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.
Each day in Sarah Cooper’s 8th grade U.S. history class, they begin with a 5-minute discussion of current events. The sheer number of mass attacks in the United States this semester has pummeled Sarah and her students. She ponders how she and other teachers can continue to respond.
Future of History / History and Spoken Poetry
by Sarah Cooper · Published 10/22/2017 · Last modified 11/24/2019
In a recent post, Sarah Cooper wrote about her fears surrounding a new current-events project – her 8th graders creating spoken poetry videos on issues of interest to them. Here she reviews the experience and its power to create community as it engaged her students.
Regardless of where educators land politically, it can sometimes feel like tiptoeing through a minefield to facilitate a balanced discussion of current events, writes teacher Sarah Cooper. Are there times when it’s appropriate for teachers to reveal their own views?
Future of History / History and Spoken Poetry
by Sarah Cooper · Published 09/24/2017 · Last modified 11/24/2019
History teacher Sarah Cooper is enthusiastically barreling into the year with a totally untried project. It asks eighth graders to research a current issue in the news that they’re passionate about, then write and film their own spoken word poem. What could go wrong?
Future of History / History Resources
by Sarah Cooper · Published 09/10/2017 · Last modified 03/02/2021
A history teacher’s role is to transmute history into stories and lessons that engage and inform students. Sarah Cooper shares a think-aloud “wondering” about ways to incorporate some of her summer professional reading into middle school history classes this year.
Future of History / Learning Spaces
by Sarah Cooper · Published 07/30/2017 · Last modified 12/05/2019
Amid a near-universal celebration of collaborative, interactive work as a 21st century reality and ideal, teacher Sarah Cooper investigates something we so often forget in our classrooms and our schools: the need for quiet space and the challenges of achieving it.
Future of History / Teaching with Movies
by Sarah Cooper · Published 05/29/2017 · Last modified 11/27/2019
Showing short video clips to her history students is easy for Sarah Cooper to justify, but with full-length movies she is more cautious about the time investment. Here she shares three films that make the cut: Iron Jawed Angels, Glory, and All the President’s Men.
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 04/17/2017 · Last modified 10/13/2024
Bit by bit, during each Friday’s 43-minute current events session, Sarah Cooper’s eighth graders come closer to a democratic classroom culture that students really own – through their ideas, through their questions, through their wondering how the world works.
