Sally Schwager, Faculty

FACTS: Sally's work over the past twenty years has been focused on teacher education and history teaching in the schools. She got her first job as a teacher at the age of twenty and has been teaching ever since -- seventh grade, high school, undergraduates, graduate students, and experienced teachers. She earned her doctorate in Education from Harvard in 1982, when she began her work as director of the NEH/HGSE Women's History Institute, a program for secondary-school teachers. A member of the HGSE faculty since 1992, she teaches courses on history teaching and on the history of women and education. "I hold it a great privilege now to be working collaboratively with other faculty, with students, and with mentor teachers in our Teacher Education Program at HGSE. We think of ourselves as a community of learners and, as such, we work in teams on problems that really matter. I work individually and with small groups of students on course projects; we communicate regularly by email and via our course website and we collaborate with a range of teachers in the schools to learn from one another and to build a professional community of history teachers."

Sally's research interests outside of history teaching focus on the history of women's education. Currently she is engaged in a project on women teachers and the nineteenth-century amateur intellectual tradition. "As a teacher, I strive to bring both of these perspectives -- that of an historian and that of an educator actively engaged in issues of history teaching -- to my work."

THE INSIDE SCOOP: "While much important attention is paid to the problems of urban schools, I think we also need to attend to the untapped potential of students, schools, and communities in urban areas. We can connect teaching and learning to the rich histories that characterize our students' lives and the social issues that affect our urban neighborhoods. The potential for students to make a difference is enormous, and history teachers can help to make that happen."

"One great aspect of this work is that TEP students today become colleagues after they leave HGSE. Right now, for example, I am working with a group of first-year teachers across the country who graduated from our program this past June on a pilot project to provide on-line support and regional teacher networks. Former students from the past several years have served as guest faculty in my courses, and together we develop workshop presentations at professional meetings and conferences. I like to think of my students as "colleagues forever" rather than as students just for the year they're at Harvard."

"Just keep in mind how interesting, complicated, energetic, fun, and funny young people are. They are full of surprises! Focus on them as multi-faceted thinkers and learners, and don't underestimate what they can accomplish. Find other teachers who share your passion and your questions -- work together on problems with colleagues; seek out interesting colleagues in other departments, in the library, among the support staff. Think of teaching as a collaborative process -- not as a job for loners!"