Meet the Person Behind Cosmo's ELA Curriculum — A Q&A With Sarah

Every lesson your child does in Cosmo's English program was built by someone who has been in a real classroom — teaching real kids, in real schools, across multiple states. We sat down with Sarah, Cosmo's ELA curriculum developer, to talk about how the program was designed, why it works the way it does, and what she wishes every parent understood about how children actually learn to read and write.

I attended Michigan State University for my bachelor's in elementary education and my master's in educational technology. Go green! My love of reading, writing, and working with young learners started well before that, though. I come from a family of teachers, and ever since I can remember, "school" was one of my favorite games to play. We even had a pretend classroom with a desk, chalkboard, and all the supplies, and nine-year-old me would turn my friends into my students for the day.

I have always loved to write. Not always stories, but writing things down, writing lists, writing in journals, writing letters to family and friends. As I grew into my career, I began to recognize both how important writing is and how difficult it can be for students to master. I wanted to make a difference in my students' lives by equipping them with strong communication skills.

As for reading, Harry Potter was the first book I remember falling in love with — well, audiobook, which absolutely counts! On the eight-hour drive home from spending Christmas in Terre Haute, IN, to Midland, MI, my dad popped the first tape of Sorcerer's Stone into our van's cassette player. Jim Dale's voice — and his incredible ability to bring each character to life — hooked me right away. I've loved reading ever since. I consider it an honor to play a small part in bringing some of that same joy to my students. Literacy skills are quite literally life-changing. Every child deserves a teacher who believes in them and an effective curriculum to help them learn to read. I love that I get to work on both those things!

What was one thing that kept frustrating you in traditional ELA teaching — something you knew could be done better?

Reading a book or a passage, then answering a set of questions. Over and over.

Don't get me wrong — that can be a great assessment tool. In fact, that's part of our assessments and homework at Cosmo! And I'm certainly not downplaying the importance of reading comprehension.

But I hate the idea of students thinking that the purpose of reading is just to answer a set of questions at the end. There is so much more to really "getting" what a text said! Not everything fits neatly into a question set. At Cosmo, students get to highlight, annotate, discuss, play, write, create graphic organizers, illustrate settings, and so much more. My goal for our reading lessons is that each text, and each activity that follows, brings nuance, meaning, wonder, or a new way of thinking.

When you started designing Cosmo's ELA curriculum, what did you decide to tackle first — and why did that come before everything else?

When I first opened up a blank Canva PowerPoint and started to create what would become our Cosmo curriculum, there were a few things forefront in my mind. Above all, our content had to be research-based and aligned with best practices. Every child deserves the very best in education, and we have the chance to give it to them! I started with that.

Second was engaging, authentic mentor texts. It takes a while to search for a quality passage — say, for students to practice character analysis in a well-loved children's novel — but it's so worth it. Introducing kids to engaging stories, different writing styles, high-quality literature, and a variety of text purposes was a must.

Finally, it had to be easy for teachers and students to actually use! Even the best, most rigorous, engaging, authentic curricula are no good if it takes so long for teachers to read the "background" section that they toss it out the window before they get to the teaching part. I wanted to keep things clear, simple, and as "open-and-go" as possible. Using a consistent format takes away the stress of "What's next?" and allows teachers and students to really engage with the content.

US states each have their own ELA standards — how did you ensure a student in California gets the same rigor as one in Texas or New York?

I've taught fourth grade in Michigan, Colorado, and Texas. The nice thing about ELA is that basic reading and writing skills are the same no matter where you are. Because we have students located all around the US and around the world, we started with the national Common Core standards. From there, we drew on our experience and research to map the commonalities among state standards. Those became the skills we emphasized.

The other thing about ELA is that it spirals. If one state introduces students to "using context clues" in 2nd grade, they'll likely do it again in 3rd grade... and 4th grade... and 5th grade. This creates overlap between state standards, national standards, and grade levels. In general, we adopt a "more is more" approach. Students having multiple opportunities to practice or deepen a skill is not a bad thing!

How do you decide what reading level to assign to a new student — and how quickly does that change as they progress?

To make an initial placement, we collect as much data as we can. This starts with our own adaptive assessment results and the child's grade level in school. From there, we're able to assign an initial level and create a personalized learning plan (PLP).

The great thing about Cosmo is that it's flexible. In traditional school, if a student starts kindergarten in the fall of 2026, they will very likely be in that kindergarten classroom for the next nine months. That's not the case at Cosmo! If we find that a student is excelling, we can easily move them to more challenging content right away, and vice versa. We celebrate growth and progress, and we honor the need to slow down, too.

Some parents may choose to share additional data — benchmark and growth tests from their child's classroom teacher, quarterly grades, anecdotal observations. This is always optional, never required. But the more information you can provide your child's Cosmo teacher, the better they can meet their needs.

Writing is often the hardest skill to teach online. What was your approach?

Writing certainly is hard to teach — online or brick-and-mortar! We approached writing similarly to the other subjects, by breaking it down into small, concrete, manageable skills. Students don't have to write an entire story or poem all at once. They might focus on using sensory language, perhaps by describing what it's like to wake up on a snowy winter day using all five of their senses.

The online setting is actually great for this! We can scaffold with fun interactive questions, like matching a sentence to the sense it describes. This not only helps reinforce the concept but also introduces students to mentor texts — exemplary models for students to study and emulate.

Our writing curriculum also follows a gradual release model. Students are introduced to a new skill or strategy, then they examine how other authors have employed it in mentor texts. Practice is scaffolded, slowly working up from fill-in-the-blank questions to short sentences to full essays and paragraphs. We don't hand them a blank page and ask them to write.

Finally, our writing curriculum aims to balance "writing" in various forms — from brainstorming aloud (after all, the first stage of writing is thinking!) to drawing pictures to revising and editing someone else's work to typing full paragraphs and essays on their own.

How do teachers actually use the Cosmo curriculum in a live 1-on-1 class — is it a rigid script, a flexible guide, or something else?

It's definitely flexible! Cosmo teachers are teaching experts. Our curriculum provides content and inspiration, but the teachers are the ones who bring it to life. They know when to provide more support or push a student a little further. They know when to skip a practice page or when to ask the student to go deeper. They know when their student is having a bad day, needs some extra practice, or is ready to celebrate a win.

I like to think of Cosmo teachers as chefs. The curriculum is the recipe; the students bring the ingredients. Our teachers work their magic and make something incredible happen with the two.

Is there a unit you're most proud of — one that really came together in a way that surprised even you?

This is such a tough question! Right now, I'm quite proud of the 3–5 narrative writing units. Students explore passages from beloved novels, so they get to experience some really beautiful, diverse writing styles. They also interact with mentor texts that reflect authentic student writing.

Then they get to try out the writing techniques on their own! It's easy to feel writer's block when trying to not only do creative writing, but create a creative writing lesson — so I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I aimed to combine practical, concrete strategies with open-ended, unrestricted tasks. I hope these lessons help students add to their "writing toolboxes" while also setting their imaginations free.

Some ELA programs focus heavily on grammar drills and vocabulary lists. Where does Cosmo's philosophy differ?

Grammar and vocabulary are great, but research shows that they're best learned in context. Simply put, students learn vocabulary by reading and hearing new words, and they learn grammar by writing and expressing their ideas. Explicit grammar and vocabulary instruction are important, but for it to really stick, students need to read, write, speak, and listen in authentic ways!

In terms of grammar specifically, Cosmo has short, focused lessons that serve as introductions or refreshers on concrete skills. Teachers can pull these in when a student has a gap in knowledge or is making a frequent grammar mistake. Then — and this is key — students must apply that skill to their own writing and speaking.

For vocabulary, Cosmo lessons emphasize strategies for acquiring new words, like using context clues and dictionaries. Students engage with rich literature, articles, and mentor texts in every lesson, finding new vocabulary words on every page.

If a parent said "my child is in 7th grade but testing at a 4th-grade reading level" — what does the path forward look like?

One thing we were really intentional about in our curriculum design was not putting a level on the student-facing pages. The lessons are categorized by grade level for teacher reference — a general guide, not a hard-and-fast rule — but when students are working through a lesson, a 1st-grade lesson looks similar to a 4th-grade lesson to a 7th-grade lesson. We want students to focus on "this is where I'm at today," not "I feel like I'm behind."

The beauty of a personalized learning plan (PLP) and the one-on-one setting is that we can start at just the right level for them. We would likely pull in 3rd- and 4th-grade reading lessons to fill in skill gaps, but perhaps they're ready for 7th-grade grammar skills. And as they master those earlier reading skills, they'd move on to 5th-, 6th-, and 7th-grade content.

It's hard to give a timeline because every student is on their own learning journey! It will depend on the frequency of Cosmo lessons, what their classroom teacher is doing to support them, and many other factors. Your Cosmo teacher will do a monthly recap with you. It's not realistic to expect three grade levels of improvement in just four weeks, but it is reasonable to expect growth in the areas they've been working on — and if you're not seeing that, it's an important conversation to have with their teacher.

What do you wish more parents understood about how children actually acquire strong ELA skills?

Every environment is a great place for children to learn ELA skills! Children learn a lot from things we might not give much thought to. Hearing two adults talk about the weather — you might think they're not even interested, but they're probably picking up new vocabulary and conversational skills. Going to a science museum? They're reading signs, connecting pictures to captions, using diagrams, noting the difference between titles, headings, and body text. ELA skills are everywhere. It's not a separate subject; ELA is the basis for learning every other subject.

Our curriculum embraces that interconnected nature. Students write short responses during reading lessons. Writing lessons start with mentor texts. Grammar lessons introduce new vocabulary. A figurative language lesson might ask students to read a story full of similes, then write their own metaphors. The domains reinforce each other because that's how language actually works.

If a parent asked "why Cosmo over everything else" — how would you answer?

Cosmo isn't just a class your student takes; it's a personalized learning experience. A qualified teacher guides them through high-quality, engaging lessons created by content experts. The one-on-one setting allows your child to get the exact support they need, whether they're a bit behind grade level or need enrichment.

At Cosmo, English sessions aren't about worksheet completion — they're about figuring out exactly where your child's reading and writing skills are today and building from there. Every class is live, every teacher is an expert, and every lesson is designed to make your child a more confident, capable thinker.

The first class is free. Book a free session and see how it works →