Biography
Dr. Jessica Schocker is an associate professor of social studies education and women's studies at Penn State Berks. She teaches several courses in the education program as well as general education classes in sociology, women's history, and kinesiology.
A former high school teacher, Schocker has always loved teaching and learning. This passion is reflected in her innovative teaching methods and the relationships she forms with students. Schocker has earned multiple prestigious teaching awards during her more than 20 years of teaching including the “George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching” (2014) and “The Penn State Alumni Association’s Teaching Fellow Award” (2022) at Penn State and “Inspirational Teacher of the Year” at Easton High School (2006).
Schocker is the editor of Social Studies Journal, a scholarly publication that publishes two issues per year, including research articles written by top scholars in the field of education and provocative short stories written by professors, teachers, students, parents, and other education stakeholders. Schocker particularly enjoys mentoring writers and helping authors to find their authentic voice.
Schocker's other scholarly interests include the teaching of women's history with images and primary source documents and the inclusion of women in the history curriculum. She lives in Allentown with her husband, daughter, and golden retriever.
Publications
Schocker, J. B. & Aumen, J. (in press) Personalized learning in social studies. In M. Bernacki & C. Walkington (Eds.), Handbook of Personalized Learning, Routledge.
Schocker, J. B. & De Senso, J. M. (2023). Teaching resistance with primary sources. The Social Studies, 115(1), 1-12.
Schocker, J. B. (2021). Women’s history students learn about race through memoir: Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi. The History Teacher, 54(3), 443-472.
Schocker, J. B., Zook, C., & Hummel, D. (2016). Growing citizenship: Confronting the "civic empowerment gap" with a garden project. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 28(4), 27-31.
Woyshner, C. & Schocker, J. B. (2015). Cultural parallax and content analysis: Images of black women in high school history textbooks. Theory and Research in Social Education, 43(4), 441-468.
Schocker, J. B. (2014). A case for using images to teach women's history. The History Teacher, 47(3), 421-450.
Schocker, J. B. & Woyshner, C. A. (2013). Representing African American Women in U.S. History Textbooks. The Social Studies, 104(1), 23-314.
Education
Ph.D., Educational Psychology, Temple University
M.Ed., Secondary Education- Social Studies, Lehigh University
B.A., Sociology/Social Psychology, Lehigh University