Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
In many conversations, the topic of civics education comes with its own halo. The conventional wisdom is that it’s good, clean medicine, and if our children just… Continue reading
An eighth-grade history teacher at Flintridge Preparatory School who uses current events to inspire students to think and engage in deep discussions about the world around them, Sarah Cooper remembers watching the November 2016 election… Continue reading
Why did I worry? In my last blog post, I wrote about my fears surrounding a new project. My eighth-grade U.S. history students had chosen an issue they cared about in the news, and they were about to write and film spoken word poems about it. I was nervous, and… Continue reading
Regardless of where teachers land politically, and whether or not you hope to remain an impartial guide, it can sometimes feel like tiptoeing through a minefield to facilitate a balanced discussion of current events… Continue reading
Right now I’m barreling into the year with a project I’m beyond excited about. It asks students to choose a current issue in the news and then write and film their own spoken word poem about it. This spoken word poetry project feels unusual (okay, scary) to me in a number of ways… Continue reading
Participation has always been one of the most difficult things to assess and encourage for my 8th grade history students. Sometimes the quietest students in discussion are the most devoted in their writing, and sometimes the most vocal students are not aware… Continue reading
Three Broadway musicals from throughout the 1970s – Follies, A Chorus Line, and Annie – in the intentions of their creators and actors, in the reception by critics and audiences, and in the messages of the book and music themselves – reflected larger social issues of the time… Continue reading
One of my favorite activities to help students understand the richness of the news is also one of the simplest. I often do it at the beginning of the year, but you could do it anytime you wanted students to think more deeply… Continue reading
On Wednesday my 8th grade U.S. history students slammed into class, some distraught and some delighted after hearing the election results from the night before… Continue reading
Reading History Class Revisited in the summer made me really miss the middle schoolers who fill my classroom each fall. On each page, Jody Passanisi shows a deep knowledge and affection for these students’ minds and hearts. Along the way she offers… Continue reading
Sarah Cooper 