Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
As teachers over the past decade, we find the question of how to respond the day after a cataclysmic event has come up more than any of us would want. What do our students need and crave in these moments? How much do we share of our own feelings… Continue reading
I wanted to read this book not only because Bruni has been one of the most versatile writers in the New York Times over the years (restaurant critic and Rome bureau chief, to name a couple), and not only because I read his book about college, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, twice before my older son applied, but also because I had my own brush with vision loss… Continue reading
Over the past five years, spurred by an imperative to help students make sense of our confusing world, the field of civics education has become what it rarely is: a hot topic… Continue reading
Culturally responsive teaching can take many different forms. An excellent recent EdWeek article defined it as taking into account “students’ customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives as tools for better classroom instruction.” Although I often feel I’m only partially engaging with students’ backgrounds and experiences in my 8th U.S. history and civics classes, here are a few guidelines I try to follow… Continue reading
As my older son heads off to college in a couple of weeks, I’m repeating myself. Even I can tell it’s annoying, but I don’t stop. I tell him: Go to office hours. Get involved in extracurriculars. Don’t skip classes like I did, after finding a boyfriend freshman year. Be curious, find something that interests you, get out to exercise. I’ve told him these things 10 times, 100, and yet I keep saying them like a talisman… Continue reading
The epigraph of Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Take My Hand sets a historical, poignant, and fiercely resilient tone: “Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.” – Martin Luther King Jr.’s reported last words, April 4, 1968. The song’s steadfast gospel lyrics equally describe the book’s protagonist… Continue reading
Lately I’ve been reading memoirs for reasons that remind me of a line from the uneven but wrenching musical Falsettos. It’s sung by the sometimes lovable, sometimes despicable protagonist: “I never wanted to love you/ I only wanted to see my face in yours.” But the best memoirs not only reflect back who you are. They also open worlds beyond your… Continue reading
After more than two decades of teaching middle school, my answer has simplified over time. Twenty years ago, I would have said that you need to keep students busy, change up activities multiple times a period, make sure they’re doing something. Ten years ago, I would have said that you need to see the infinite potential of middle schoolers… Continue reading
I first saw Kendra Atleework’s memoir Miracle Country in the Lone Pine visitor center, 200 miles north of Los Angeles, below Mount Whitney along Highway 395. The building rose out of the desert to meet us on our seventh summer trip to Mammoth Lakes in ten years. Each year, I had considered… Continue reading
Over winter break, I walked with a childhood friend through a local botanical garden and I found myself briefly ranting about my job. All the COVID changes and restrictions are enough to make you want to leave education, I said. To be clear, I’m not leaving… Continue reading
Sarah Cooper 