Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
Why do we want to make our students into historians? Not because even a fraction of a percent of them might become writers or professors – but because “doing history” teaches life skills hard to learn… Continue reading
Those of us who have used the Stanford History Education Group’s wealth of materials, from assessments to primary sources, will not be surprised to learn that founder Sam Wineburg’s new book… Continue reading
It’s tempting to describe the “shiny” lesson: the debate, the simulation, the Socratic seminar. When students connect with each other so loudly the air crackles. Of course I love those lessons. Who doesn’t? … Continue reading
I was way late to the podcast party. For a long time I had what I thought were good reasons: I don’t commute far. I like to listen to music, not words, while I exercise. I had a wonky old phone without enough memory… Continue reading
As we start the school year, I’m just not feeling the debating spirit. Last November, I wrote about an electoral college debate gone awry in my eighth-grade history classes. The topic felt too stale and too political… Continue reading
Assigning opinion pieces on current issues gives our students voice and lets us hear their strong and sometimes fiery perspectives. When I’ve assigned op-eds in both world and U.S. history, students have responded best when… Continue reading
Asking students to use books for research sometimes feels old-fashioned even to me, an inveterate reader. So much exists online, in subscription databases and on the free web, and students instinctively reach for their phones or a keyboard to discover information. Yet doing research for my own master’s degree in history over the past few years… Continue reading
This week it has been even more of a pleasure than usual to spend time with eighth graders. They’ve been creating social reform concept maps, an oldie-but-goodie project that I… Continue reading
Most days, I feel reasonably positive about how my classes have gone, in this my 19th year of teaching. I usually have in mind tweaks or even overhauls for next year’s version of that topic, but rarely do I feel that an entire project has fallen short of my expectations. But last month… 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
Sarah Cooper 