Academy English teacher and department chair Karen Gold was recently featured in The New York Times online Lesson Plans section.
The article, titled, “Reader Idea: Teaching History and Classic Literature With Times Articles,” was posted on October 26. In the article, Mrs. Gold describes how she approached three texts- “The Great Gatsby,” “Julius Caesar,” and the Gettysburg Address by using resources from the Times. An avid New York Times reader herself, Mrs. Gold describes how she uses current events to make connections to the literature or historic time period her students are studying. She uses the Times’ Learning Network resources in her classes, and last summer, teachers were sent a survey asking for examples on how people were using the site. Mrs. Gold sent back her “Gatsby” ideas, and completely forgot about it, she says.
Then, two weeks ago, an editor from the Times contacted her with a request for more detail on the ideas she had provided on “Gatsby”. Then, they asked for more examples, which she provided- on “Julius Caesar” and the Civil War. Eventually, a full column was published, and when Mrs. Gold found out, as she puts it, “It was the best day ever!”
Mrs. Gold’s lesson plan will be featured in a webinar on Wednesday, November 8 called “Ripped from the Headlines and Applied to the Classics: Pairing Often-Taught Literary and History Texts with Times Articles and Multimedia.”
To read the article in The New York Times, click here.