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Sarah Cooper

Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching

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Author: Sarah Cooper

@sarahjcooper01 sarahjcooper.com

“‘Dropping Into’ Google Docs,” Education Week

October 19, 2021October 21, 2021 Sarah Cooper

What I realized during remote teaching and then back in the classroom is how powerful Google Docs can be for a specific purpose: I can “drop into” a group’s work during class and help make their writing and research better than it would have been otherwise. In a recent resilient history podcast project… Continue reading

Posted in Research

“New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time” by Craig Taylor, Bookclique

September 15, 2021September 20, 2021 Sarah Cooper

Craig Taylor’s New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time landed in my library stack when the world was starting to open up again, early spring 2021. At the time I wasn’t sure when I would be visiting the city again. But reading this book felt like walking the streets… Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Storytelling

“Seven Ways Educators Will Be Teaching Differently This Year and in the Post-COVID Era,” Education Week

August 21, 2021September 20, 2021 Sarah Cooper

Teaching remotely last year showed me how much more I could learn about my students. Here are three very human practices I want to continue in real life… Continue reading

Posted in Storytelling

“Time to Plant Tears,” Well-Schooled

June 8, 2021June 17, 2021 Sarah Cooper

Lately, the world has been opening up here in our corner of Los Angeles, and I’ve been crying, a lot. Tears have arrived at strange times, in public and private, and more than they did for the entire pandemic year before that. It has taken me a while to figure out why…. Continue reading

Posted in Storytelling

“Weekly Newspaper Articles as Primary Sources,” Education Week

March 14, 2021June 17, 2021 Sarah Cooper

With judicious use of fascinating primary sources, history for middle schoolers can burst off the page.

We as teachers can synthesize or “layer” primary sources to to make the sum richer than its part, remember how hard it can be for students to grapple with unfamiliar documents… Continue reading

Posted in Civics, Research

“We Are Not From Here” by Jenny Sanchez Torres, Bookclique

February 24, 2021June 17, 2021 Sarah Cooper

These days I find myself drawn to story after story about immigration policy, wondering about the faces behind the statistics. Yet Jenny Torres Sanchez’s We Are Not From Here sat on my shelf for longer than I wanted…. Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Social Justice, Storytelling

“Seeking Sprawl,” Well-Schooled

February 16, 2021February 17, 2021 Sarah Cooper

Lately I’ve come back to the same image when I fantasize about having every student back in the classroom, particularly the 8th graders I love so much. They are maskless. They need no sanitation. And, most of all, they sprawl. These middle schoolers lean shoulder to shoulder… Continue reading

Posted in Civics, Storytelling

“What books and articles should white educators read about race and racism?”, Education Week

January 20, 2021October 13, 2021 Sarah Cooper

As a white Jewish educator, I feel I’m always on the journey to understanding more about race and racism. I don’t expect ever to arrive but rather to keep searching for understanding. The following three books have deepened this search immeasurably in recent years… Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews

“Rocking the Constitution in Grade 8 History Class,” MiddleWeb

January 7, 2021 Sarah Cooper

In a school year when the Constitution has exploded into the news more than ever, my eighth graders and I have carefully discussed political articles as they’ve appeared. Yet I’ve also wanted to infuse life into this founding document beyond current events. Last year I spiced up… Continue reading

Posted in Civics

“Post-Election Teaching Strategies: Inform Rather than Persuade,” Education Week

November 19, 2020December 21, 2020 Sarah Cooper

In the days following the election, though, “harder” won for me, and I nearly gave up talking about it. Sure, we had a great couple of classes in that liminal, fizzy, who-knows period before the election was called… Continue reading

Posted in Civics

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