"Corrigan considers The Great Gatsby to be the greatest American novel - and it's the novel she loves more than any other. She's written a new book about it called So We Read On: How the Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures. Corrigan says she loves The Great Gatsby in part because of its message that it's admirable to try to beat your own fate. "You can't escape the past, but isn't it noble to try?" she says. "That's the message here ... to be the boat against the current, even though failure and death inevitably await you. The doomed beauty of trying - that's what this novel is about.""

"In this lesson, students consider the purpose and history of Op-Eds by exploring the Times feature celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Op-Ed page. They then do one of several multidisciplinary activities designed to make Op-Eds relevant to their experience, perspective and learning."

"The Times's Room for Debate hosts six knowledgeable outside contributors who debate whether the college rankings are useful for students or too simplistic. Your Task: Do you think the college ranking system is a useful guide for students looking to find the right college, or do you think the rankings are too simplistic or misleading? Use the six Room for Debate opinion pieces to learn more about the issue and gather evidence on both sides, perhaps keeping track of what you find with this pro-con T-chart organizer (PDF). Then, write your own opinion, making sure you to use evidence from the various opinion pieces to back up your position. (You may even want to rebut a counterclaim within your response to strengthen your argument.)"

"Using the information in the article and the video, write a paragraph arguing whether colleges should continue to spend money on humanities majors when STEM careers are taking precedence after graduation. If so, how should these areas be updated for 21st-century learners?"

"What is your favorite food? How would you describe it? Using the sample descriptions in the article as mentor texts, compose a two or three-sentence description of your favorite food, using figurative language and unusual comparisons."

"The misdiagnosis of bullying is making the real but limited problem seem impossible to solve. Adults are quick to label conflicts between teenagers as bullying. But when everything is labeled as bullying, are we doing a disservice to victims? Ms. Bazelon discusses the need to shift the social norm so that bullying moves from being shrugged off to being treated as unacceptable. But she says we can't do that if we believe, and tell our children, that bullying is everywhere. Your Task: Is there a difference between drama and bullying in schools? Using at least one quotation from the article, create a response to Emily Bazelon explaining your viewpoint."

"In a well-crafted essay, explain three ways drones would be an improvement over traditional methods. Before you do the task, you might… Pay close attention to the instructions. Understand that the prompt is asking only for ways that drones would be an improvement. Watch this video that explains additional ways that drones might be used in the future. Write down all the possible benefits to drone use explained in the article and observed in the video."

"A small group of biotechnology hobbyists and entrepreneurs has started a project to develop plants that glow. Wanting to give new meaning to the term "natural light," these scientists are hoping to grow trees that can replace electric streetlamps and potted flowers luminous enough to read by. What are advocates and critics saying about this sophisticated form of genetic engineering called synthetic biology? Your Task: Summarize the issues surrounding the possibility of developing bioluminescent plants. Be sure to discuss the issues presented by both opponents and supporters of the movement."

"In this Text to Text, we pair President Johnson's "Great Society" speech with an article by Trip Gabriel describing the new face of poverty in rural West Virginia."

"In this Text to Text, we pair Dr. King's pivotal "I Have a Dream" speech with a reflection by the Times literary critic Michiko Kakutani, who explores why this singular speech has such lasting power."

"What are the roots and legacy of minstrelsy and the Scottsboro Trials? How can stereotypes be used not only to reinforce a bias, but also to satirize that very bias? In this lesson, students learn about the minstrel tradition, consider how it echoes through stereotypes of African-Americans today and explore the legacy of black stereotypes and the Scottsboro Trials in popular culture, history and literature."

"Though often considered second best to his "Death of a Salesman" and opening to lukewarm, if not downright hostile, reviews, Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible" continues to be mounted and taught worldwide because it speaks to universal fears of social isolation and the unknown - fears especially present in a rapidly changing world, not to mention in the topsy-turvy social order of school."

"In this lesson, we explore ethical dilemmas that face normal people around the world, in all walks of life. Some of their cases are familiar, while others are obscure. But they hold one thing in common: They feature individuals who followed the guidance of their own moral code, often risking personal injury or community censure to do so. We'll ask students to examine the underlying characteristics of such episodes, and consider whether some acts are more deserving of support than others."

"WHEN ARTHUR MILLER'S drama ''The Crucible'' first opened on Broadway in 1953, the country was in a panic about the so-called Red Menace. On Nov. 27, the first American movie of ''The Crucible'' will have its premiere. To understand why it took 43 years to make this film -- not to mention its contemporary relevance -- it pays briefly to recall the red hunt that no longer beleaguers us."

"Fifty-seven years later, Irving Adler still remembers the day he went from teacher to ex-teacher at Straubenmuller Textile High School on West 18th Street. It was the height of the Red Scare, and the nation was gripped by hysteria over loyalty and subversion. New York City's temples of learning, bursting with postwar immigrants and the first crop of baby boomers, rang with denunciations by interrogators and spies."

Room for Debate - Five short articles answer the question: Does "Catcher in the Rye" resonate with teenagers today? Does the Holden Caulfield version of alienation speak to a generation connected on Facebook?

"Holden won over the young, especially the 1960s generation who saw themselves in the disaffected preppy, according to the cultural critic Morris Dickstein. "The skepticism, the belief in the purity of the soul against the tawdry, trashy culture plays very well in the counterculture and post-counterculture generation," said Mr. Dickstein, who teaches at the Graduate Center of the University of the City of New York. Today, "I wouldn't say we have a more gullible youth culture, but it may be more of a joining or togetherness culture." The culture is also more competitive. These days, teenagers seem more interested in getting into Harvard than in flunking out of Pencey Prep. Young people, with their compulsive text-messaging and hyperactive pop culture metabolism, are more enchanted by wide-eyed, quidditch-playing Harry Potter of Hogwarts than by the smirking manager of Pencey's fencing team (who was lame enough to lose the team's equipment on the subway, after all). Today's pop culture heroes, it seems, are the nerds who conquer the world - like Harry - not the beautiful losers who reject it."

"In a small Southern town during the Jim Crow era, a black man is accused of raping a white woman. During his stormy trial there are threats of lynching, as well as intimations that the white woman had been the sexual aggressor. That tale summarizes the plot of Harper Lee's novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," a staple of high school English courses. But it also describes part of the more complicated and less morally uplifting real-life story told in "Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair," a half-hour documentary to be broadcast Friday on NPR stations as part of the "Radio Diaries" series (www.radiodiaries.org)."

"What we do know is that a plethora of assessment-related research has shed light not just on the importance of students' mindsets, but also on the importance of continual feedback and how active retrieval of information, in carefully spaced intervals, can produce long-lasting learning. Research also shows that providing students with choice enhances attention and engagement -- and confirms that the arts can help deepen long-term memory consolidation (Hardiman). Specifically, the following research is helping to change our understanding of the correlation between teaching and learning -- and altering our approaches to student assessment."

"This media gallery from American Masters: Salinger features a series of videos that explores how Salinger felt about his writing, his struggle to be published in The New Yorker magazine, and how Holden Caulfield was a reflection of his own life. The associated materials include a background essay, discussion questions and a student activity."