Reflecting & Storytelling About Teaching
Sometimes I find myself justifying with logic what I feel in my gut, translating the body’s knowledge into words. My mom would often say “trust your instincts” when I was growing up, when I was torn between what I thought I should do versus what I felt pulled to do. This phrase applied to a multitude of moments. Sometimes it was whether to take a trip… Continue reading
“Let’s go on an awe walk!” I said to my 8th grade U.S. History and Civics students at the beginning of second semester last year. We took five minutes to circle our building, head toward the soccer field, and come back along the fire lane. As these middle schoolers clustered like grapes, they looked for one thing… Continue reading
Full disclosure: I’ve been an academic administrator for 15 years, but I still get to teach two sections of 8th U.S. history and civics. I realize that this balance is not possible for many administrators, especially in public schools, and I wouldn’t do administration if I couldn’t teach in some way. Being in the classroom fuels me… Continue reading
A decade ago, after a week of professional development through the Gilder Lehrman Institute at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, I wrote a piece on what I’d discovered being a student again: “10 Things I Learned Sitting in a Classroom.” This summer I had another incredible chance to be a social studies learner… Continue reading
Every once in a while, I think about dropping regular discussions of current events from my eighth-grade history and civics class. Why? It would be easier to teach about the dormant past, not the contentious present. There would be fewer… Continue reading
I’ve been listening to “The Circle Game” lately. As a teenager I was pre-nostalgic before I really had anything to remember, and this Joni Mitchell song was one of a dozen loaded onto a mixtape. Later, I played it on nights driving… Continue reading
One of my enduring memories of childhood is going to the house of family friends after a monthly Friday night Shabbat service. My mom would grab a brownie or piece of pie and then … Continue reading
With a protagonist so extra that the pages practically turn on their own, Laurie Frankel’s Family Family slides in enough wisdom about families and those who live in them (that is, all of us) to embroider on generations of samplers. We learn this novel’s expansive definition of family from… Continue reading
During this music concert, tucked into my favorite back-row aisle seat, I’m carried away by these high schoolers’ earnest 1960s musical storytelling and wonder which show will come next. When a West Side Story medley tees off, I sit up with familiarity and anticipation. Because of my dad, I’ve never not known this music… Continue reading
While reading Nina LaCour’s Yerba Buena on a drowsy Los Angeles winter afternoon, I turned the pages in a rush. I wanted to experience what would happen to main characters Emilie and Sara: first as teenagers in their own separate tales of trauma, then as adults eventually finding and re-finding each other in this coming-of-age romance. At the same time, the book’s sensory beauty made me want to notice… Continue reading
Sarah Cooper 