Author Archives: hilary@hydrogeninteractive.com

Who Speaks?

By Guest Blogger Terese

I woke up today thinking, “How did I get here?”

Just a few short years ago I was teaching fourth graders, working hard to do the best job I could and otherwise minding my own business. On Tuesday I was at the state Capitol, talking with a legislator about an amendment to a bill that had just been proposed. 

What happened in between is a long story. But out of my experiences I have developed a belief that is now central to everything I do. I spend my days thinking about it, planning, trying to figure out what to do next. I toss and turn at night, problem solving. I am dedicated to promoting what I believe in every way that I can.

I believe in the power of teachers’ voices.

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Professional Development and Baseball

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By Tom


My family and I are down in Arizona this week, trying to dry out from a ridiculously wet winter. Coincidentally, our beloved Mariners are in the exact same place! So we went to a Spring Training baseball game today for the first time, and frankly, it was a little weird.

Now we've been to a lot of Mariners games. But this one was different, and at first I couldn't quite get a handle on it. It wasn't so much the weather, which was perfect; like Seattle in July. It certainly wasn't the fact that the Mariners were getting creamed; God knows we've seen that often enough. No, it was something about the way the players went about their business. They were working, but differently. Their attitude wasn't what I'm used to seeing when I watch pro baseball, yet there was something oddly familiar about it.


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Reductions for Induction: New Teachers Take to the Hill

By Guest Blogger John

“I was really hoping to be able to meet with Senator Roach—we were ready!”  Kristy said, disappointed after getting a chance to advocate for new teacher support with her two other legislators, Reps. Christopher Hurst and Dan Roach, but finding Sen. Pam Roach out for the day with a health issue. 

In the Governor’s proposed budget, support for new teachers through the Teacher Assistance Program (TAP) would be eliminated for the first time in more than 20 years…..

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WASL: New and IMPROVED! 25% more for 45% less.

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By Travis & Tom 

The plan to replace the WASL was
unveiled on the OPSI site yesterday. For many, this headline will create a
smile. But dig deeper, read the press release and overview and see what you think.

It’s hard to get the image of shiny, brightly colored cereal packages
emblazoned with cartoon characters out of our heads, each with their own
self-indulgent promise of  “Tasting
great!”
or “10% more!” or “New and Improved!”  It seems like the world’s use of exclamation marks can be
found in the cereal aisle. But of course, when you open the new box and pour it
into your old bowl and eat it with your old spoon, it usually tastes a lot like
the old cereal.

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Increase of Online Courses in School

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I have to admit, I have a bias here. I feel comfortable around technology and use it for education and social learning. I teach two online courses and use technology in my classroom for podcasts, vidcasts, and instruction; my students use technology as well for more than word-processing. So when I saw that Michigan was leading the way in online courses, I had to read the article, oh, and by the way, the article is online. 

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The Return to Teaching

I am again looking forward to the classroom. I feel like it was long ago when I was there. I miss the interactions between students, watching young people make meaning of the world around them. I miss the opportunities to improve compassion and skill and purpose. I miss working with teachers who, by default, are amazing people with amazing talents to impact the learning of children.

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There’s no F in “Team”

by Stories from School's FIRST guest blogger: John

The nationally syndicated article by E. J. Dionne on education that appeared in this past Sunday’s Seattle Times is relevant to Tom’s last post on what new approach the Obama administration will take on education policy.   

In addition to the policy statement Tom mentioned (EPI), Dionne also mentions a second policy onto which new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has signed—the Education Equality Project.  It’s Statement of Policies includes this: “The sad reality is that these systems are not broken. Rather, they are doing what we have designed them to do over time. The systems were not designed with the goal of student learning first and foremost, so they are ill-equipped to accomplish what is demanded of them today.”

Schools were not built to overcome achievement gaps—they were designed to manage and rank all kids and educate some kids.  While this may seem depressing, I believe it offers some hope…

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Intro to Humor 101

by CSTP blogger KIM:

Everything I needed to know about teaching, I learned as a parent. Crazy_dancing_2

Okay, not really. It was a reciprocal deal. Being a parent helped me become a good teacher, but being a good teacher helped me become a better parent. Mine was a mid-life career change (“early” mid-life, hopefully). My first year of teaching (9th-grade English) was the year my daughter was a 9th grader. I remember the first time I told a student, “That might work with your other teachers, but it won’t work with me. I’ve got one of you at home, and I know that trick!” She and the rest of the class laughed with me.

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How Much Math Should an Elementary Teacher Know?

by Tom

Here’s a fun math problem to solve:

Let N be an odd number.

a. Prove that N squared is odd.

b. Prove that when N squared is divided by 4, the remainder is 1.

c. Prove that when N squared is divided by 8, the remainder is 1.

d. Find an odd N such that N squared divided by 16 leaves a remainder that is not 1.

If you’re like me, you probably remember doing this kind of work at some point in your education. Given enough time and motivation, you could probably figure it out. But if you’ve taught third grade for the past 24 years (like me) you probably haven’t done a problem like this in a long while.

So what? Well, a new study released by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) concludes that colleges of education are under-preparing elementary school math teachers. As a teacher who considers himself reasonably prepared to teach math to third graders, my initial reaction is to defend my colleagues and the institutions that prepared us. However, I think we do have to own some of this. I have sat next to teachers during math trainings who appear to be learning (or not learning) some very basic math for the first time. And I think it’s a fair generalization to acknowledge that college undergraduates who are strong in math do not gravitate towards elementary education. We tend to get a lot of people who are competent in math, but not obsessed by it. I think it’s reasonable to expect teacher education programs to ensure that their graduates know how to do college-level math.

On the other hand, most people would agree that with many math skills you either “use-it-or-lose-it.” The minute you stop solving algebraic equations is the minute you stop knowing how to solve them. I teach third grade. I was once pretty good at algebra; I’m still very good at subtraction and multiplication. In their report, NCTQ includes five different math problems that they feel elementary teachers should be able to solve. The problem above is one of them. Although there was a time in my life when I could have solved each of these problems, I have to admit that now is not one of those times. Why not? Simple: I do not work with this material on a day-to-day basis. It is not currently critical that I know how to do this type of math. That’s how people forget how to do things. (By the way, this is exactly why the American Red Cross makes us take CPR classes every two years to retain our certification. They assume we haven’t had to save anyone’s life lately, and they know we’ll forget how to do so.)

The NCTQ and its panel of experts (none of whom teach elementary school) believe that grade-school teachers should have more rigorous coursework in math content. Perhaps. But my concern is that a large portion of this “rigor” will be left behind once these teachers begin working with their students. I think their time in college would be better spent on methods courses and content-level math classes in which they focus on developing concrete understanding of the math with which they will have day-to-day interactions.

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