Sarah Cooper

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting! This is a place to find my writing, both education pieces and personal essays. I teach history and do academic administration at an independent school just north of Los Angeles. I’ve also written two books about history teaching, Creating Citizens (Routledge, 2018) and Making History Mine (Stenhouse, 2009), and write regularly for MiddleWeb’s Future of History blog. In my free time, I like to run, cook, play piano, listen to Broadway musicals, search for good bakeries and spend time with my husband and two sons. I’ve also taught English and love young adult fiction. @sarahjcooper01

“Six Takeaways from a History Podcast Project,” MiddleWeb

June 14, 2020June 17, 2020 Sarah Cooper

In April I wrote about a new resilient history podcast project I was trying with my U.S. history students. I wanted it to relate to the current crisis and offer a meaningful group project during these challenging times. After grading the podcasts, reading student compliments on each other’s work, and conducting an anonymous survey… Continue reading

“Distance Learning Strategies to Bring Back to the Classroom,” Edutopia

May 20, 2020May 31, 2020 Sarah Cooper

Before my eighth-grade history students moved into online learning this spring, I had no idea about one student’s affection for Cup Noodles or another’s sweet way of talking about her 5-year-old brother. Perhaps I should have known, but I didn’t, and I wish I had. Distance learning has enabled these intimate glimpses… Continue reading

“Social Studies Instruction in the Age of the Coronavirus,” Education Week Teacher

May 15, 2020May 31, 2020 Sarah Cooper

This has been one of the most difficult moments I can remember to encourage students to follow the news. As two 8th graders said recently in a Zoom chat:

I don’t really bother to look because it is all about the coronavirus.
There’s not much about anything else… Continue reading

“Working” by Robert Caro, Bookclique

May 6, 2020May 9, 2020 Sarah Cooper

At first I picked up Robert Caro’s memoir because the historian, journalist and teacher in me were curious. Caro’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is the only 1,300-page nonfiction book… Continue reading

“Designed to Learn” by Lindsay Portnoy, MiddleWeb

April 23, 2020June 9, 2020 Sarah Cooper

In its sophisticated checklists, grounded research, and illustrative classroom stories, Lindsay Portnoy’s Designed to Learn: Using Design Thinking to Bring Purpose and Passion to the Classroom will inspire you to fine-tune or jump-start your design thinking approach. While reading, I found myself appreciating the book’s rich… Continue reading

“A Social Studies Podcast Project for Right Now,” MiddleWeb

April 19, 2020June 17, 2020 Sarah Cooper

Rarely has it been so clear that a unit needs to be scrapped and started over from scratch. In my eighth-grade U.S. history and civics class, which has a lot of curricular flexibility, we focus on… Continue reading

“What I Miss About My Middle Schoolers,” MiddleWeb

April 8, 2020May 31, 2020 Sarah Cooper

Teaching via Zoom at my kitchen counter, laptop perched on coffee table books, is not the top way I would choose to interact with my eighth-grade U.S. history students. However, by the time we reach the end of each period, I find myself reluctant to say goodbye… Continue reading

“Advice for Teachers Who Want to Write a Book,” Education Week Teacher

April 5, 2020April 19, 2020 Sarah Cooper

Writing a book about teaching is not as hard as it seems. You don’t need an agent, and cold submissions can be very successful. In 2007, I had been teaching for almost a decade, always fascinated by curriculum design… Continue reading

“My Love Letter to Trader Joe’s,” Well-Schooled

April 1, 2020April 10, 2020 Sarah Cooper

Now more than ever, Trader Joe’s comforts my soul. And recently, it has also shown me how to be a more empathetic leader, to remember the humanity around us. But first, some history. For the past dozen years — as I’ve taught middle school, steeped myself in faculty administration, and mothered two boys — Trader Joe’s has been there for me… Continue reading