Staff Crew Spotlight: Mr. Cody Cooper - sixth grade teacher

I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, and tell you a story about Mr. Cody.
 
He moved to Highlands Ranch with his family when he was in 4th grade. In the hood of Douglas County is where he spent most of his days, chillin out, maxin, relaxin all cool and playing ice hockey outside of school. Then a couple of guys who were up to no good - started making trouble in his neighborhood… so along came an opportunity to teach victim empathy to juvenile offenders as a mentoring case manager for a nonprofit called PARTNERS. He thought a week long curriculum about how the offenders actions affected the community, and what restorative practices they could employ to start to make things right with their victims. 

This sparked Mr. Cody’s passion for teaching and with the help of a great mentor during his student teaching  - Mr. Cody learned learning in the classroom is difficult without established relationships. His mentor was a perfect balance of confidence and empathy and role model for Mr. Cody. 

Mr. Cody went to college at Colorado Mesa University. He received a Masters in Education with endorsements in Elementary Education and 7-12 English Language Arts. He then went on to Colorado State University - Pueblo and received an endorsement in Special Education. 

Mr. Cody’s roommate is a bearded dragon that has been with him for the last 5yrs. And he and  wife celebrated their 1st Anniversary this summer (Congrats guys! ) 

Mr. Cody says that working in the juvenile justice system opened his eyes to the possible future of our youth, and motivated him to help that demographic avoid that path. 

He student taught 5th grade, was a 4th grade teacher for two years and spent the last three years in special education at the elementary level. He got into expeditionary learning at his last school which inspired him to seek out REMS. Crew is what drew him to REMS. Relationship building and taking school past just academics is what he personally identify with as a professional.

Outside of teaching, Mr. Cody enjoys cooking, yoga, board games, being in nature, meditation, every type of sport, reading all sorts of genres, taking road trips, astronomy, fast cars, and gardening. He was also a raft guide for several summers in college and fell in love with the river and camping.

Mr. Cody is looking forward to developing relationships with the students and staff. He also really enjoys English/Language Arts.

And that is the story of how he became the Fresh Prince of 6th grade.

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