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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

There were some so big this year they couldn't get through a door and had to turn sideways!

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

To use the primary sources to show the complexities of the human experience. Explaining why even with vast numbers, the laws made to maintain a system of inhumane behavior to a student who thinks it would've been so simple. That empathy will get us to a greater future.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

The honor to be asked to write a letter of recommendation for a stellar student who will go on to fabulous things. To explain the complaint about having to teach yourself before going to class is what college classes are like. That a history or humanities degree will get you far in life.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

The students that challenge themselves by taking an advanced class and a college credit class for the first time their junior year in high school. Hearing they've never liked history before, but having interactive activities and simulations makes learning and understanding fun.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

Seeing the face when the why makes sense. Why human choice can explain human action. Enormous homecoming mums in Texas. The excitement to read a fabulous book about the Cuban Missile Crisis for an academic extracurricular competition. Express love for the opportunity to learn about the Cold War.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

Hearing about how they're connecting the Kievan Rus to the current situation in Ukraine. Seeing any current event reflected in world events of the past. Learning to source documents and construct a historically defensible claim that establishes a line of reasoning. Understanding agency.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 3d

Reasons to Teach High School History when the World is on Fire

Students in West Texas seeing the rest of the world for the first time when they study Song China and Srivajaya and the Abbasids fighting the Mamluks and Ethiopia and the Mexica and Inca. Seeing how the world developed from that point.

Chanea Bond @heymrsbond.com · 5d

Reasons to Teach High School English when the World is on Fire

Black girls in advanced academics who write literary analyses about “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Queer kids who call the English Department The Fruit Factory. Allowables and Legacies by Nikki Giovanni.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 4d

I would love to write a complimentary thread about Reasons to Teach High School History when the World is on Fire, but it would be a pale imitation of these beautiful words.

Chanea Bond @heymrsbond.com · 5d

Reasons to Teach High School English when the World is on Fire

Black girls in advanced academics who write literary analyses about “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Queer kids who call the English Department The Fruit Factory. Allowables and Legacies by Nikki Giovanni.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 12d

This week has been one dumbass year. I deserve this Ardbeg Unicorn.

A small whiskey glass with a pour of excellent Scotch on an outside patio table.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 19d

Midland teacher fired over comments on Charlie Kirk's death | newswest9.com share.google/6Ig0SqBtqW4s...

Newswest 9 | Midland, Texas | newswest9.com

NewsWest9.com is the official website for KWES-TV, Channel 9, your trusted source for breaking news, weather and sports in Midland, TX. NewsWest9.com

newswest9.com

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 24d

10/10. No notes.

GONZO the ca'at @gonzo.bsky.social · 25d

Hek yah

Orange and white cat with photoshopped cigarette whiskey glass and beret

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · 29d

I said what I said and I'll stand by it until the end.

Album cover for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 7

But they're still going to have to take standardized tests right? That, you know, have them read questions and choose an answer? That have them write a response to a prompt? SAT, ACT, AP tests, etc., aren't changing their format anytime soon.

My students hate AI. I do too.

NPR @npr.org · Sep 7

Technologist Victor Riparbelli sees a future where students interact with AI avatars rather than read and write. We ask teachers and kids what they think and how they're using AI right now.

Will AI avatars eventually teach our kids?

Technologist Victor Riparbelli sees a future where students interact with AI avatars rather than read and write. We ask teachers and kids what they think and how they're using AI right now.

n.pr

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 7

So Brooks is basically saying he doesn't like to give money to programs to help the poor because it shows a moral failing to be in poverty and he doesn't want to support that. How very Puritan of him.

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · Sep 6

This is a common conservative trope: Giving money to poor people isn't enough, we need to focus on "cultural values" like hard work and marriage.

The problem is that red states have been doing that for decades and it doesn't work! Telling people that jobs are good doesn't help if there's no jobs.

They were willing to spend money to fight poverty, but they wanted the programs to nurture the values that they had seen firsthand help people rise: hard work, family and community cohesion, reliability, a passionate commitment to education. These values tend to inhere in communities before they are transmitted to individuals.

Progressives, by contrast, are quick to talk about money but slow to talk about the values side of the equation

I’ve been driven away from the right over the past decade, but I can’t join the left because I just don’t think that tradition of thought grasps reality in all its fullness. I wish both right and left could embrace the more complex truth that the neocon Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan expressed in his famous maxim: “The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change culture and save it from itself.”

If you can find some lefties who are willing to spend money fighting poverty but also willing to promote the traditional values and practices that enable people to rise, you can sign me up for the revolution.

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 6

My high school students have told me they're glad we're pretty much only on paper.

Which is going to be hard with my district trying to limit paper now. But I'll buy my own paper if I have to.

Thiago Krause @thiagokrause.bsky.social · Sep 6

I haven’t banned devices in class yet, but I’m definitely thinking about it…
(This piece is about Harvard but is one of the rare cases in which it applies to nearly everywhere else in higher ed)
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

It’s Time To Ban Laptops at Harvard | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

Perhaps if students were actually forced to listen in class (or at least to not actively ignore), they’d end up taking more classes they find legitimately interesting, and embracing the sort of vulner...

www.thecrimson.com

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 6

Howdy y'all.

Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · Sep 6

Richmond, Virginia.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 6

They also break the law by not wearing a seatbelt driving around DC because they're afraid of being carjacked.

Roberto Baldwin @strngwys.bsky.social · Sep 5

Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Sep 1

This is up there with my fashion pet peeves of pajamas aren't clothes for outside the house and leggings aren't real pants.

Hills I will die on.

Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · Aug 31

A thing that annoys me completely irrationally is when someone calls a zip up hoodie a jacket.

That’s a sweatshirt don’t be weird.

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 31

Listen, living in Texas is rough right now. Being a teacher is hard because of the interference from the legislature and my local school district board stacked with Tim Dunn picks. But this joke has never been more true:

Why doesn't Texas fall into the Gulf of Mexico?

Because Oklahoma sucks.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Aug 31

Out of the first five questions, four are about gender identity.

There isn't even a pretense that they're looking for qualified educators. They're interviewing candidates for the bathroom police.

Charlotte Garden @charlottegarden.bsky.social · Aug 31

Look at this sloppy question, which seems to ask for teachers' own opinions about ideal district policy, but offers answers about the scope of the First Amendment

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 31

I am a public school social studies teacher with graduate work in US Constitutional history. This isn't anywhere close to a civics test. #27 does not have a correct option. What an absolute embarrassment and insult to teachers with college degrees.

The most insulting part? PragerU is PROUD of this.

Andrew Sabl @andysabl.bsky.social · Aug 31

Here’s part of the test for Oklahoma teachers that Praeger U wrote.

This test—for *public school teachers*—combines middle school civics with religious Right (esp. anti-trans) ideology. And Praeger U is so proud of it that it took out a full-page NYT ad.

Ad on p. 7 of the August 31, 2025 New York Times, giving a selection of Prager U’s test for Oklahoma teachers. Too many characters to put the whole thing in alt-text, but here’s a link to the whole test: https://www.prageru.com/teacher-qualification-test

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 31

To add to this: my school district won't allow teachers any fundraising. They don't want it to look like they can't support the teachers. So the only thing I could do is an Amazon wish list for personal classroom supplies. Donors Choose and other fundraising sites are essentially banned.

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · Aug 31

There are many small non-profits that need amazon wishlists and meta accounts to survive. That's just a hard reality that a lot of casual private users don't seem to understand. They don't have the option to simply boycott and lose all of the donations that flow through those channels.

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 16

JK and all her followers are the textbook example of being angry about not being the main character and the TERF shit is just their attempt to change that.

The mold in the castle is just *chefs kiss* and I am all in for team mold. May it ever have favorable growing conditions!

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · Aug 16

this was the funniest possible way for me to learn that I guess Joanne’s castle has black mold in it

several hundred of you are in my replies like “team mold” and it keeps making me laugh

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 14

I don't think the board realizes their decision is making a name for them outside of Midland they won't own up to.

Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · Aug 13

To the students at Robert E. Lee High School in Midland, Texas. This is the heritage that your school district's board of trustees believes you should uphold and value. 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

A Message to Students at Robert E. Lee High School in Midland, Texas

Yesterday your school district’s board of trustees voted 4-3 to rename your school after Robert E.

open.substack.com

Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 13

1. Midland ISD is still under a desegregation order.
2. Midland ISD has a $7.8 million budget deficit and the 4 members of the board want to pay for this.
3. Midland ISD passed a compensation manual to under pay teachers like me and not give a full $5k raise from the state.

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Erika Cooke @weberhistorian.bsky.social · Aug 13

Links:
1. Inside Trump's push against school desegregation plans share.google/ax7w4GUg9wiO...
2. Proposed Midland ISD budget has $7.8 million deficit share.google/upAWRvtHrf63...
3. Salary Information share.google/CP04BsFpzKqt...

Inside Trump's push against school desegregation plans

Lifting desegregation policies set by federal rules and court orders — some of them a half-century old — could lead to a range of changes in more than 80 school systems.

share.google