Category Archives: Education

Weekly Legislative Update – March 31, 2023

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CSTP Updates

There is just one month left in the 2023 Legislative Session, and this week lawmakers were desperately trying to get last minute bills passed out of committee before Wednesday’s deadline, as well as working behind the scenes crafting this year’s budget. Wednesday marked the last day for bills to pass out of policy committees in the opposite house, except for fiscal committees. The House Appropriations and Senate Ways & Means Committees have until Tuesday, April 4, to move bills out.

Last Friday, the State Supreme Court upheld the capital gains tax, reversing the previous superior court order. This means that the revenue raised by this tax can be assumed in our state’s next two-year budget, which comes as a relief to many lawmakers during this budget-drafting crunch time.  While we are on the topic of budgets, Senate Democrats released their budget proposal late last week, and according to NPR, “The operating budget that Senate lawmakers released includes about $5 billion in new spending, and almost $3 billion of that would be for education, for things like teacher salaries, special education funding.” The House Democrats released their budget proposal Monday afternoon, and Crosscut reports, “The proposed House budget would spend nearly $70 billion over the next two years, an increase from the $59 billion budget plan approved two years ago. Among other things, it would expand the number of K-12 schools providing free breakfast and put $172 million toward boosting special education in K-12 schools. Now that both the house and senate have released their proposals, lawmakers will need to sit down to figure out a compromise by April 23, the end of the session. 

Education Committee Hearings for Next Week on TVW.org

House Appropriations Committee

  • Monday, April 3 at 9:00 a.m.
  • Tuesday, April 4 at 9:00 a.m.

Senate Ways & Means Education Committee

  • Monday, April 3 at 10:00 a.m.
  • Tuesday, April 4 at 10:00 a.m.

House Bills

2SHB 1013: which would require OSPI and Washington ESDs to jointly establish a regional apprenticeship pilot program with one site each in Eastern and Western Washington (hearing time: 6:18). The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

SHB 1015: which revises minimum employment requirements for paraeducators. The bill has passed both chambers and has been signed by the House Speaker and the Senate President.

ESHB 1057: which would provide a benefit increase to certain retirees of the public employees’ retirement system plan 1 and the teachers’ retirement system plan 1. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

SHB 1109: which would provide additional special education funding to school districts in order to increase initial evaluations during summers. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

HB 1146: which would require schools to notify high school students and their families about available dual credit programs and any available financial assistance. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

SHB 1207: which aims to prevent and respond to harassment, intimidation, bullying, and discrimination in schools through updated policies and procedures. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

2SHB 1238: which would require K-5 elementary public schools, beginning with the 2024-25 school year, to offer universal free breakfasts and lunches if up to 30% of students at the school qualify for free or reduced lunch. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. 

ESHB 1277: which would establish rules to improve the consistency and quality of the implementation of the fundamental courses of study for paraeducators. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

​​HB 1308: which establishes a graduation pathway option that enables students to meet pathway requirements by completing a performance-based learning experience. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

2SHB 1316: which would lower dual enrollment program costs for eligible students from $65 to $42.50 per credit by creating a subsidy program, incentivizing reduction of per college credit fees charged to college in the high school students, and revising eligibility for the Running Start (RS) program tuition fee waiver. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

2SHB 1332: which would require all school districts to incorporate a tribal sovereignty curriculum into their social studies curricula by September 1, 2023, as well as require districts to consult with the nearest federally recognized Indian tribe(s) about incorporating materials about their history, culture, and government into their social studies curricula by September 1, 2025. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

ESHB 1377: which would require the posting of approved courses and providers of continuing education. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. 

ESHB 1436: which would increase the enrollment limit for special education funding over several years until the 2027-28 school year, when the limit is removed, and would increase special education excess cost multipliers for kindergarten through age 21 over four school years to 1.059 for students who spend at least 80 percent of the school day in a general education setting. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

HB 1478: which establishes a statement of student rights for public schools and requires public schools to develop student-focused educational and promotional materials that incorporate the statement and to include the materials into required civics instruction. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

2SHB 1550: which would establish the transition to kindergarten program to provide no-charge assistance to eligible children in need of additional preparation to be successful kindergarten students in the following school year. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

2SHB 1565: which requires the development of an online platform for the recruitment and hiring of public school employees and establishes a teacher residency program. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

HB 1622: which aims to support the needs of students experiencing homelessness by aligning program goals, establishing common reporting requirements, and establishing examples of permitted expenditures for the OSPI program. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

SHB 1658: which would authorize high school students aged 16 and above to earn up to two elective credits through paid work experience if approval and alignment with the student’s High School and Beyond Plan are met. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee.

SHB 1701: which concerns basic education services to youth who are served through institutional education programs. The bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

Senate Bills

SB 5019: which removes “classified staff providing student and staff safety” from the definition of physical, social, and emotional support staff and the specific funding considerations for that group. The bill is in the House Rules Committee. 

SSB 5048: which would require colleges to provide enrollment and registration in College in the High School (CHS) courses at no cost to students in grades 9-12 at public high schools, and would require the legislature to appropriate funds to fund CHS courses, at inflation-adjusted rates. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

SSB 5072: which would establish new requirements for identifying students who may be eligible for highly capable services, including conducting universal screenings once in or before second grade, and again before sixth grade. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.

ESSB 5102: which requires school districts and school boards to provide every student with access to school library information and technology programs. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

SSB 5127: which would clarifyschool districts’ ability to redact personal information related to a student. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.

E2SSB 5174: which would modify the student transportation allocation formula and expand the definition of “to and from school” to include the transportation of students participating in career connected and work based learning opportunities. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.

ESB 5175: which would allow employment contracts between a school board and principal to be up to three years in length, as opposed to limited to a term of one year. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.

E2SSB 5243: which revises high school and beyond plan (HSBP) requirements, and would require OSPI to facilitate the transition and adoption of a common online platform for HSBPs. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

ESSB 5257:which would ensure that public schools provide daily recess for all elementary students with a minimum of 45 minutes when the school day is longer than five hours and a minimum of 30 minutes when the school day is shorter, as well as prohibit schools from withholding recess as a punitive action. The bill is in the House Rules Committee.

E2SSB 5311: which would increase the special education excess cost multipliers for pre-K and K12 students over a four-year period and increase the special education enrollment funding cap from 13.5 percent to 14.5 percent. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

E2SSB 5315: which would require OSPI to establish standards for approval, monitoring, and investigating school district contracts with nonpublic agencies (NPAs) operating special education programs for students with disabilities, and requires that restraint and isolation procedures and notification requirements apply to NPAS. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

ESB 5355: which requires school districts to provide instruction on sex trafficking prevention and identification at least once between grades 7 and 12 beginning in the 2024-25 school year. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

SSB 5617: which would require interdistrict cooperative agreements in a skill center to stipulate that any course equivalencies approved by OSPI or a host district must be honored by other participating school districts. The bill is in the House Rules Committee. 

SSB 5626: which requires OSPI to establish a grant program for expanding the capability of school districts to integrate media literacy and digital citizenship into public school instruction. The bill is in the House Appropriations Committee.

ESB 5650: which concerns salary inflationary increases for K-12 employees. The bill has passed both chambers and has been signed by the House Speaker and the Senate President.

Odds and Ends

“Called “un-grading,” the idea is meant to ease the transition to higher education…” This week from NPR Ed, To Help New Students Adapt, Some Colleges are Eliminating Grades.

“I provide my students with examples from their real world that show they need a basic understanding of the science to comprehend the things taking place around them every day,” from MindShift this week, How Science Class Can Help Students Explore Inequities in Their Communities.

Meet CSTP’s Legislative Update Coordinator Samantha Miller

Samantha Miller returns as CSTP’s Legislative Updates Coordinator for the 2023 legislative session. She writes weekly emails during the legislative session focusing on bills that impact Washington educators. Samantha has degrees in both Political Science and History, as well as a Master in Teaching. Samantha has worked in Elementary Education for 6 years, most recently as a 3rd Grade general education teacher. The majority of her time is spent chasing around her two children who keep her very busy. Samantha enjoys running, working in her yard, listening to political podcasts, and spending time with her family.

The Exodus

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Are you here to stay?

For some educators, it is the end. They are leaving the classroom. Others are leaving their current positions, changing their teaching assignments, seeking the change that will heal the damage, the damage of the last three years.

It’s hard to fully analyze what has happened to our profession. So much has changed, and these changes are real and here to stay, whether or not we are.

Let’s break it down into a few chewable bites.

Loss of Control

We educators take years to establish control in our classrooms and in our practice. But, the pandemic stripped away our control. Suddenly, we were tasked with solving unsolvable problems, such as how to continue educating students who were no longer in our classrooms. As students returned, we had no control over the work we could expect from them. Expectation had to be lowered, or we would have experienced prolonged failure for our students and ourselves. Then, close on the heels of the subdued and masked, return to schools, this year brought us a marked increase in behavior issues. Unhappy students, fueled by TikTok challenges, anti-public education sentiment, and pent up emotions, vandalized our schools, stole from us, threatened us, and refused to comply with the simplest tasks.

Loss of Respect

With parents on a national scale accusing us of teaching inappropriate materials, violating their students’ rights with mask mandates and quarantines, and having unrealistic expectations, what should we do? Some students parrot the words of their parents, disrespecting public education in general and their teachers specifically. No matter the hours we put in, the changes we endure, the new training we take on, the tears we shed, we are not always seen as allies in the public eye.

Loss of Hope

The statistics are rolling in. We are going to see the effects of the pandemic and the staggering economy on student achievement for years to come. We face the prospect of appearing to fail at our life’s work for many years to come. We have experienced the effects firsthand in our classrooms with students who are easily a year or more behind, not just academically, but developmentally. We are tasked with the continued problems of inequity and achievement gaps, the threat of gun violence, the ongoing lack of mental health support, diminished resources, and a world full of false narratives and propaganda that we fight on a daily basis, just trying to help our students discover their own truths.

Loss of Joy

There is less time for play, for art, for relaxation in the school setting. The urgency around learning loss and solving the problems growing in the system is driving us away from one the most important elements of education. Students and teachers need to find joy in learning and in being a community. Without it, there is less engagement, less safety, less overall satisfaction in the experience of teaching and learning.
It is tough to face all of the loss and carry on, but we must. Of course, some will not come with us on the journey ahead. We certainly understand their need to seek a new profession or remove themselves from uncomfortable situations. However, the rest of us need to rally and carry on in a way that restores the loss.

Let’s be clear. Restoring the loss is not a call to return to normal. There is no normal, no make education great again rhetoric. We need to embrace new solutions to the problems we face.

If we want control of our profession, we need to lift our voices and let our needs be known. Teacher leadership efforts all but disappeared in the pandemic. It is time to step back into the role of advocates and leaders. What do we need? How can we get it? Why do our voices matter? Who is willing to listen and give us the agency we have earned through our experiences.

If we want respect, we need to face this issue on two fronts. First, in the classroom respect is not a given. We cannot stand in front of a group of young people who have suffered through the last few years and demand, because we are older or we are the authority, that we deserve their respect. When you study the effects of trauma on children, you start to understand that traumatic experiences tend to create an aloofness in children. They do not automatically trust adults. Without trust, true respect cannot exist. To earn the respect of students, it will take time. Teachers will need to focus on the safe and supportive environment they provide in the classroom. They need to model the respect they want to receive. That is the only way to get it from kids who have been struggling. On a larger scale, our respect as a profession will also take time. We need to openly advocate for the safety and support of our students. Our voices need to be heard, so that the false narratives have some competition. And, maybe most importantly, we need to reach out to families and communities, including them and opening our doors. When they see what we do for kids, they will have a deeper understanding.

If we want hope for the future of education, the time is ripe for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Seek and share solutions to our common problems. What works? What helps our students? What makes us happier in our classrooms? For me, I am diving deeper into trauma-informed teaching practices and brain science. The pandemic gave me the opportunity to put my work online and expand the resources I provide to my students. I am not pulling back from that; I am leaning in. I am embracing technology as a way to open up a world of knowledge for my students, and I resolve to help them find their own truth through informed research and inquiry. After all, those kids are my hope.

Finally, if we want joy, we need to play and create together. We need to offset the incessant testing with music, theater, dance, art, physical activity, and all pursuits that bring smiles to the faces in our buildings. Happiness is the cure for all the ills we are facing, and the pursuit of happiness in education is a noble cause.

So, if you are not giving up on finding your joy in this profession, I invite you to join me in my quest for regaining our control, our respect, our hope, and our joy.

Despite the challenges (and because of them), I’m staying.

Are you?


Ready for a deeper dive? Check out the links below.

Links to stories about the crisis:

NPR’s Consider This: Teachers Reflect on a Tough School Year

EdSource: Covid Challenges, Bad Student Behavior, Push Teachers to the Limit & Out the Door

The Wall Street Journal: School’s Out for Summer & Many Teachers Are Calling It Quits

NPR: We Asked Teachers How Their Year Went; They Warned of an Exodus to Come

Here some more to address some of the problems:

Education Week Video: How Can We Solve the Teacher Staffing Shortage

Secretary Cardona Lays Out a Vision to Support and Elevate the Teaching Profession

Education Week: How School Leaders Can Support Social Emotional Learning (and Retain Teachers, Too)

Experts Say We Can Prevent School Shootings; Here’s What the Research Says

Find Your Joy: Lessons from the Tennis Court

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Find Your Joy:  Lessons from the Tennis Court

Coaching tennis this year has been a blast. We know all too well the seemingly insurmountable challenges and stresses of almost every aspect of our educational system. For me, hitting the tennis court after school these past few months has been life giving. 

The news feels heavy (it always feels heavy) so instead of diving into Uvalde, or Roe .v Wade, or the two year anniversary of George Floyd’s death, or the myriad other societal catastrophes, (which I do plenty on my Instagram)  I’m going to practice some self care and focus on something that brings me joy. 

Taking a leaf from Lynne’s book, here are some lessons that being back out on the court has taught me. Coaching, is of course, a kind of teaching, but I’ve been in awe of the broader gifts hitting this little yellow ball has given me. 

  1. You can’t win ‘em all 

No one wins 40-0, 6-0, 6-0. Not our girls who make it to the state tournament or even the pros. You’re going to give up points. In your classroom, you can do everything “right” and kids will still disengage, put their heads down, socialize instead of reading, or fail a class.

There’s often a top down narrative that if only teachers made lessons more engaging, built strong relationships with their students, or called home, then all students would want to show up and succeed. But, what if you’ve done all that? You’ve thoughtfully planned lessons instead of just recycling from years past, students know they can cry with you about a breakup, and you’ve connected with all families, but students still fail? 

Some things are simply outside of our control. Sometimes, your opponent aces their serve. Sometimes, a student is experiencing trauma at home bringing their focus to safety, not homework. 

This doesn’t mean you don’t do everything you can to get 100% of your students to succeed, 100% of the time. Of course you do; this is what good teachers strive for. It doesn’t mean you don’t practice serve returns and just expect to lose points. 

You’re just not going to win 40-0, 6-0, 6-0 or ace every lesson, every student, every day, 180 days a year. 

  1. Go easy on yourself 

When you lose those aforementioned points, you have to shake it off. 

It’s inspiring to watch our girls lose the first set, but battle back to win the next two, all because they didn’t give up or let the mistakes get to them. Tennis is an intensely mental sport and it takes some serious toughness to not let the double fault or shanked backhand throw you. 

Teachers have the weight of the world on their shoulders and it’s all too natural to feel pulled down by obligation, or even failure. But, your best learning opportunities are almost always when you take a risk with something new or relinquish control to your students and watch what they can do with it. 

So, go easy on yourself when things don’t exactly go according to plan. And don’t worry, that missed dropshot is just the first point. 

  1. Take your time

The best players don’t rush through their serves. They have a rhythmic routine (four bounces or jumping from side to side) and they take their time winding up for the perfect ball. 

Our equity team often discusses how educators tend to operate on “white guy time.” Or, more formally, it’s the “sense of urgency” found in white supremacy culture. For example, our work with the Nisqually tribe around our Thunderbird mascot is still in process since I wrote that piece in December. Faster isn’t always better.

Sure, sometimes lesson ideas come from the drive to work, but more often, you build units based on evidence of student learning and interest. There’s a reason 44% of teachers leave the profession within five years (and that was pre-pandemic!). It takes patience and persistent, thoughtful, reflective effort to stay in the game. 

  1. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth it 

This is perhaps the most important reminder I’ve gained this season. I ruined tennis for myself in high school by putting too much pressure on myself. Seriously, I didn’t play for ten years because I felt like I had to be the best or not play at all. 

It’s been my number one goal as a coach to help our girls not fall into that trap.

If anything in life is more stress than payoff, it warrants some serious reconsideration or a mindset shift at the very least.  

Many of my classroom procedures are in place to save myself a headache. For example, I’m flexible on due dates because I don’t want to arbitrarily punish students, but also because I don’t want that anxious feeling when 10 final essays are missing by the due date. I’m in education for the long haul and if I wind myself so tight that I’m constantly stressed, then it isn’t worth it. 

This is a tough lesson to give to educators right now as 55% of teachers are seriously thinking of leaving the profession. And, I don’t blame them. Several of my teacher friends have left with very valid reasons for doing so. 

Obviously, teaching is a job (something I think we forget as it’s so often labeled a “calling”) and it is therefore not going to be “fun” all the time. 

Our girls compete and obviously want to win matches, but tennis is first and foremost a game. It should be fun. Practices where they’re commentating for each other’s points in British accents are pure gold. 

***

So, as we wrap up the school year, the third tainted by the pandemic, I hope some of these reminders help you refocus and practice some self care. Remember, you can’t win ‘em all, go easy on yourself, take your time, and have fun! 

Your Turn: What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

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We asked our bloggers to tell us about their experience with culturally responsive teaching. We asked them:

What does culturally responsive teaching look like in your district?

How are you and the educators you know using relationships to connect with students, honor their individuality and support academic achievement?

Gretchen Cruden

“We embrace learning that connects to their real lives…”

Culturally responsive teaching may look a little different in our school. I work in a high-poverty, extremely rural school. Example? We are so rural that we are defined as a frontier school and have had “cougar patrol” as part of our playground supervisory activities. That said, our school embraces what our students walk in the door with and honor it. We are a culture of “make do” and “outside the box” thinking because our students often do have to be creative in their problem solving in their home environments. We embrace learning that connects with their real lives including studying outdoor survival skills, gardening and dissecting parts of animals their families have hunted. These lessons honor their home lives and connect families to the school. In this way, our school embraces and supports our students’ backgrounds and helps build bridges to adjacent possibilities as they grow in their academics.

Lynne Olmos

“…more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all.”

For all the time I have worked in my small, rural district, there has been a sort of self-congratulatory attitude in our district. We are proud of our students of color and how successful they are in our schools. However, that success is really a tribute to their hard work more than it is to any sort of outreach or responsive programs built into the system. Latinx families make up around 35% of our community, and, though we have a migrant support program that hosts occasional events and the standard English language learner supports, we don’t do a great deal to celebrate Latinx culture. Our kids are awesome, and some of our teachers go the extra mile to embrace the diverse cultures in our classrooms. However, there is a need for a more culturally responsive system.

Every now and then, we get the opportunity to celebrate our diversity. One very cool opportunity that landed in my classroom recently was through a national project funded by the CDC and managed by the Olympia Family Theater. The project, entitled Fully Vaxxed, utilized the input of bilingual youth from our school and a few others to write plays about the impact of the Covid vaccines on Latinx communities. Three of my students participated in the program, and our Drama Club attended opening night to celebrate their work. It was awesome! 

We really do a great job supporting all students in my district, but more celebrations of diverse cultures could benefit us all. Everyone deserves to see their home language, culture, and traditions represented, respected, and honored in their school environment.

Emma-Kate Schaake

“I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds…”

I am grateful to have a district and department with enough funding to have some creativity in lesson planning and curriculum. Last year, I was able to buy four class sets of contemporary young adult books for book groups and that unit was the best engagement I had online by far. The English teacher saying that books should be windows into other perspectives or mirrors into your own is almost trite by now, but still incredibly true. 

The books we read allowed students to share their own experiences and empathize with the characters. As much choice as I can offer in my curriculum, the better. I want students to know they have strengths in their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds, regardless. So often, students do not see themselves in texts (especially those written by old, dead, white men) and I try to deviate from that norm as much as I can.

So now it is your turn.

Tell us how your school responds to the culture of its students. How do you connect with your students, honor their culture, and support their academic achievement?

Just Say No To Learning Styles

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According to a survey in 2017, 93% of the public and 76% of educators believe in the theory of learning styles. It’s a pervasive idea. It’s appealing. It’s obvious.

Even though it’s wrong.

As its essence, the idea behind learning styles instruction is:

  • children who are visual learners learn best with visual instruction
  • children who are auditory learners learn best with auditory instruction
  • children who are kinesthetic learners learn best with kinesthetic instruction

However, experiments don’t bear this premise out. “If classification of students’ learning styles has practical utility, it remains to be demonstrated.”

Dr. Dylan Wiliam from the Institute of Education, University College London, argues that the whole premise of learning-styles research—that the purpose of instructional design is to make learning easy—may be incorrect. “If students do not have to work hard to make sense of what they are learning, then they are less likely to remember it in six weeks’ time.”

In other words, the learning styles movement wanted to make learning easy. But people learn best when learning is more challenging.

Especially if it’s more interesting.

Not only that, but teachers and students may have very different ideas of what each child’s “learning styles” are.

In a study published in Frontiers in Education, researchers interviewed nearly 200 fifth and sixth grade students, asking them to choose their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). Then their teachers were asked to identify each student’s preferred learning styles.

There was no significant correlation between the teachers’ judgements and the students’ own assessments. Clearly, the styles aren’t as obvious as some might expect!

If you, as a teacher, are a strong verbal or auditory learner, you should learn to incorporate extra kinesthetic activities like “vote with your feet.” However, you aren’t doing the activities to make your kinesthetic learners suddenly become better students. You are adding the activities to make your classroom experience richer for everyone. In the same way, you ought to incorporate extra visuals into your instruction: art, maps, charts, graphs, cartoons.

In my classroom, everyone learns to take 2- and 3-column notes (the third column giving space for questions or doodles). I also show everyone how to take notes in a more visually interesting way. In the end, students will choose the way that suits them best.

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All I Ever Needed to Learn about Teaching I Learned…in the Barn?

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This blog is about the intersection of my teaching life and my relationship with horses. Not a horse person? No problem. You might have another passion – cats, science fiction, woodwork… It hardly matters. The reality is that analogies are powerful pathways to learning. When we make connections, we gain insight.

Horsemanship strategies have had a bigger impact on my teaching style than any professional development, administrator, or mentor. Most of the lessons I have learned from my four-legged friends would be labeled social/emotional learning, but they also touch on trauma-informed teaching, restorative practices, and student engagement.

Here are just a few truths I have learned from those big beasts:

Fear is not an effective tool for training or discipline.

Adult humans often assume that their status as the elder and more powerful in a relationship affords them the right to insist on hard work and good behavior. Honestly, some students (and horses) are conditioned to respond to this behavior, doing whatever the boss says and trying hard to please. On the other hand, many sensitive creatures do not operate well under these conditions. Just because you have the power does not mean you can force or threaten a kid (or a horse) to do your bidding. They may do it, but it will not be their best work, and it will not be for the best reason. If you want to truly inspire a great performance, you need a trusting relationship.

Building trust takes time.

With any creature, you cannot ask too much too soon. With a horse, you need to take time to prove that you mean no harm. You have to let the animal adjust to your presence, and you have to earn their trust through consistency and fair treatment. This is so true of students, too. Push them too hard before you have earned their trust, and you might break that trust forever. You cannot demand hard work or ask them to take risks if they don’t really know or trust you. Time. You have to invest time in your students to see the best results.

A good leader does not have to be a bully to earn respect.

Once trust is achieved, you can work on building respect for your leadership in the classroom. This is similar to working with horses. They are big and can be dangerous, so it is important that they respect and honor the space of their human leader. It is similar with kids. If they trust you, and you establish firm and fair boundaries, true respect can be earned. They will be happy to do as you ask, without any dramatic effort on your part. With horses, this is all about body language, how you move, where you stand. They are creatures who communicate in silence quite effectively. With students, physical cues are also important, but we humans mainly use words to establish boundaries and build trust. One thing you never do with a horse is block its avenue of escape when it is stressed. This is also wise with students; always give them agency and voice, and you will earn their respect.

You have to give clear cues to get good results.

When you are riding a horse and you ask it to move a particular direction, there is a specific cue for that movement. If you are inconsistent in how you ask, the response will also be inconsistent. The creature is trying to understand your language, but how can it make the correct response if you keep changing the request? Imagine how frustrating it is for any learner when the rules keep changing, or when the instructions are unclear. The only cure in these instances is clear and consistent instruction. If you want students to succeed, they need clarity, consistency and repetition, along with support they can turn to as needed.

“Drive” and “draw” are the keys to engagement.

Recently, I have dabbled in “liberty” training, where the horse is free to interact with you, no equipment, just you on the ground giving cues and trying to get the horse to respond to them. It is very challenging. You have to have a way to send or drive the horse away from you, and then an even more powerful method of “drawing” it back to you. A strong drive is putting them to work and a strong draw is getting their undivided attention. Done right, it looks like magic. In reality, it is the product of good horse and human relationships, clear cues, and rewards for good responses. I see the application to the classroom here, too. I want drive. I want kids to work hard, take risks, and struggle when I ask it of them. I want them to respect my requests and take me seriously. Beyond that, I also want draw. I want them to join up and listen when asked. I want them to be curious about what we are doing next. I want them to be looking for the benefits of our interactions.

Horses are wise teachers and they have taught me to listen carefully, and not just to words. They have taught me to be respectful to earn respect, and to leave a little wiggle room to relieve anxiety. They have humbled me and helped me to understand that I am more powerful in my connections when I am thoughtful, intentional, and kind.

You may not have the privilege of learning these lessons from big beasts like mine, but you get the idea. We become wiser when we are open to the lessons around us. What we learn from our experiences, we can bring to our classrooms to be just a bit better for the students we teach.

I am interested in the philosophies and influences that other educators bring to their work. Where did you learn “everything you needed to know”? Do you have some analogies to share? Leave some ideas in the comments and we can learn from each other.

Meanwhile, here are some related readings for you.

What Teachers Could Learn from Animal Trainers

8 Lessons Horses (Yes, Horses) Can Teach You About Business

Horses Teach Us Life Lessons (Learning Emotional Intelligence with horses)

Equine Assisted Learning: Skills Development through Experiential Learning

Ready for Some Smiles?

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This week Chris Reykdal, Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, released a statement supporting removal of the mask mandate in our schools. Likewise, Governor Inslee announced upcoming changes in mask mandates statewide. With mask mandates being lifted all across the country, it seems like only a matter of time before it happens in our classrooms.

Locally, in my rural region of Southwest Washington, some conservative families have been staging protests against mask-wearing. They are still holding on to the tired old claims that masks are more harmful than COVID and that people who follow the governor’s rules are sheep.

Sigh.

My four-year old grandson, masked

Well, they are going to get what they want. The days of masks in school are numbered. And, how do I feel about that? A bit conflicted, actually.

This has been a wild ride. For two years, I have been in close contact with infected students countless times. The majority of my 139 students have been quarantined at least once, sidelining sports teams and filling up the absence list, leaving half the desks empty at times.

I have lost friends to the virus. I have heard of the suffering and near death experiences of others. I know how awful it can be.

Due to my high rate of exposure, I missed out on so much time with my family, not wanting to spread anything to vulnerable family members. I stressed out over any symptoms, took my temperature hundreds of times…

The funny thing is that I was less sick these last two years than I have been in all twenty years of teaching. Why? What was the difference?

The mask. I believe this, 100%.

Still, it’s time. The masks are coming off, and I predict that it will be like a collective sigh of relief being released in every classroom across the state. As much as we have relied on them for safety, their absence will bring back something we have truly missed- the faces of our students.

One of my favorite areas of research is trauma-informed teaching practices. Recently, everything I read about the effects of trauma on children seems to apply to all of my students these days. Collective trauma. Stress. All of us, and particularly young people with less agency in their lives, have been under a great strain. Part of that strain is the inability to read the faces around us. There is research on this aspect of mask wearing, and it is the only valid argument against masks that I have seen. It comes down to one big truth – you cannot build trusting relationships with people when you struggle to read their emotions. Masks complicate that process.

With our new focus on the emotional health of our students, we will definitely benefit from the ability to openly smile at them. And won’t we also benefit from their smiles? Meanwhile, all this time teaching in a mask has likely honed our ability to communicate more clearly with our eyes, our gestures, and our body language. I think we can look forward to some big gains in relationship building very soon!

My four-year old grandson, unmasked

So, while we may have some nervous moments when we take off those masks, let’s make the most of it and enjoy the smiles we are about to see.

As you sort through your own emotions about the possible lifting of the mask mandate, here is some suggested reading:

Reykdal’s Statement

Protests in Lewis County

Study on the Impact of Face Masks…

Do Masks Stunt Students’ Social and Emotional Development?

With Mask Restrictions Set to Lift, a Haze of Uncertainty Lingers

Doctors Warn Ending School Mask Mandates Will Lead to Rise in COVID Cases

The Freedom to Read

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Censorship Gone Wild 

There have been a plethora of school library censorship and banned book stories lately. Unfortunately ,there are too many to list, but here are a few highlights that may have graced your news feeds. 

A school district in Tennessee banned the graphic novel Maus by Art Speiglman over concerns of profanity and female nudity. 

Another in removed Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye from library shelves for obscenity. 

Texas, perhaps unsurprisingly, has a whole host of books their officials want to ban, an overwhelming amount of which feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes. 

Librarians have been accused of poisoning young minds, buying pornography, and indoctrinating students. 

One of my favorite frequently banned books, Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, prominently placed in our library’s Black History Month display. 

In the midst of all of this, it would be easy for Washington educators and librarians to rest on our laurels, grateful not to be working in one of these states with high profile cases. After all, Washington is liberal and progressive, right? 

But, when a colleague sent me this article on Book Riot, “LGBTQ+ Books Quietly Pulled from Washington State Middle School” I was reminded that issues of intellectual freedom and censorship in school libraries are everywhere. Stories like this one that don’t make national headlines are even more unsettling for their insidiousness.

In Our Backyard 

In Kent, The Cedar Heights Middle School librarian, Gavin Downing, was deemed to have “sexually explicit” books on his shelves. The principal pulled books from the shelves, insisted that she monitor all future purchases, and created a council at school to advise Downing on “age appropriate material.” 

It all started with Jack of Hearts by L.C Rosen about an “unapologetically queer teen” who “celebrates the freedom to be oneself, especially in the face of adversity.” If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, an award winning novel about a trans girl, and All Boys Aren’t Blue, a memoir by LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson, were also discussed at board meetings and removed. 

Kent has a board policy to “revolutionize school libraries” across the district but clearly,  censoring queer voices is out of alignment with the third phase of their plan which seeks to “reinforce equity and excellence.”

I can’t help but draw parallels to Texas where 59.95% of the 850 books on the governor’s banned list feature LGBTQ+ characters. 

In Defense of Libraries 

I am an English teacher, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that I take the freedom to read very seriously. I have also been unspoken about the fact that I think we need to update our curriculums to reflect a more accurate, diverse, and empathetic world view. 

Additionally, this year, I’ve been a librarian half the day, a move that has encouraged me to pursue my library media endorsement, with the hopes of becoming a full time school librarian.

In preparation for one of my classes, I researched Library Bill of Rights and the American Library Association makes it clear that the principles of the bill apply to school libraries. 

The American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.

The ALA has a series of interpretations of this bill and there are a few principles that stood out to me in regards to both local and national censorship. 

Intellectual Freedom: School librarians are leaders in promoting “the principles of intellectual freedom,” and must empower students with “critical thinking skills to empower them to pursue free inquiry responsibly and independently.” 

In the Cedar Heights Middle School case, the removal of books from library shelves limits free and independent inquiry. Remember, we aren’t talking curriculum here, but simply books that students have the freedom to read on their own time. 

Diverse Points of View:  Collection material should “represent diverse points of view on both current and historical issues” and “support the intellectual growth, personal development, individual interests, and recreational needs of students.” 

Representation matters. Books by and about the LGBTQ+ community can be powerful mirrors into students’ own experience or windows to foster empathy. I’d argue the titles that were removed from Cedar Heights could have played an integral role in students’ “intellectual growth” and “personal development.” 

Political Views: The resources in the library should not be constrained by “personal, political, social, or religious views” and school librarians should resist efforts of outside groups to “define what is appropriate for all students or teachers to read, view, hear, or access.” 

It’s no coincidence that the books banned in Kent were all written by and about members of the LGBTQ+ community. As long as those individuals continue to face discrimination, their existence and their stories will remain politically charged. 

Rights of Minors: “Children and young adults unquestionably possess First Amendment rights, including the right to receive information through the library” and equitable library access should not be abridged by “chronological age, apparent maturity, educational level, literacy skills…”

Librarians are tasked with using their expertise in areas of literacy and adolescent development to fill their shelves. They are uniquely positioned to help their patrons explore those materials and think critically. Students are exposed to more than ever before online, and libraries are a safe place for them to explore a variety of resources with the guidance of a caring adult.

Parental Responsibility “Parents and guardians have the right and the responsibility to determine their children’s—and only their children’s—access to library resources. Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should advise their own children.” 

While I can see why some content might be deemed too mature for young readers, all of the books facing removal at Cedar Heights are highly vetted, award winning, and deemed important young adult texts. As an educator who has, at times during this pandemic, felt more like a babysitter than a teacher, I very much appreciate the focus on families’ individual choices. 

What’s Next? 

I wish I had answers during these “polarizing” and “unprecedented” times. Maybe, some day, we can live in a more harmonious political climate and experience some mundane, precedented news stories, though I’m not holding out hope. 

However, as an educator, English teacher, and aspiring school librarian, it’s clear to me that the challenges we’re facing around intellectual freedom warrant our full attention. 

So, pay attention to your school library and the books filling it’s shelves. Does your librarian curate a collection that is representative of your students’ needs? 

Tune into your local school board meetings and contact the members. (The Book Riot article has contact information for Kent board members if you want to help the situation in Cedar Heights ). 

Have conversations with your principal and colleagues. Where do they stand on issues of censorship and equity? 

Our students deserve the freedom to read and we should never stop fighting for that right.

Resolutions for a Happy Teacher’s New Year

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Self-care.

I tell you, if I had a nickel for all the times I’ve heard about self-care for educators in the last year, I would be independently wealthy.

It’s problematic.

Every human being in a care-giving profession these days is under extreme stress, and they are responsible for the well-being of other human beings under stress. Teachers are in the thick of it. Their jobs have gotten more complicated; the students they serve need more care than they ever did before. And, let’s not forget that we are still in the midst of a pandemic with some unpleasant statistics telling us that our return to school next week will send up another spike in Covid-19 cases, just like we saw in September-maybe worse. School is a stressful and sometimes hazardous place to work.

It has been snowballing into a situation where the frustration is palpable wherever you go, wherever teacher’s voices can be heard. Resignations, declarations of pulling back and doing less, lashing out at the system, the administrators, the communities.

It is easy to see why we are under stress. We risk our health in classrooms full of students every day. We have to rethink every lesson we teach to increase the engagement and minimize the stress, since our students struggle to prioritize education in these difficult times. We, too, are living in a world that is not as free, open, or hopeful as it once was, just like our students. We are more isolated than ever. So– self-care?

I bristle at the term. Shouldn’t everyone else- our communities, administrators, the government, our society in general- step up to support teachers in this difficult time? The answer is obvious. They have their own stressors and difficulties. The pandemic is more about stress than a virus these days.

So, it does come down to you and me. Self-care.

The cliche is the image of the oxygen on an airplane. Adjust your own mask before attending to a child. Without oxygen, you are no good to anyone.

As a teacher, if you are out of “oxygen,” not only do you feel awful, you are also less likely to be successful in the classroom; you aren’t able to support students. It may bleed over into your family life, every aspect of your existence. So, self-care.

But, I do not mean bubble baths (though much can be said about a lovely warm bath…). I mean, flip your whole teacher practice to be one that feeds your soul, revives your spirit, and infuses your daily classroom life with oxygen.

Of course, I do not have the magic wand that helps every teacher achieve this, but I can do this for my own classroom. I can give my teaching practice a good, hard look. What is going well? What needs improvement? What needs to go? And the beginning of the year is a perfect time to resolve to make these changes. So here they are, my five resolutions for a year of happy teaching:


LYNNE’S RESOLUTIONS for HAPPY TEACHING IN 2022

I will foster a more…

…ACTIVE CLASSROOM: I will make my classroom a better physical space by encouraging movement for my students and myself. We will breathe intentionally and get our heart rates up on a regular basis. (Here is a concise article that sums up how movement can be incorporated in the classroom.)
…DYNAMIC CLASSROOM: Through art, humor, music, and all forms of creativity, I will encourage my students to be curious and involved. (This study connects humor to creativity and learning. And, if you are not sold on how the arts are essential for learning, you need to watch and read some of the work of Ken Robinson, starting with his TED Talk.)
…REGULATED CLASSROOM: I will learn more about co-regulation to better serve my students under stress, and I will provide sensory stimulation to help students de-stress. (I found this short article to be a good explainer of co-regulation, but you should really look into the work of trauma-informed educators, if you haven’t already. Check out the Trauma Informed Educators Network. They have a Facebook page and podcast I recommend.)
…CONNECTED CLASSROOM: Relationships and trust will be the first priority of every class. I will model good behaviors for sharing feelings and supporting others. (This link will give a short overview of the importance of emotional literacy for the classroom.)
…REFLECTIVE CLASSROOM: I will grade less and communicate more. I mindfully teach my students to reflect, to build on their learning and look to the future. (I have switched to a portfolio grading system, but here is a general article on how gradeless may work better for teachers and students. And, if you are looking for a concrete way to redefine grading in your classroom, I found the work of Steve Paha to be very inspirational.)

These five goals for improvement will make my classroom a better place to be, for me and my students. Honestly, I will not be a happy teacher with unhappy students, so my self-care still starts with them.

But, I am not adverse to a bubble bath from time to time.



Your Turn: 2021 in Education- Back to Normal?

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Is going back to “normal” a valid goal? Or should we learn from our experience in order to grow and change?

The last year and a half has caused a lot of havoc in education. We had to learn new ways to deliver instruction, and we had to face important equity issues with a crisis igniting urgency. What did we learn from this?

We asked our bloggers these questions: We keep hearing “back to normal,” but is that what it is? Is that what we want? Here are their responses:

Gretchen Cruden

Going “back to normal” may be a comforting thought, but I hope we don’t—at least not completely. There have been some incredibly wonderful new changes that have arisen in education due to the pandemic. I am beyond thrilled that an emphasis on SEL is occurring across the state with…wait for it…actual money to support it!  We are starting every day with mindful breathing and stretches now. Life feels good!

“I am beyond thrilled that an emphasis on SEL is occurring across the state…”

I am also grateful for the opportunity for more educators to explore the ways in which technology can play a powerful in personalized instruction. And, shhhhh…but I am also over having my students sit in pods ever again. Short sets of direct instruction in rows with break outs for small group interactions will forever be my new norm, as I can see where this serves the learning brain the best.

Jan Kragen

One of the best parts of the day is Circle Time. We spread out our chairs in a big circle around the perimeter of the room. I have a karaoke machine, so I use the microphone as our talking stick. It’s so much easier to hear kids talk through their masks with an electronic boost!

This year every one of my students has a ChromeBook. That’s been a learning curve, just in terms of logistics. Every ChromeBook goes home every night and gets charged at home. They return to school every day, get out of backpacks, and into desks. I’ve worked much harder on helping kids keep their desks organized this year because I can’t have them stuffing things on top of their ChromeBooks!

“Now everything is in Google
Classroom…It’s paperless
and super easy.”

At the same time we’ve switched to Google. For decades I’ve taught students using all of Microsoft Office. Trouble is, not everyone had MS at home, so files would go home as MS files and return as RTF or OTD or PDF files–or even pictures of files. Sometimes I could do electronic comments and sometimes I couldn’t. Now everything is in Google Classroom. I post the assignment, kids hand it in, I add comments and a grade. It’s paperless and super easy. 

What I’m missing now is the ability to have lunch with small groups in my room. That’s been so useful in the past for small groups who want to have a writers group or who share another common interest.

Lynne Olmos

I often reminisce about the old days, back when I wasn’t shocked to see what a seventh-grade student looked like without their mask. That said, I think we unveiled issues concerning equity and emotional support over the last year and a half. 

We have seen the need to ensure access to technology for all; however, we started this year without seeing to that. I feel that the hope was that we would not have to get ChromeBooks and hotspots out to those who needed access. We have less capability to provide this access than we did last year! Hope of normalcy set us up for a possible disaster, should we have to go remote at some point.

“I won’t go back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough for the kids.”

Some of us shifted our practice to take care of our vulnerable students during a time of crisis. Personally, I changed  my grading practice and relaxed a lot of traditional discipline and “classroom expectations” to meet kids where they were and give them a safe place to feel respected and supported. I won’t go back to normal, because normal wasn’t good enough for the kids.

Denisha Saucedo

NOPE, we did not learn. In fact we took three very LARGE steps backwards. Education may never be the same. This is not meant be be negative, but reality is that we as a society may never be the same.

“New habits were formed. Students and staff have new needs.”

From year to year we know that we teach the students in front of us. Well, those students had to do (or not) school online for over a year. It is said that you need to repeat something  66 times to create a new habit, well you can triple that. New habits were formed. Students and staff have new needs. Families and communities look different, therefore the education has to look different. Educators are also dealing with trauma and that in itself has caused them to grab onto bits and pieces of the way education “use to look.”  

Emma-Kate Schaake

I’d love to have seen a full scale reimagining of education after last year, but I know that kind of revolution needs to be more of a slow burn than a five alarm fire. What I have seen in our building is a dedicated focus on student mental health, systems of support, relationships, and community. 

“..education should look different going forward, to meet students where they are and provide what they need…

We seem to be coming in with a strong “kids over content” lens and I think that’s absolutely essential. Some students haven’t been in “real” school in a year and a half. Many have crippling social and academic anxiety. 

I fully believe that students didn’t “lose learning,” but we’ve all been changed by the last year and half. So, education should look different going forward to meet students where they are and provide what they need, academically, personally, and holistically.

Your Turn: Should we be trying to get “back to normal?”

In your opinion, what should education look like going forward? What changes should we embrace? What did we learn? What are the new priorities we need to acknowledge? Share your thoughts with us.