Jeff DeMoss is a Huron High School social studies teacher who has spent 16 years inspiring students through innovative approaches to history and humanities education. A Michigan native, he grew up in St. Clair Shores and Rochester before attending Albion College, where he studied History and Political Science while playing soccer. He went on to earn his Master’s degree in European History from Oakland University.
DeMoss began his teaching career at the IB International Academy West in White Lake, where he spent eight years before joining Huron High School. For the past eight years at Huron, he has taught IB SL History, Humanities, and US History. His colleague, Huron ELA/Humanities teacher Aimee Grant, describes him as “the best teacher I’ve worked with when it comes to engaging, living history approaches to learning.”
DeMoss has developed creative assessments that move beyond traditional testing, including student-led tours of ancient Rome and Descartes’ Drip coffeehouse, where students exchange philosophy, art, and ideas.
Beyond the classroom, he serves as advisor for the Huron Student Council, where his enthusiasm for fostering school spirit shines through activities such as Film on the Field and Café Raté. Grant notes that he is “the picture of a dedicated, engaging, and engaged teacher who Huron can be proud of.”
Jeff lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Sasha, their dog Mambo, and their two children, who attend Logan Elementary.
What inspired you to become a social studies teacher, and what keeps you passionate about it today?
I wanted to become a social studies teacher because I believe that by studying our past and present, we can all become more empathetic, caring, and thoughtful human beings. I still love being a teacher because it’s exciting to get to watch and help young minds wrestle with the big questions of our world.
What do you enjoy about teaching at Huron in particular?
I love being a River Rat because our students and staff are so open-minded and curious. Teaching at an IB school is a dream for a historian like me because our curriculum fosters inquiry and global-mindedness in a way that really mirrors everything I value about studying the past.
How do you bring historical events and civics to life for your students in ways that feel relevant to their lives?
History is a practice in empathy. We try to place ourselves in the shoes of people from the past in order to better understand our shared human experience in the present. In my IB SL History class, we recreate pieces of the training that nonviolent Civil Rights student activists went through in order to explore tactics for resisting bigotry and oppression. In Humanities, we recreate an Enlightenment-era coffee house (we call it “Descarte’s Drip”) in order to immerse ourselves in a real-world “Internet in the Age of Reason.”
What do you believe is the most important lesson students should take away from your social studies classes?
History is not just a story of war, violence, and suffering. While we need to truthfully examine all the bad things that have happened in our past, we equally need to explore all the ways humans have resisted oppression, stood up for what is right, and tried to make this world a better place.
How do you approach discussing controversial or sensitive topics in your classroom while creating a safe space for different perspectives?
We should not be afraid to explore sensitive topics in the classroom. In my History classes, we fully examine the realities of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry or violence in our past and present. Huron students always impress me with their ability to examine challenging topics with care and nuance. I work hard to give the full context of these events/topics and to create space for students to share their perspectives and grow in our collective understanding of the human experience—in all its good and bad.
What strategies or approaches do you use to help students develop critical thinking skills they can apply beyond your classroom?
IB History at Huron is all about developing critical thinking through both writing and speaking. We work to analyze sources for their reliability, find what’s debatable about historical topics, and develop techniques to engage in meaningful discussion and debate.
How has your approach to teaching social studies at Huron evolved over the years?
Over the years, I have worked to make my curriculum more reflective of the students in my classroom. Traditional historical narratives too often ignore the contributions and realities of women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and other marginalized groups. The more I can include those perspectives in my class, the more my students can fully understand themselves and others.
Your experiential learning assessments—such as student-led tours of ancient Rome and Descartes’ Drip coffeehouse—sound very creative. How do you come up with these ideas, and what impact do they have on student learning compared to traditional assessments?
In our Humanities class at Huron, I get to collaborate with two amazing people, Literature teacher Aimee Grant and Art teacher Jonathan Smigell. We get to do fun interdisciplinary activities like our Enlightenment era Coffee House, Tours of Ancient Rome, French Revolutionary era Party, or visits to the Oracle at Delphi. All of those engaging opportunities for students come out of our ability to collaborate as a co-teaching team. Being able to work side by side with a Lit and Art expert gives me a chance to take teaching risks, knowing that my brilliant colleagues will be there to lend me a hand and add their own inventive touches to the activity.
You’ve built remarkable school spirit through Student Council activities like Film on the Field and Café Raté. What drives your passion for fostering student pride at Huron, and what has been the most rewarding aspect of this work?
Huron students have great school spirit. The Student Council’s mission is simply to make Huron an even better place. Whether it’s designing an open mic night coffee house (Café Raté), showing a spooky movie on the stadium every October (Film on the Field), holding an election to name our Rat mascot (Rio), or selling funky socks to support clean water access in Rwanda, Student Council comes together every week with so much enthusiasm and creativity that it inspires me to keep being their advisor and working hard to help them see their visions come to life.
You clearly bring tremendous energy and enthusiasm to both teaching and advising. Where does that passion come from, and how do you sustain it year after year?
I knew I wanted to be a Social Studies teacher since 7th grade. My hope was that I could pursue a career that makes a difference in our community/world. I still feel motivated year after year to plant seeds of empathy, compassion, and curiosity for my students.
What would surprise co-workers who think they know you well to learn about you?
Early on in my career, I participated in a series of teacher-on-teacher rap battles where I mainly found ways to diss Math teachers using lame History puns.
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