sep

If you’re looking for current and engaging lessons and texts to bring into your classroom, there is a new resource worth checking out. This fall, the Learning Network introduced a series of 15-minute lesson plans built around timely topics, texts, images, questions, and ideas. A new lesson is published each school day, with topics rotating across ELA, social studies, STEM, and the arts and media. Each one can work as stand-alone learning opportunity, but can easily lead to more opportunities for conversation, reading, writing, or inquiry.

For example, the Taylor and Travis Sentence Scramble, asks students to attempt to put a set of sentences in the order they appeared in an article, opening up authentic conversations about text structure, specifically cohesion, sequencing, and how writers guide readers through ideas.

The lesson can stop there, or, if students are interested and you have the time, there is a natural pathway into more reading, discussion, and critical thinking. Each of the bite-size lessons also includes an “If you’d like to go further” option. In the Taylor and Travis Sentence Scramble, students can move from thinking about how a paragraph is constructed to a bigger question about journalism: why would The New York Times devote around two dozen reporters and editors to covering a celebrity wedding? Students can read a related Times Insider piece and consider whether that investment of newsroom resources was justified.

The flexibility of these 15-minute lessons means they can be used in the way that makes the most sense for your students and the learning that is already happening in the classroom. And, with a new lesson added every day, this is a collection worth bookmarking and coming back to when you are looking for new texts and learning opportunities.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: SCAFFOLD SUMMARIES WITH “YOU DECIDE”

Sep

Summarizing is a comprehension skill that is often misinterpreted as simple. In fact, it requires thinking about what to include, noting the main idea and organizing the details clearly and concisely.

“You Decide,” from Next Steps in Literacy Intervention, is a routine that helps students organize ideas before they write.

The Routine

Give students a set of words pulled from a text:

key vocabulary
character traits
actions
content terms

Students Task:

group the words
name each group
use the groups to build a sentence or short summary

This process makes thinking visible and helps students organize ideas before writing a full summary. It can also support using new vocabulary that was explicitly taught in the pre-reading.

Example from Next Steps:

Words: hesitant, shrieked, shy, scowled, reserved, fumed

Students might group:

Character traits: hesitant, shy, reserved
Communication/actions: shrieked, scowled, fumed

From there, they can write:
The character is shy and reserved, but reacts strongly when others shriek or fume.

Try This Tomorrow

Pull 6–10 words from a text you’re already using
Give students the categories (if they need this scaffold)
Ask them to sort the words and explain their thinking
End with one sentence using at least 2–3 of the words

Once students can do this with support, remove the categories and have them create their own.

Routine from Next Steps in Literacy Instruction: Connecting Assessment to Effective Interventions by Deb Glaser and Susan M. Smartt

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TRY THIS TOMORROW (PART 2): GOING DEEPER WITH THE 5 QUESTIONS

Sep

In an earlier post, I shared Marilyn Pryle’s Five Questions for Any Text as a framework for reading. This follow-up focuses on what comes next.

In the resource, each of the five questions is broken into subcategories that guide student thinking in more focused ways. Each one follows the same structure, so you can use it right away and align the lesson with the text you are using.

Example from Identifying the Audience:

Questions to guide thinking:

Who is the intended audience for this text?
How do you know?
Who might be excluded?
Why do you think this?

Teacher supports:

Guidance for introducing the thinking, including simple ways to scaffold students into this kind of analysis. The example from this section can be found in the Try This Tomorrow invitation below.
Annotated student samples across grade levels that show both student thinking and how a teacher might respond or extend it.
Follow-up questions that deepen discussion and support students in transferring this thinking to new texts and real-world contexts.

Try This Tomorrow:

You can introduce this category using this simple progression suggested by Pryle:

Start with books: Ask students to identify the audience for baby books, young adult novels, and adult books. How do they know? Students will quickly notice shared characteristics.
Move to ads and memes: Look at advertisements, short videos, articles, or memes. Ask which ones seem intended for teens versus younger audiences.
Look for the “Markers”: Encourage students to point to specific evidence. Ask questions like “how do you know” and “what makes you say that?” Conversation with others can stretch this thinking.

The rest of the resource provides similar supports for the other four questions, along with student samples and classroom videos that show the work in action.

All credit for this framework and instructional approach belongs to Marilyn Pryle and her book, 5 Questions for Any Text: Critical Reading in the Age of Disinformation.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TEEN REFLECTIONS AS MENTOR TEXTS

May

New York Times Learning Network posted What Teenagers Are Saying About How They Grew and Changed This School Year which, as the title suggests, shares short student reflections on how students changed over the school year. Students write about growth, challenges, friendships, and shifting mindsets.

Use these as mentor texts before asking students to write their own reflections.

Read Mentor Texts

Select 4–6 short excerpts from the article with a range of themes (academic growth, friendships, challenges, confidence).

As students read, ask:

What stands out?
What changed for the writer?
What feels specific or honest?

Mini-Lesson:

Model one excerpt with annotation to highlight:

summary + reflection (what happened + what it meant/what changed)
Transition phrases that signal change
Details as evidence of change

Show students how many writers use transition language to signal the change, such as:

“I used to…, but now…”
“At first…, however…”
“I not only…, but also…”
“Even though…, I realized…”
“Before…, now…”

Ask students to notice, across a few more mentor texts:

Where does the writer show change?
What words signal that shift?
What details show evidence of change?

Discuss to Generate Ideas

In pairs or groups:

Which reflection feels most relatable?
What patterns show up across responses?
What experiences could you write about?

Students list possible writing topics.

Write Own Reflection

Prompt:

How have you changed this school year?

What did you learn about yourself?
What shifted in your thinking or behavior?
What do you understand differently now?

Students write more effectively when they first read models of real student reflection, talk about them, and identify possible ideas before drafting. Try this tomorrow or add it to your repertoire of ideas from last week’s post on 10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of a School Year.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TEN IDEAS FOR REFLECTING AT THE END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR

May

In “10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of the School Year,” the New York Times Learning Network shares reflection ideas that move beyond simple end of year responses. Students are invited to consider creative ways to reflect, from creating playlists that capture memories from the year to reflecting on moments of struggle.

What makes this collection so impressive is its variety. Some invitations are deeply personal, some creative, some analytical, and some highly social. There are opportunities for writing, drawing, discussion, multimodal composition, and inquiry. The range of approaches allows students to reflect in ways that feel authentic to who they are as learners and how they make sense of their experiences.

As the school year winds down, this teaching resource might spark entirely new possibilities for reflection in your classroom.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: 5 QUESTIONS FOR ANY TEXT

May

If you’re looking for a teaching and thinking routine that works with any text and any grade level, this is it. You know we love one routine that can be used multiple times.

The Five Questions for Any Text, developed by Marilyn Pryle, offers a framework for teaching students how to read critically. I love this approach because it works just as well with a poem or short story as it does with a news article, Instagram post, video clip, or podcast.

The questions center around the idea that texts don’t just exist. Someone made them. On purpose. This understanding can help students think about who made the text, what the message is meant to be and how it was crafted with that intent. Pryle’s five questions give students an easy way into this thinking.

You can find the first chapter of the text here which includes these questions.

The 5 Questions

1. What am I reading?
What kind of text is this? Where did it come from? Who made it? Who is it for?
Opens conversations about purpose, bias, and agenda.

2. What is it showing me?
What ideas or assumptions are coming through? What does the text suggest about people or the world?

3. What is it hiding?
What’s left out? Whose voices are missing? What would complicate the message if included?

4. How am I reacting?
What stood out? What bothered you? What stuck with you?
Focus is on noticing and examining reactions beyond simply liking or disliking.

5. How does it work?
How is the text built? What choices are made with structure, language, visuals, or tone?
Connects directly to writing.

Over time, these questions become habits and students can transfer them to all texts.

Try This Tomorrow

Choose one question as an entry point.
Model a quick response using the sub-questions and your own noticings.
Let students talk or write for a few minutes.

All credit to Marilyn Pryle, author of 5 Questions for Any Text.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: TYPOS ARE HEROES

May

Article: I’m a Typo, and in This Age of AI, I’m the Real Hero by Julie Vick

*preview for language

Using AI in writing is a topic that is on the rise in education communities. It seems like everyone is using AI and students notice and have opinions. This monologue by Julie Vick, written from the point of view of a typo, is a great text to open two classroom conversations: AI and writing voice, and how humor is a craft to be studied.

Using AI to Write:

The argument of this monologue is that AI is taking the life (human) out of writing. The point of Vick’s piece is that AI can produce technically flawless writing, but flawless doesn’t always mean human. Through humor, the typo reminds us that imperfections often signal personality, risk-taking, and authentic voice.

Potential Discussion Questions:

What does AI do well and what has it yet to perfect?
What do you think when you see typos?
Where do you notice people using AI for writing? What gives it away?
Would you rather read flawless writing or writing with a human voice?

Craft Study:

What makes this piece funny? Students may notice the exaggeration, comparisons, playful digs at AI, self-awareness etc.
What do you notice about the personification of the typo? What attitude or personality traits are shown? How?
How does the typo having a personality play into the message?
Which line shows the humor or personality the most? Why choose that line?

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: USING MULTIPLE READS TO MAKE SENSE OF A COMPLEX POEM

Apr

Maggie Smith’s “The Before Picture”

I was reading Maggie Smith’s new poem “The Before Picture” and noticed how much thinking it demands from the reader. The topic of time/progress/the future is familiar, especially for students preparing for life after high school, but the poem does not explain itself easily. That makes it a complex text for teaching how multiple reads build understanding.

Students should not feel pressure to understand any poem right away. Each read adds another layer. This post models one way to structure purposeful rereads of any complex poem. While I use “The Before Picture” to show what this can look like in practice, the instructional moves are meant to be adaptable to any poem where meaning unfolds over time.

Below is one way to structure purposeful reads, each with a clear instructional focus.

Read 1: Gist Through One Word

Focus: What does this seem to be about so far?

Mini-lesson:
Read the poem aloud. Say something like, I’m not sure what this means yet, so I am trying to pay attention to the words that keep coming up in my mind. One word that keeps coming to mind is “time.” Circle or highlight the word time in the poem and underline a few related words such as before, future, now. Write the word at the top of the page.

Student work (partners or small groups):
Students reread and talk. Each group chooses one word that captures what the poem seems to be about or how it feels (time, change, anxiety, progress, stuck).
They write that word at the top of the poem and lightly mark lines that connect to it.

Emphasize that different words are expected.

Read 2: Imagery and Metaphor Linked to a Word

Focus: How the poet develops one idea

Mini-lesson (teacher models):
Choose one word from Read 1 (for example, time). Assign it a color (blue). Model highlighting imagery or metaphors connected to that word, such as time “dragging…like meat” or the future as “bait.” Add a short margin note with ideas on what those images suggest. Write multiple ideas to show that you don’t have the one right answer, just thoughts worth noting.

Student work:
Each group chooses a different word from Read 1 (for example, anxiety or hesitation) and a different color.
They highlight images or metaphors that support that word and annotate what those images suggest or what feelings they present.

Read 3: Structure and Craft

Focus: How the poem’s structure supports meaning

Mini-lesson (teacher models):
Teach briefly that poets use repetition, line breaks, and pacing intentionally. Model noticing repetition of now or refresh and annotate how it feels repetitive or cyclical, connecting it back to time.

Student work:
Students return to the poem and underline repeated words or phrases, mark short lines or breaks that feel abrupt or dragging and annotate whether these choices may be relevant to their word.

Read 4: Putting It Together

Focus: What the poem seems to be saying overall

Mini-lesson (teacher models):
Model looking across annotations and naming a possible meaning, using phrases like This makes me think the poet is suggesting… Refer directly to imagery and structure without polishing it into a paragraph.

Student work:
Students add final annotations answering:
– what the poem suggests about progress or the future
– why the speaker might prefer the “before”
– what the ending suggests about living in the present

Read 5: Reader Response

Focus: Moving from thinking to writing

Mini-lesson (teacher models):
Write a short paragraph connecting the poem to your own experience with time or change. Think aloud about choosing evidence from annotations and shaping an idea. You may agree with the speaker’s thoughts or disagree from your own experience.

Student work:
Students use the model to write a paragraph explaining how the poem may connect to teenagers and how they feel about growing up, moving on, facing the future, or whatever message connects to their chosen word.

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