'It Opens Your Mind': A Student-Made Video About a Year of Reading The Times A student-produced and directed video was made, according to teachers, "off the cuff, from the heart and without notes." Since September, the ninth graders in Sarah Gross's and Jonathan Olsen's humanities classes at High Technology High School in New Jersey have started their day by reading The New York Times. Sometimes their teachers choose articles for them, other times students browse the paper and choose their own - but every day they write about what they read. By late May, these students had finished over 200 articles and composed over 120 short essays each, on topics from chemical weapons and gun control to Broadway musicals, Google Glass and floating Buddhas. We've been chronicling this work on the blog all school year in a weekly feature we call "Common Core Practice." As we explained in our introductory post, we first met these teachers when they sent us a message on Twitter just as we were looking for a classroom to partner with to explore the new standards together. Mr. Olsen and Mrs. Gross were already enthusiastically teaching with The Times, so writing up their ideas for us wasn't much of a stretch. As the school year began winding down, they asked their students how they thought the experiment had gone. This video is their answer. Mr. Olsen and Mrs. Gross provide us with a few production notes and some of their own reflections: Our students wanted to share what their experience has been like because they feel it isn't something many classrooms have tried to do. As they are very tech-savvy, they loved the idea of video interviews. We recruited Austin and Katherine, two of our juniors (and fabulous filmmakers), and left it in their hands. The video was student-driven, student-produced and student-directed. Austin and Katherine interviewed freshmen volunteers during their lunch period. We were not involved, other than helping Austin and Kat get permission to film a few scenes in our classroom. The freshmen spoke off the cuff, from the heart, and without notes or any other preparation. The final product blows our minds. Using the newspapers as a daily part of our humanities class has revolutionized our teaching. Over the course of the school year, our ninth graders have grown into informed citizens who are able to think critically and empathetically about issues facing the world, from genetically modified plants to the efforts to rebuild after natural disasters. Athletes know the only way to get better is to practice. We approach reading and writing the same way. By adopting The Times and our local paper, The Asbury Park Press, as part of our daily routine, we are able to meet all of the standards in reading and writing without sacrificing history content or English literature. Newspapers enhance our classroom, complementing the curriculum already in place.They also open our classroom to the world outside. A few weeks ago, after reading about the impending cicada invasion, we had to stop class, go outside and hunt for these strange creatures - the world's longest-living insect. We didn't find any but the fresh air sure was nice. Did you use Common Core Practice in your classroom? If so, we would love your feedback as we think about the feature for next year. Please note that all our lesson plans are aligned to the Common Core; the goal of this special feature was to give teachers additional prompts for practicing informative, argumentative and narrative writing. And if you'd like your students to read The Times all summer, consider our Summer Reading Contest. It runs June 14 to Aug. 16, and a powerhouse panel of judges will choose the weekly winners.