In this new collection of 100 essays curated by The New York Times, students will find mentor texts written by their peers-13-to-18-year-olds-on a wide range of topics, including social media, race, video games, lockdown drills, immigration, tackle football, and the #MeToo movement. All of the essays were either winners or runners-up from The New York Times Learning Network 2014-2019 Student Editorial contests, in which students could take on any issue they liked and, in 450 words or fewer, persuade readers-including educators from around the country as well as Times judges-to adopt their point of view. The essays have been selected for their voice, style, and use of evidence, as well as to present snapshot of issues across a dozen categories that are of particular interest to adolescents. Student Voice is also available as a package with Raising Student Voice: 35 Ways to Help Students Write Better Argument Essays, from The New York Times Learning Network, a teacher's companion guide packed with practical advice from teachers, Times editors, and even student winners about how to use these essays in writing instruction.

Everyone knows what coming of age in America is supposed to look like. Then came 2020. Instead of proms and championship games and all-night hangouts with friends, there was school on Zoom from bed. In this book, teenagers from across the country show how they coped with a world on fire, as a pandemic raged, political divides hardened and the Black Lives Matter movement galvanised millions. Via diary entries, comics, photos, poems, paintings, charts, lists, Lego sculptures, songs, recipes and rants, they tell the story of the year that will define their generation. The pieces in this collection, chosen from more than 5,500 submitted to a contest on The New York Times Learning Network, provide an arresting documentation of how ordinary teenagers experienced extraordinary events. But for every creative expression of terror, frustration, loneliness and anxiety, there is another of meaning, joy, resilience and hope.

This bundle includes one copy each of Student Voice: 100 Argument Essays by Teens on Issues That Matter to Them and Raising Student Voice: 35 Ways to Help Students Write Better Argument Essays, from The New York Times Learning Network. At a time when examples of “student voice� are everywhere, from Greta Thunberg to the Parkland students to the teenagers in the streets of Hong Kong, the argument writing that students study in school is still almost entirely written by adults. It is a wholly different experience for teenagers to study the work of their peers. It’s relatable. It’s relevant. And it doesn’t feel like an untouchable ideal. In this new collection of 100 essays curated by The New York Times, students will find mentor texts written by their peers—13-18-year olds—on a wide range of topics including social media, race, school lockdown drills, immigration, tackle football, the #MeToo movement, and COVID-19. For any teacher who feels that students write better when they have some choice over the topic and form, when they write for an audience beyond the teacher and a purpose beyond a grade, and when they get to sound like themselves, this anthology is an invaluable resource to accompany any composition text. In the companion teacher’s guide, Katherine Schulten—a former teacher and writing coach herself—provides teachers with 35 strategies and classroom-ready activities for using these peer mentor texts with their students. Raising Student Voice also includes 500 writing prompts, a “topic generator� with questions to help students decide what they’d like to write about, and a sample essay annotated with the comments of Times judges.