Over 115 Lesson Plans Based on New York Times Articles

Every school day we choose an important or interesting New York Times article to feature in our Lesson of the Day and pair it with a warm-up, critical-thinking questions and a going-further activity. The activities and questions are designed to help students understand the article, contextualize it within current and historical events, and connect it to their own lives.

As you might expect, many of our Lessons of the Day respond to major news events, such as the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, the record-setting development of a Covid-19 vaccine, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the rise in violent attacks on Asian Americans.

But every year, we also try to find ways to go far beyond the front page, using articles and images across sections of The Times to teach more evergreen skills and topics. This collection of 100-plus Lessons of the Day from the 2020-21 school year includes deep dives into the 19th Amendment, the Tulsa Race Massacre, how music is being interpreted into American Sign Language, comic books, heroes, sneakers, climate change and many more topics.

To learn how you can use Lessons of the Day to build literacy skills, promote critical thinking, prompt discussion and foster creativity in your classroom, watch our three-minute tutorial video or our on-demand webinar.

On Sept. 7, we’ll begin publishing new daily lesson plans for the 2021-22 school year, but until then and beyond we hope you find and discover articles in this collection that feel interesting and relevant to your curriculum and your students’ lives.

What would you like us to cover next school year? Let us know in the comments, and have a wonderful summer.

Science, Technology and Health