Annual New York Times Summer Reading Contest

Annual New York Times Summer Reading Contest

This course will meet live each week to discuss articles, peer edit, practice writing strategies, and learn various ways to strengthen student writing. There will also be an online discussion portion of the course, which occurs between each live session, where students will share the content they have found and generate ideas for their weekly submissions. Students will draft one response per week, edit it based on teacher and peer feedback, and may submit their writing to the weekly contest.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

Follow guidelines for entering a competition
Select strong topics for writing
Evaluate the qualities of successful essays
Discuss writing ideas in a small group setting
Use rubrics to evaluate and score their own writing and that of their peers
Describe and apply the steps of the writing process
Revise writing to include a dynamic “hook,” a strong thesis statement, clear supporting paragraphs, and an effective conclusion
Assess and improve style, diction, syntax, voice, and tone in writing

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

“>A repository of resources, skills, and exercises to improve writing, generate new ideas, and enter writing contests
Weekly entries into the NYT Summer Reading content for the duration of the course
A plan for entering at least one additional writing contest
A certificate of completion

Instructor

Dr. Jesse H., Ph.D.

Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University
Writing Instructor at Knovva Academy

Dr. Hernandez has been in secondary education for more than 20 years as an English and AP Art History teacher, Gifted Coordinator, and Curriculum Specialist. She holds a PhD in Media, Art and Text from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) a Master’s in Teaching English and a Bachelors in English from VCU, and teaching certifications in Visual Arts PreK-12, English, and Gifted Education.