WHAT'S GOING ON NOW:

Rising Star Independent Middle School Teacher-Rachel Sussman

Living History
With current events as a lens, Sussman examines the past

For Rachel Sussman, teaching runs in her blood. Her mother was an English teacher, her grandfather was a superintendent and her great grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse. So after attending Barnard College and graduate school at Yale, Sussman decided to follow in the family tradition.

She’s now in her second year as a 7th and 8th grade history teacher at the Manhattan Country School and getting rave reviews.

“Parents love her,” said Michele Sola, the director of the school. “They think she demands a little sophistication, but the kids always come through.” And as for the kids, Sola said, “She has a really developed sense of how to engage them with the things that are very important to them.”

Sussman teaches 19th and 20th century American history, as well as a current events class and a computer methods class. Maiya Jackson, a colleague of Sussman’s, says she makes a point of introducing students to multiple historical perspectives. “When textbooks prove insufficient to do this, Rachel creates her own, searching out articles and primary documents to expose her students to different points of view,” Jackson said. “Rachel’s goal is to encourage her students to think like historians.”

The Manhattan Country School is an independent school that places an emphasis on social responsibility. It’s also small—there are fewer than 20 students in each grade, which fosters a pretty close relationship between the faculty and student body.

“I push them and really know what they’re capable of and what their challenges are,” Sussman said.

The small class size also allows her to hone in on what her students are passionate about. Which could mean changing the curriculum at a moment’s notice—something Sussman says she doesn’t mind doing.

This year, students in her current events class were particularly interested in two hot topics: gay marriage and the crisis in Darfur. Students kept a journal throughout the term, analyzed how the issues played out in the media and as a final project, produced a news show.

Last year, the hot topic among students was Hurricane Katrina. Sussman developed a year’s worth of curriculum pieces around the South and led an effort to bring the entire 7th and 8th grade classes down to Biloxi, Mississippi. The Manhattan Country community raised $30,000 for the effort. Students helped restore a library, took oral histories of children affected by Katrina, and met with freedom workers and civil rights workers there.

“They learned what it means to make a difference,” Sussman said.

And the lessons haven’t been forgotten. This year a small group of students returned to the Gulf Coast to help prepare for the opening of school last August.

Sussman is thinking about going back to Biloxi this summer and doing reconstruction work. She’s also trying to start a small camp in Gulf Port, Mississippi, that would be a partner with Manhattan Country. Sussman says she hopes to lay some of the groundwork this season and have the camp up and running by next year.

— Courtney McLeod