Sarah Cooper’s Creating Citizens will ignite a passion for discovery, challenge students to seek information from wide ranging sources, and help them apply their learning and form their own opinions about history, civics and current events, writes Linda Biondi.
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 07/01/2018 · Last modified 11/29/2019
Moving current events front and center has been one of the most influential paradigm shifts in Sarah Cooper’s years of teaching U.S. History. How does she find the time? Learn three simple ways to help students stay attuned to the news and make historical connections.
Leafing through Regie Routman’s Literacy Essentials feels not so much like reading a book as like talking with a master teacher, or maybe wading in and out of a calm ocean, writes teacher Sarah Cooper, who finds it a compendium of wisdom about teaching and about life.
Future of History / Project Based Learning
by Sarah Cooper · Published 05/21/2018 · Last modified 11/18/2019
This year, as 8th graders at Sarah Cooper’s school developed their community impact projects, she added a twist to the required (but seldom read) 300-word research display. Intriguing quotes, many with engaging graphics, increased student investment and audience attention.
Future of History / Student Research
by Sarah Cooper · Published 04/10/2018 · Last modified 03/30/2024
As students research US history for Sarah Cooper, they are used to trying search terms on a screen. But when assignments require them to wander the stacks for books, sometimes they don’t know where to begin. Answering their questions has given her ideas to share here.
Future of History / Learning from Students
by Sarah Cooper · Published 02/27/2018 · Last modified 03/01/2022
Sarah Cooper’s eighth graders take a “Bread and Roses” metaphor from the Progressive Era to the fight for the ERA – making insightful comparisons Cooper had not anticipated. “Giving students room to make their own connections meant that they could teach me,” she says.
Mary Tedrow makes a strong case for daily student writing that generates ideas and wonderings not only in English but all content areas. Sarah Cooper finds Tedrow’s detailed guide to using Daybooks and her recommendations on grading and indexing particularly helpful.
With sensitivity and practicality, Sarah Cooper takes on the heightened challenge of teaching civics and governance to today’s adolescents. Fellow middle grades teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron finds practical strategies and lessons that can be used across the curriculum.
Future of History / Teaching strategies
by Sarah Cooper · Published 01/15/2018 · Last modified 11/23/2019
Recently Sarah Cooper’s history classes debated whether the electoral college should be abolished. Reflecting on the weeklong unit, Cooper concludes she “misstepped” in several ways. Learn what she plans to do differently next year, starting with a fresh debate topic.
You might look at Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s table of contents in “Just Ask Us” and think that you’ve seen these topics before. You have – but you likely haven’t seen them all in one place, enhanced by the rich voices and wisdom of our students. says teacher Sarah Cooper.
