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We'd like to add to the chorus of New York Times year-end lists - from Best Books and Most Important Scientific Findings to Five Times the Internet Was Actually Fun - by sorting a few of our own resources for you, with the hope that they help when you're back in the classroom in January.

According to our analytics, these were our most-popular pieces published in 2017. But because we create over a dozen types of features weekly on our site, we've added a bit of context to explain each, and included other popular posts that are part of the same feature.

What were the most interesting things you taught or learned in 2017? Let us know in the comments.

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1. Our List of 401 Writing Prompts

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Our list of writing prompts includes: Does technology make us more alone? And, is social media making us more narcissistic? Credit Jake Michaels for The New York Times

Related Article | Related Lesson Credit Illustration by Other Means. Clinton: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Pizza: Jeff Schear/Getty Images.

4. A Collection of Mini-Films on Race and Bias

In March we published a group of 25 mini-films exploring race bias and identity with students drawn from our weekly Film Club, and teachers were delighted.

As one reader, Kendra, a public-school teacher in Georgia, wrote:

As a Catholic African American ESOL Teacher from St. Louis, Missouri, and employed in a public school in Georgia, I adore this article on Race and conversation. It highlights all of the nuances in our multilingual and multicultural society. My diverse background has helped me to open my ears and eyes to the beauty of diversity, and this article gives diversity a voice.

5. Our Student Editorial Contest
We run contests all year long, but two dominated this year in terms of the number of student submissions we received.

Our 2017 Editorial Contest, our fifth most-viewed resource published this year, received almost 8,000 entries. Our Summer Reading Contest received almost 9,000 submissions.

To find out when these contests, and others, will run during 2018, check out our Contest Calendar.
6. Our Country of the Week Announcement

A map question from one of our Country of the Week quizzes. Related Announcement

Related Lesson

This school year, we added a new monthly feature called " What's Going On in This Graph? ", which we produce in partnership with the American Statistical Association. On the second Tuesday of each month we ask students to look closely at a Times graph, chart or map displaying data and notice, wonder and interpret.

Our September announcement of this feature is next on our most-viewed list.
9. A Roundup of 160 Picture Prompts

In 2016 we invented a new feature we call Picture Prompts - short, accessible, image-driven questions that invite a variety of kinds of writing.

We suspected that our June 2017 roundup post, " A Year of Picture Prompts: Over 160 Images to Inspire Writing," would be popular, and it was.

The two Picture Prompts that garnered the most student comments this year? Winter Comforts and Texting While Walking.
10. An Article of the Day About Hurricane Harvey
Each day we also publish a brief lesson plan, called Article of the Day, that includes a warm-up activity and critical thinking questions.

Because they are short, we can often get them up quickly to respond to breaking news, so it is no surprise that three big events made our most-popular list. In order of page views, they are:

* Teaching Activities for: Hurricane Harvey and 'In Houston, Anxiety and Frantic Rescues as Floodwaters Rise'
* Teaching Activities for: 'What We Know About the Attacks in Spain'
* Teaching Activities for: 'Man Charged After White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville Ends in Deadly Violence'
11. A September Edition of "What's Going On in This Picture?"

The photograph for our Sept. 11 "What's Going On in This Picture?" Credit Hosam Katan/Reuters

Our Sept. 11 photo, above, is next on our most-popular list, based on page views, but the Sept. 25 photo shattered the commenting record, with over 1,800 responses.
12. The Announcement of Our New "Current Events Conversation" Feature
At the start of this school year we announced a new way for us to promote student voice on The Learning Network.

In our Current Events Conversation, we celebrate student writing about the issues of the day, whether politics, the #MeToo moment or Fiona the Hippo. Our September announcement about the feature squeaks in as the last entry on our most-popular list.

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Writing Prompts, Quizzes, Lessons and Graphs: Our Most Popular Teaching and Learning Resources in 2017

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We'd like to add to the chorus of New York Times year-end lists - from Best Books and Most Important Scientific Findings to Five Times the Internet Was Actually Fun - by sorting a few of our own resources for you, with the hope that they help when you're back in the classroom in January.

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Our 100 Most Popular Student Questions for Debate and Persuasive Writing

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Here are the 100 most-commented-upon questions we’ve ever asked that call for persuasive writing.

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650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing (Published 2016)

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Here are 650 student opinion questions that invite narrative and personal writing, all together in one place.

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We published an updated version of this list, "401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing," as well as a companion piece, "650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing." We also now have a PDF of these 200 prompts.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and get five new Student Opinion questions delivered to you every week.

What issues do you care most about? What topics do you find yourself discussing most passionately, whether online, at the dinner table, in the classroom or with your friends?

Our annual Student Editorial Contest invites you to write an evidence-based persuasive piece on an issue that matters to you. To help jump-start your brainstorming, we have gathered a list of 200 writing prompts from our daily Student Opinion feature that invite you to take a stand.

Though you won't be limited to these topics for the contest, you'll see that our list touches on every aspect of modern life, from politics to sports, culture, education and technology. We hope the range inspires you, and we hope the fact that each question links to at least one related Times article gives you a starting point for finding evidence.

So skim the list below to think about the topic you'd most like to take on.

For more information, here are links to our spring 2014 editorial-writing contest, a list of winners from that contest and a related lesson plan on argumentative writing.
Education

1. Is Cheating Getting Worse?

2. Should Students Be Able to Grade Their Teachers?

3. Does Your School Hand Out Too Many A's?

4. Should Middle School Students Be Drug Tested?

5. Should Reading and Math Be Taught in Gym Class Too?

6. How Seriously Should We Take Standardized Tests?

7. How Well Do You Think Standardized Tests Measure Your Abilities?

8. Do You Spend Too Much Time Preparing for Standardized Tests?

9. Should Schools Offer Cash Bonuses for Good Test Scores?

10. Should We Rethink How Long Students Spend in High School?

11. Do Schools Provide Students With Enough Opportunities to Be Creative?

12. What Are You Really Learning at School?

13. How Important Is Arts Education?

14. Does Gym Help Students Perform Better in All Their Classes?

15. Who Should Be Able to See Students' Records?

16. Are Children of Illegal Immigrants Entitled to a Public Education?

17. What Is the Right Amount of Group Work in School?

18. Is Your School Day Too Short?

19. Do You Think a Longer School Calendar Is a Good Idea?

20. Should the Dropout Age Be Raised?

21. Should Students Be Allowed to Skip Senior Year of High School?

22. How Does Your School Deal With Students Who Misbehave?

23. Should Schools Be Allowed to Use Corporal Punishment?

24. How Big a Problem Is Bullying or Cyberbullying in Your School or Community?

25. How Should Schools Address Bullying?

26. Should Schools Put Tracking Devices in Students' ID Cards?

27. What Do You Think of Grouping Students by Ability in Schools?

28. Do We Need a New Way to Teach Math?

29. Does Class Size Matter?

30. Should All Students Get Equal Space in a Yearbook?

31. Is Prom Worth It?

32. How Important Are Parent-Teacher Conferences?

33. Should All Children Be Able to Go to Preschool?

34. Should Colleges Use Admissions Criteria Other Than SAT Scores and Grades?

35. What Criteria Should Be Used in Awarding Scholarships for College?

36. Do You Support Affirmative Action?

37. Do College Rankings Matter?

38. How Necessary Is a College Education?

39. Should Engineers Pay Less for College Than English Majors?
Technology and Social Media
40. Are the Web Filters at Your School Too Restrictive?

41. Does Technology Make Us More Alone?

42. Are You Distracted by Technology?

43. Do Apps Help You or Just Waste Your Time?

44. Do You Spend Too Much Time on Smart Phones Playing 'Stupid Games'?

45. Has Facebook Lost Its Edge?

46. Does Facebook Ever Make You Feel Bad?

47. Should What You Say on Facebook Be Grounds for Getting Fired?

48. Should People Be Allowed to Obscure Their Identities Online?

49. What Should the Punishment Be for Acts of Cyberbullying?

50. Is Online Learning as Good as Face-to-Face Learning?

51. Do Your Teachers Use Technology Well?

52. Should Tablet Computers Become the Primary Way Students Learn in Class?

53. Can Cellphones Be Educational Tools?

54. Should Computer Games Be Used for Classroom Instruction?

55. How Young Is Too Young for an iPhone?

56. Should Companies Collect Information About You?

57. Would You Trade Your Paper Books for Digital Versions?

58. Are Digital Photographs Too Plentiful to Be Meaningful?

59. Do You Worry We Are Filming Too Much?

60. Would You Want a Pair of Google's Computer Glasses?

61. How Would You Feel About a Computer Grading Your Essays?

62. What Role Will Robots Play in Our Future?

63. How Many Text Messages Are Too Many?

64. How Much Do You Trust Online Reviews?
Arts and Media: TV, Music, Video Games and Literature
65. Why Do We Like to Watch Rich People on TV and in the Movies?

66. Do TV Shows Like '16 and Pregnant' Promote or Discourage Teenage Pregnancy?

67. Does TV Capture the Diversity of America Yet?

68. Is TV Too White?

69. Is TV Stronger Than Ever, or Becoming Obsolete?

70. Does Reality TV Promote Dangerous Stereotypes?

71. What Current Musicians Do You Think Will Stand the Test of Time?

72. What Artists or Bands of Today Are Destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

73. What Musician, Actor or Author Should Be a Superstar, but Hasn't Quite Made It Yet?

74. Will Musical Training Make You More Successful?

75. Should Video Games Be Considered a Sport?

76. Should Stores Sell Violent Video Games to Minors?

77. Can a Video Game Be a Work of Art?

78. Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent in Real Life?

79. When Should You Feel Guilty for Killing Zombies?

80. What Game Would You Like to Redesign?

81. What Were the Best Movies You Saw in the Past Year?

82. To What Writer Would You Award a Prize?

83. Do You Prefer Your Children's Book Characters Obedient or Contrary?

84. Where Is the Line Between Truth and Fiction?

85. Can Graffiti Ever Be Considered Art?

86. Do We Need Art in Our Lives?

87. What Makes a Good Commercial?

88. Why Did a Cheerios Ad Attract So Many Angry Comments Online?

89. Does Pop Culture Deserve Serious Study?
Gender Issues
90. Do Parents Have Different Hopes and Standards for Their Sons Than for Their Daughters?

91. Is School Designed More for Girls Than Boys?

92. Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have 'Perfect' Bodies?

93. How Much Pressure Do Boys Face to Have the Perfect Body?

94. Do Photoshopped Images Make You Feel Bad About Your Own Looks?

95. Is It O.K. for Men and Boys to Comment on Women and Girls on the Street?

96. What Should We Do to Fight Sexual Violence Against Young Women?

97. How Do You Feel About Rihanna and Chris Brown Getting Back Together?

98. Do Fraternities Promote Misogyny?

99. Why Aren't There More Girls in Leadership Roles?

100. Why Aren't More Girls Choosing to Pursue Careers in Math and Science?

101. Should Women Be Allowed to Fight on the Front Lines Alongside Men?

102. Do You Believe in Equal Rights for Women and Men?

103. Are Women Better at Compromising and Collaborating?

104. Do Boys Have Less Intense Friendships Than Girls?
Sports and Athletics
105. If Football Is So Dangerous to Players, Should We Be Watching It?

106. Should Parents Let Their Children Play Football?

107. Should College Football Players Get Paid?

108. When Do Pranks Cross the Line to Become Bullying?

109. Has Baseball Lost Its Cool?

110. Are Some Youth Sports Too Intense?

111. Is It Offensive for Sports Teams to Use Native American Names and Mascots?

112. Where Should Colleges and Sports Teams Draw the Line in Selling Naming Rights?

113. Should Colleges Fund Wellness Programs Instead of Sports?

114. Is Cheerleading a Sport?

115. How Big a Deal Is It That an N.B.A. Player Came Out as Gay?

116. Should There Be Stricter Rules About How Coaches Treat Their Players?

117. Should Athletes Who Dope Have to Forfeit Their Titles and Medals?

118. Should Sports Betting Be Legal Everywhere?

119. Should Home-Schoolers Be Allowed to Play Public School Sports?

120. Would You Want a Bike Share Program for Your Community?
Politics and the Legal System
121. What Local Problems Do You Think Your Mayor Should Try to Solve?

122. If You Were Governor of Your State, How Would You Spend a Budget Surplus?

123. When Is the Use of Military Force Justified?

124. What Is More Important: Our Privacy or National Security?

125. California Notice

126. Should the U.S. Be Spying on Its Friends?

127. Do You Trust Your Government?

128. What Do You Think of the Police Tactic of Stop-and-Frisk?

129. Do Rich People Get Off Easier When They Break the Law?

130. Should Rich People Have to Pay More Taxes?

131. Do Laws That Ban Offensive Words Make the World a Better Place?

132. Is It Principled, or Irresponsible, for Politicians to Threaten a Shutdown?

133. Do Leaders Have Moral Obligations?

134. Do Great Leaders Have to Be Outgoing?

135. How Should We Prevent Future Mass Shootings?

136. Should Guns Be Permitted on College Campuses?

137. Would You Feel Safer With Armed Guards Patrolling Your School?

138. What Is Your Relationship With Guns?

139. Do You Support or Oppose the Death Penalty?

140. When Should Juvenile Offenders Receive Life Sentences?
Parenting and Childhood
141. Do We Give Children Too Many Trophies?

142. When Do You Become an Adult?

143. When Should You Be Able to Buy Cigarettes, Drink Alcohol, Vote, Drive and Fight in Wars?

144. Should the Morning-After Pill Be Sold Over the Counter to People Under 17?

145. Should Birth Control Pills Be Available to Teenage Girls Without a Prescription?

146. Is Modern Culture Ruining Childhood?

147. Are Adults Hurting Young Children by Pushing Them to Achieve?

148. How, and by Whom, Should Children Be Taught Appropriate Behavior?

149. What Can Older People Learn From Your Generation?

150. Do 'Shame and Blame' Work to Change Teenage Behavior?

151. How Should Children Be Taught About Puberty and Sex?

152. Is Dating a Thing of the Past?

153. How Should Parents Handle a Bad Report Card?

154. Should Children Be Allowed to Wear Whatever They Want?

155. How Should Educators and Legislators Deal With Minors Who 'Sext'?

156. Do You Think Child Stars Have It Rough?
Health and Nutrition
157. Is Smoking Still a Problem Among Teenagers?

158. Are Antismoking Ads Effective?

159. Is Drinking and Driving Still a Problem for Teenagers?

160. Do You Think a Healthier School Lunch Program Is a Lost Cause?

161. How Concerned Are You About Where Your Food Comes From?

162. Is It Ethical to Eat Meat?

163. Do You Prefer Your Tacos 'Authentic' or 'Appropriated'?

164. Should the Government Limit the Size of Sugary Drinks?

165. Should Marijuana Be Legal?

166. Should Students Be Required to Take Drug Tests?
Personal Character and Morality Questions
167. Do Bystanders Have a Responsibility to Intervene When There is Trouble?

168. Should You Care About the Health and Safety of Those Making Your Clothing?

169. Can Money Buy You Happiness?

170. Does Buying and Accumulating More and More Stuff Make Us Happier?

171. Are We Losing the Art of Listening?

172. Do People Complain Too Much?

173. Can Kindness Become Cool?

174. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work?

175. How Important Is Keeping Your Cool?

176. When Should You Compromise?

177. Is Your Generation More Self-Centered Than Earlier Generations?

178. Can You Be Good Without God?

179. Have Curse Words Become So Common They Have Lost Their Shock Value?

180. What Words or Phrases Should Be Retired in 2014?

181. What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused?

182. Should Couples Live Together Before Marriage?

183. How Important Do You Think It Is to Marry Someone With the Same Religion?

184. How Long Is It O.K. to Linger in a Cafe or Restaurant?

185. Does Keeping a Messy Desk Make People More Creative?

186. How Important Is Keeping a Clean House?
Science
187. Should Scientists Try to Help People Beat Old Age So We Can Live Longer Lives?

188. Given Unlimited Resources, What Scientific or Medical Problem Would You Investigate?

189. When Is It O.K. to Replace Human Limbs With Technology?

190. Do You Think Life Exists - or Has Ever Existed - Somewhere Besides Earth?

191. Should Fertilized Eggs Be Given Legal 'Personhood'?

192. How Concerned Are You About Climate Change?
Other Questions
193. Is It Wrong for a Newspaper to Publish a Front-Page Photo of a Man About to Die?

194. What Causes Should Philanthropic Groups Finance?

195. Should Charities Focus More on America?

196. Should the Private Lives of Famous People Be Off Limits?

197. Did a Newspaper Act Irresponsibly by Publishing the Addresses of Gun Owners?

198. Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office?

199. What Time Should Black Friday Sales Start?

200. Do You Shop at Locally Owned Businesses?

201. How Much Does Your Neighborhood Define Who You Are?

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We published an updated version of this list, "401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing," as well as a companion piece, "650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing." We also now have a PDF of these 200 prompts. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and get five new Student Opinion questions delivered to you every week.

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For our Second Annual Student Editorial Contest, in which teenagers are invited to write on an issue they care about, we have gathered a list of 301 writing prompts that may help — an update to last year’s popular list of 200.

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Though this piece, " And Now a Word From Op-Ed," is from 2004, it still provides a useful and quick overview of The Times's Opinion section, even if the section then was mostly a print product. It begins this way:

Here at the Op-Ed page, there are certain questions that are as constant as the seasons. How does one get published? Who chooses the articles? Does The Times have an agenda? And, of course, why was my submission rejected? Now that I've been Op-Ed editor for a year, let me try to offer a few answers.

This 2013 article, " Op-Ed and You," also helps both readers of the section, and potential writers for it, understand how Times Opinion works:

Anything can be an Op-Ed. We're not only interested in policy, politics or government. We're interested in everything, if it's opinionated and we believe our readers will find it worth reading. We are especially interested in finding points of view that are different from those expressed in Times editorials. If you read the editorials, you know that they present a pretty consistent liberal point of view. There are lots of other ways of looking at the world, to the left and right of that position, and we are particularly interested in presenting those points of view.

After students have read one or both of these overviews, invite them to explore the Times's Opinion section, noting what they find and raising questions as they go. You might ask:

* What pieces look most interesting to you? Why?

* What subsections are featured in the links across the top of the section ("Columnists"; "Series"; "Editorials"; "Op-Ed"; "Letters"; etc.) and what do you find in each? How do they seem to work together?

* How do you think the editors of this section decide what to publish?

* What role does this section seem to play in The Times as a whole?

* Would you ever want to write an Op-Ed or a letter to the editor? What might you write about?

If your students are confused about where and how news and opinion can sometimes bleed together, our lesson plan, News and 'News Analysis': Navigating Fact and Opinion in The Times, can help.

And to go even deeper, this lesson plan from 2010 focuses on a special section produced that year, " Op-Ed at 40: Four Decades of Argument and Illustration." It helps students understand the role the Op-Ed page has played at The Times since 1970, and links to many classic pieces.

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2. Know the difference between fact and opinion.
In our lesson plan Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion, you'll find activities students can use with any day's Times to practice.

For instance, you might invite them to read an Op-Ed and underline the facts and circle the opinion statements they find, then compare their work in small groups.

Or, read a news report and an opinion piece on the same topic and look for the differences. For example, which of the first paragraphs below about the shooting in Las Vegas is from a news article and which is from an opinion piece? How can they tell?

Paragraph A: After the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas, the impulse of politicians will be to lower flags, offer moments of silence, and lead a national mourning. Yet what we need most of all isn't mourning, but action to lower the toll of guns in America. (From " Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack ")

Paragraph B: A gunman on a high floor of a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on an outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, leaving at least 59 people dead, injuring 527 others, and sending thousands of terrified survivors fleeing for cover, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. (From " Multiple Weapons Found in Las Vegas Gunman's Hotel Room ")

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Do your students know what ethos, pathos and logos mean? The video above, " What Aristotle and Joshua Bell Can Teach Us About Persuasion," can help. We use it in this lesson plan, in which students explore the use of these rhetorical devices via the Op-Ed " Rap Lyrics on Trial " and more. The lesson also helps students try out their own use of rhetoric to make a persuasive argument.

In the post, we quote a New Yorker article, "The Six Things That Make Stories Go Viral Will Amaze, and Maybe Infuriate, You," that explains the strategies in a way that students may readily understand:

In 350 B.C., Aristotle was already wondering what could make content - in his case, a speech - persuasive and memorable, so that its ideas would pass from person to person. The answer, he argued, was three principles: ethos, pathos, and logos. Content should have an ethical appeal, an emotional appeal, or a logical appeal. A rhetorician strong on all three was likely to leave behind a persuaded audience. Replace rhetorician with online content creator, and Aristotle's insights seem entirely modern. Ethics, emotion, logic - it's credible and worthy, it appeals to me, it makes sense. If you look at the last few links you shared on your Facebook page or Twitter stream, or the last article you e-mailed or recommended to a friend, chances are good that they'll fit into those categories.

Take the New Yorker's advice and invite them to choose viral content from their social networks and identify ethos, pathos and logos at work.

Or, use the handouts and ideas in our post An Argument-Writing Unit: Crafting Student Editorials, in which Kayleen Everitt, an eighth-grade English teacher, has her students take on advertising the same way.

Finally, if you'd like a recommendation for a specific Op-Ed that will richly reward student analysis of these elements, Kabby Hong, a teacher at Verona Area High School in Wisconsin, who will be our guest on our "Write to Change the World" webinar, recommends Nicholas Kristof's column " If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die?"

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The Common Core Standards put argument front and center in American education, and even young readers are now expected to be able to identify claims in opinion pieces and find the evidence to support them.

We have a number of lesson plans that can help.

Finally, if you're looking for a fun way to practice, we often hear from teachers that our What's Going On in This Picture? feature works well. To participate, students must make a claim about what they believe is "going on" in a work of Times photojournalism stripped of its caption, then come up with evidence to support what they say.

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Charles M. Blow David Brooks Frank Bruni Roger Cohen Gail Collins Ross Douthat Maureen Dowd Thomas L. Friedman Michelle Goldberg Nicholas Kristof Paul Krugman Andrew Rosenthal Bret Stephens
We have heard from many teachers over the years that a favorite assignment is to have students each "adopt" a different newspaper columnist, and follow him or her over weeks or months, noting the issues they focus on and the rhetorical strategies they use to make their cases. Throughout, students can compare what they find - and, of course, apply what they learn to their own writing.
6. Explore v isual argument-making via Times Op-Art, editorial cartoons and Op-Docs.
For example, here is a sample assignment we found online called "Summer Reading Columnist Project." If you would like to try it with The Times, here are the current Op-Ed columnists:

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7. Use our student writing prompts to practice making arguments for a real audience. Does Technology Make Us More Alone? Is It Ethical to Eat Meat? Is It O.K. for Men and Boys to Comment on Women and Girls on the Street? Are Some Youth Sports Too Intense? Does Reality TV Promote Dangerous Stereotypes? When Do You Become an Adult? Is America Headed in the Right Direction?
The New York Times regularly commissions artists and cartoonists to create work to accompany Opinion pieces. How do illustrations like the one above add meaning to a text, while grabbing readers' attention at the same time? What can students infer about the argument being made in an Op-Ed article by looking at the illustration alone?

Recently, Clara Lieu, a teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design, told us how she uses that very idea to help her student-artists to create their own pieces. To see some of their work, check out " Finding Artistic Inspiration in The New York Times's Opinion Section."

Another way to use visual journalism to teach argument-making? Use Op-Docs, The Times's short documentary series (most under 15 minutes), that touches on issues like race and gender identity, technology and society, civil rights, criminal justice, ethics, and artistic and scientific exploration - issues that both matter to teenagers and complement classroom content.

Every Friday during the school year, we host a Film Club in which we select short Op-Docs we think will inspire powerful conversations - and then invite teenagers and teachers from around the world to have those conversations here, on our site.
8. Participate in our annual Student Editorial Contest.

And for a great classroom example of how this might work in practice, check out Using an Op-Doc Video to Teach Argumentative Writing, a Reader Idea from Allison Marchetti, an English teacher at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Va. She details how her students analyzed the seven-minute film "China's Web Junkies" to see how the filmmakers used evidence to support an argument, including expert testimony, facts, interview, imagery, statistics and anecdotes.

Ideas for Writing Opinion Pieces

Every day during the school year we invite teenagers to share their opinions about questions like these, and hundreds do, posting arguments, reflections and anecdotes to our Student Opinion feature. Last year, we created a list drawn from this feature of 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing on an array of topics like technology, politics, sports, education, health, parenting, science and pop culture.

Teachers tell us they use our writing prompts because they offer an opportunity for students to write for an "authentic audience." But we also consider our daily questions to be a chance for the kind of "low-stakes" writing that can help students practice thinking through thorny questions informally.

This school year, we've also begun calling out our favorite comments weekly via our Current Events Conversation feature. Will your students' posts be next?

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What issues matter most to your students?

Every year, we invite teenagers to channel their passions into formal pieces: short, evidence-based persuasive essays like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day.

The challenge is pretty straightforward. Choose a topic you care about, gather evidence from sources both within and outside of The New York Times, and write a concise editorial (450 words or less) to convince readers of your point of view.
9. Take a dvice from writers and editors at the Times's Opinion section.
Our judges use this rubric (PDF) for selecting winners to publish on The Learning Network.

And at a time when breaking out of one's "filter bubble" is more important than ever, we hope this contest also encourages students to broaden their news diets by using multiple sources, ideally ones that offer a range of perspectives on their chosen issue.

This school year, as you can see from our 2017-18 Student Contest Calendar, the challenge will run from Feb. 28 to April 5, 2018.
10. Use the published work of young people a s mentor texts.
And, as we mentioned above, we have published two lesson plans to help guide every step:

* For the Sake of Argument: Writing Persuasively to Craft Short, Evidence-Based Editorials and

* I Don't Think So: Writing Effective Counterarguments
Update: Oct. 10: Links from Our Oct. 10 Webinar
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Nicholas Kristof's Ten Tips for Writing Op-Eds
How can you write a powerful Op-Ed or editorial?

Well, over the years, many Times editors and writers have given the aspiring opiners advice. In the video above, for instance, Andrew Rosenthal, in his previous role as Editorial Page editor, detailed seven pointers for the students who participate in our annual Editorial Contest,

This summer, the Times Op-Ed columnist Bret Stephens wrote his own Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers.

And on our Oct. 10 webinar, Op-Ed columnist Nicholas Kristof suggests his own ten ideas. (Scroll down to see what they are, as well as to find related Op-Ed columns.)

Finally, if you'd like to get a letter to the editor published, here is what Tom Feyer, the longtime head of that section, recommends. Right now, from Oct. 9-Oct. 16, 2017, that section is offering a special letter-writing challenge for high school students. Submit a letter to the editor in response to a news article, editorial, column or Op-Ed essay in The Times from the past week, and they will pick a selection of the best entries and publish them on Sunday, Oct. 22.

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Last year, five students of Kabby Hong, the teacher who joined us for our Oct. 10 webinar, were either winners, runners-up or honorable mentions in our Student Editorial Contest.

How did he do it? First, he helps his students brainstorm by asking them the questions on this sheet. (The first page shows his own sample answers since he models them for his students.)

*" In Three and a Half Hours, an Alarm Will Go Off "

*" Redefining Ladylike "

*" Why I, a Heterosexual Teenage Boy, Want to See More Men in Speedos "

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On our Oct. 10 webinar (still available on-demand), Nicholas Kristof talked teachers through ten ways anyone can make their persuasive writing stronger. Here is a list of his tips, along with the columns that relate to each - though you'll need to watch the full webinar to hear the stories and examples that illustrate them.

1. Start out with a very clear idea in your own mind about the point you want to make.

Related: Preventing Mass Shootings Like the Vegas Strip Attack

2. Don't choose a topic, choose an argument.

Related: On Death Row, but Is He Innocent?

3. Start with a bang.

Related: If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die?

4. Personal stories are often very powerful to make a point.

Related: This is What a Refugee Looks Like

5. If the platform allows it, use photos or video or music or whatever.

Related: The Photos the U.S. and Saudi Arabia Don't Want You to See

6. Don't feel the need to be formal and stodgy.

Related: Meet the World's Leaders, in Hypocrisy

7. Acknowledge shortcomings in your arguments if the readers are likely to be aware of them, and address them openly.

Related: A Solution When a Nation's Schools Fail

8. It's often useful to cite an example of what you're criticizing, or quote from an antagonist, because it clarifies what you're against.

Related: Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian Girl

9. If you're really trying to persuade people who are on the fence, remember that their way of thinking may not be yours.

Related: We Don't Deny Harvey, So Why Deny Climate Change?

10. When your work is published, spread the word through social media or emails or any other avenue you can think of.

Related: You can find Nicholas Kristof on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, his Times blog, and via his free newsletter.

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10 Ways to Teach Argument-Writing With The New York Times

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Though this piece, " And Now a Word From Op-Ed," is from 2004, it still provides a useful and quick overview of The Times's Opinion section, even if the section then was mostly a print product. It begins this way: Here at the Op-Ed page, there are certain questions that are as constant as the seasons.

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At the end of every academic year, we collect all the lesson plans we've published and list them in a kind of directory for teachers.

Below, you'll find our 2015-16 offerings, but to scroll through all our roundup posts since 2010, just click here.

This year, we also featured a number of experimental educational features beyond our traditional lesson plans. Though they are not included in the lists below, you can find them here:

Happy summer, and let us know what topics you'd like us to take on in academic year 2016-17.
English Language Arts Literature and Poetry Teaching 'Mockingbird,' 'Watchman' and Harper Lee With The New York Times Text to Text | 'Antigone' and Noche Flamenca's 'Antigona' Text to Text | 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' and 'On the Reservation and Off, Schools See a Changing Tide' Reader Idea | Reading 'Macbeth' Through the Lens of Ferguson What's Going On in This Poem? | 'Taking It Home to Jerome' What's Going On in This Poem? Exploring Poetry Through Open-Ended Questions I Remember: Teaching About the Role of Memory Across the Curriculum Literacy Skills and Strategies

Skills and Strategies | Making Inferences Skills and Strategies | Annotating to Engage, Analyze, Connect and Create Skills and Strategies | Fake News vs. Real News: Determining the Reliability of Sources Skills and Strategies | Understanding Plagiarism in a Digital Age Skills and Strategies | Doodling, Sketching and 'Mind Mapping' as Learning Tools Skills and Strategies | Exit Slips Before, During and After: Strategies From Our News Q's Feature for Reading Nonfiction Skills and Strategies | The Four-Corners Exercise to Inspire Writing and Discussion 8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills Reader Idea | An Argument-Writing Unit: Crafting Student Editorials Thinking Critically: Reading and Writing Culture Reviews Social Studies, History, Geography and Civics Election 2016

Election 2016: 10 Ways for Students to Stay Engaged This Summer Election 2016: Our Teaching and Learning Homepage Election 2016 | Comparing the Candidates on the Issues Great Free Resources for Teaching Election 2016 Election 2016: Understanding Primaries and Caucuses American History and Civics Teaching and Learning Resources | The Attack in Orlando: The Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History The Ten-Dollar Founding Father Without a Father: Teaching and Learning With 'Hamilton' How to Fix the Criminal Justice System: A Student-Created Debate and Lesson Plan Equality Under the Law? Investigating Race and the Justice System Text to Text | 'Why Reconstruction Matters' and 'Black Reconstruction in America' Text to Text | 'Let's Give Up on the Constitution' and 'The Constitution of the United States' Global Issues

Border Challenges: Responding to the Global Migration Crisis Glory or Turmoil: Teaching and Learning About Brazil and the Summer Olympics Demography Is Destiny? Teaching About Cause and Effect With Global Population Trends Resources | The Attacks in Paris Text to Text | 'Stop Revering Magna Carta' and 'Eight Centuries of Liberty' Growing Up in a Time of Fear: Confronting Stereotypes About Muslims and Countering Xenophobia Social Studies Skills and Strategies Analyzing Maps to Better Understand Global Current Events and History Drawing for Change: Analyzing and Making Political Cartoons Teaching With Protest Music I Remember: Teaching About the Role of Memory Across the Curriculum Three Teacher-Tested Ways to Encourage Your Students to Follow Current Events This School Year Math, Science and Health

Playing Smart With Data: Using Sports Analytics to Teach Math Text to Text | 'Why Do Americans Stink at Math?' and 'How to Make Math Meaningful' Tinkering With Nature: Weighing the Benefits and Risks of Genetically Engineering Animals Text to Text | 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'The Sequel' Lesson Plan | Teaching 'Star Wars' With The New York Times Reader Idea | Teaching and Learning About Body Image in the Social Media Age Reader Idea | How to Beat Impostor Syndrome Reader Idea | Students Talk to Students About Drug and Alcohol Use The Arts The Ten-Dollar Founding Father Without a Father: Teaching and Learning With 'Hamilton' Analyzing the Elements of Art | Five Ways to Think About Color Analyzing the Elements of Art | Five Ways to Think About Line Analyzing the Elements of Art | Four Ways to Think About Form 8 Compelling Mini-Documentaries to Teach Close Reading and Critical Thinking Skills Thinking Critically: Reading and Writing Culture Reviews Teaching With Protest Music

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Year-End Roundup, 2015-16 | All Our Lesson Plans, All in One Place

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At the end of every academic year, we collect all the lesson plans we've published and list them as a kind of directory for teachers. Here are this year's offerings, as well as a link to all our lesson roundups since 2010.

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In this unit plan, an eighth-grade English teacher pushes her students to think deeply about what makes a good argument through an analysis of logos, pathos and ethos before conducting their own research and constructing their own editorial position.

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The Learning Network

From Activism to 'Zowie!': 10 Articles From the Times Archives on Life as a 20th-Century Teenager

In this piece, three students from across the United States choose 10 gems from the Times archives about youth in the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s, and muse on how life has changed - and how it hasn't - for teenagers today.

By Robert Schwartz, Rhea Singh and Cooper Veit

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In this piece, three students from across the United States choose 10 gems from the Times archives about youth in the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s, and muse on how life has changed - and how it hasn't - for teenagers today. By Robert Schwartz, Rhea Singh and Cooper Veit

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We invite students to submit short, evidence-based persuasive essays like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day.

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It's easy: Just "find" some poetry in a Times article - any Times article. Teachers across the curriculum tell us it's a great way to encourage close reading.

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Resources for teaching English language arts using New York Times content

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Teach and learn with The Times: Resources for bringing the world into your classroom

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Weekly News Quiz, Word of the Day, Country of the Week & Student Crosswords

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Sign up for our weekly newsletter if you want to be sure not to miss contest announcements. If you have questions, post them in the comments section and we'll answer you there.

_________

2017-18 Student Contest Calendar
Ongoing | Weekly all School Year, Starting Sept. 7
Our Current Events Conversation is an opportunity for teenagers to tell us what they're reading, watching or listening to in The New York Times and why. We will honor our favorite student comments weekly.

* Description of the Feature

* Find the latest spot for your students to post.
Editorial Cartoon Contest | Sept. 14-Oct. 17, 2017 Draw an editorial cartoon on a topic you care about.
* 2017 Contest and Rules

* Related Lesson Plan

* 2017 Winners
Review Contest | Oct. 12-Nov. 14, 2017 Review a book, movie, restaurant, album, theatrical production, video game, dance, TV show, art exhibit or any other kind of work The Times critiques.* New Contest: Media Literacy Student Challenge | Explore Your Relationship With News | Nov. 2-Dec. 22, 2017 This contest will invite students to analyze their personal relationships with news - however they define and consume it - then produce creative visual or written reflections about what they discover. 2017 Contest and Rules

* 2017 Contest and Rules
New Contest: Connect What You're Studying in School With the World Today | Dec. 7, 2017-Jan. 16, 2018 What does the Civil War - or evolution, or Shakespeare o r "The Bluest Eye" - have to do with with your life and the lives of those around you? Why should you remember it once you've turned in that paper or taken that test? What relevance does it have today? What parallels do you see between it and something happening in the news or in our culture? Vocabulary Video Contest | Jan. 18-Feb. 23, 2018 Produce a 15-second video about the meaning of one of our Words of the Day.

Editorial Contest | Feb. 28-April 5, 2018 Write an editorial on an issue that matters to you.
* Related Lesson Plan

* 2017-18 Winners

In this c ontest, we invite students to address those questions by matching s omething they are studying in school to anything they like that was published in The Times in 2017 or 2018, and tell us why they made the connection.
Found Poetry Contest | April 4-May 4, 2018 Create a poem composed from words and phrases found in Times articles.
* 2017 Rules and Submission Form

* Related Lesson Plan

* 2018 Rules
We'll be honest: This contest is a work in progress. We plan to invite teenagers to create their own podcasts, based in some way on the popular New York Times podcasts, but are still working out the details. Stay tuned, and, in the meantime, if you have ideas or thoughts, please let us know at LNFeedback@nytimes.com. Summer Reading Contest | June 15-Aug. 24, 2018 We ask, "What interested you most in The Times this week?" each Friday for 10 weeks.
* 2017 Winners

* 2017 Rules

* Related Lesson Plan

* 2017 Winners

* 2017 Rules

* Related Lesson Plan

* 2017 Winners

* Past Winners

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Announcing Our 2017-18 Student Contest Calendar

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Sign up for our weekly newsletter if you want to be sure not to miss contest announcements. If you have questions, post them in the comments section and we'll answer you there. _________ 2017-18 Student Contest Calendar Ongoing | Weekly all School Year, Starting Sept.

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Charged with choosing words and phrases from Times articles and creating poetry from them, the nearly 2,400 teenagers who entered our contest dazzled us with their work.

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A categorized collection of the short, accessible, image-driven posts we published during the 2017-18 school year.

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Look closely at this graph, and join the moderated conversation about what you and other students see.

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Below, more than 150 puzzles on topics inspired by subjects across the curriculum. Each one is written by Times crossword master Frank Longo, and each comes with links to the answers and to more Times and Learning Network content on the topic.

Once you've completed these, you might want to move on to other New York Times games, whether the daily crossword or logic puzzles like Sudoku, KenKen or Set. (The crossword requires a subscription, but the logic puzzles are free.)

And if you're a real puzzle enthusiast, you'll enjoy these special Tips & Tricks Tutorials for solving Times crosswords, as well as the conversation, insights and unique challenges posed by the Wordplay and Numberplay blogs.

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Student Crossword Archive (Published 2016)

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Below, more than 150 puzzles on topics inspired by subjects across the curriculum. Each one is written by Times crossword master Frank Longo, and each comes with links to the answers and to more Times and Learning Network content on the topic.

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A weekly interactive quiz introduces students to a country via Times maps, video, photography and journalism.

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How well did you follow the news this past week? How many of these 10 questions can you get right?

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A selection of our activities for students that draws on reporting about STEM subjects.

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Our roundup of the news stories and features about young people that have recently appeared across sections of NYTimes.com.

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Critical thinking questions about important or compelling news stories.

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The best teenage comments from last week's writing prompts, and an invitation to join the conversation this week.

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This word has appeared in 42 articles on nytimes.com in the past year.

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In your opinion, is educating people about unconscious bias an appropriate response to racist incidents like the one that happened at Starbucks?

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A resourceful Congolese man turns scraps into a soccer ball for village children, so they can play the sport they love.

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Intriguing Times images stripped of their captions — and an invitation to students to discuss them live.