Education

Friday, September 30, 2011

Education Series: The Best Teachers for our Children

On panel from left: Phyllis Fletcher, Jesse Hagopian, Erin Jones, Jonathan Knapp, and Margit McGuire. Not pictured, but on the panel: Tom Stritikus and Deborah Wilds.

Our moderator, Phyllis Fletcher of KUOW 94.9, asked a question to the panel about what traits they think great teachers possess.

Jesse Hagopian, founding member of Social Equality Educators and a History Teacher at Garfield High School responded with the following:

“I guess as the k-12 teacher representative up here I should acknowledge the irony that I’m at a panel called The Best Teachers for our Children and I’m playing hooky from school. (laughs) I asked my kids yesterday, my students at Garfield High School, to write on this topic… I asked them, ‘What would you want to say if you were on this panel about what good teaching is?’. I got a lot of amazing answers… but here’s one I just pulled out this morning…

Brandon said: “A good teacher teaches their students to pass the AP test. A great teacher teachers their students to pass the test of life. For a teacher to excel at teaching they must go above and beyond presenting the material and engage the students. In the words of Calvin, in Calvin and Hobbes, ‘you can present the material but you can’t make me care”.  But to truly exceed at teaching one must go outside the domain of ones subject and become more of a role model, someone the students look to for help and encouragement.”

I think that most of the letters that I got… fell into basically two categories. They said a good teacher is somebody who cares about me as a person, not just what I get on this test or this grade, but knows who I am and cares about me. And also, makes the subject interesting and relevant to my life.”

We heard from all of our wonderful panelists last week that all teachers can use support from the wider community. You can watch the exciting panel discussion on our past events page.  Read on to find out more about a great way that you can help local teachers.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, Starbucks and the Road Map Project  have teamed up to support local public schools!

How it works:  On October 5, stop by any King County Starbucks and pick up a free $10 DonorsChoose gift card.  These free gift cards are redeemable at www.donorschoose.org/kingcounty2011 .

Select from a list of local teachers’ requests for needed classroom materials and student projects. That $10 gift card will be applied to the teacher request or project of your choice. There are dozens of projects from King County public schools currently awaiting funding. To spend your gift card on a local project:  

1. Visit www.donorschoose.org/kingcounty2011.

2. Enter your gift code.

3. Choose a classroom project at a local public school!

Important: Gift cards will be applied to projects on a first-come, first-served basis until the grant is spent, so be sure to apply yours soon!

What makes a teacher great? How do we recognize great teaching in our community? Do the methods of teacher evaluation we use acheive the best results?

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation looks at these questions and more in a pioneering study, Measures of Effective Teaching, which currently includes 3,000 teachers accross the nation.

On the project: "Teachers often bear the brunt of the failure to recognize effective teaching. We do little to study and share the best teachers’ practices or recognize them for their contributions....

There is no widely agreed upon measure for teacher effectiveness that exists today, and that is precisely why we are undertaking this work. The results of this project and what we learn will help districts across the country identify effective teaching in order to improve student achievement and help teachers ensure excellence in their profession." Read more on the foundation website.

What mearsures of teacher effectiveness do we use in our community? Do the methods we use actually show us who our great teachers are? How can we improve the way we evaluate and recognize teachers?

Join us next week for The Best Teachers for our Children, Friday, September 30th with a great line-up of panelists and the latest addition, Jonathan Knapp of the Seattle Education Association.

Register today and don't miss out on this important conversation.

It is the first day of school here in Seattle. And we wish all of the students and teachers well as they head back to the classroom after, hopefully, a great summer break.

Check out the latest news on NPR from Phyllis Fletcher, our moderator for our up-coming education series event, where she asks the sometimes controversial question, "What Makes a Good Teacher?" Follow this link to listen now!

Then, join us on Friday, September 30th for more on the topic with our event moderated by Ms. Fletcher, "The Best Teachers for Our Children." Follow this link to read more about the event and register today!

We hope you can join us at the event and happy back-to-school, everyone!

What questions do you have for Michael Young, the new president at the University of Washington? See below for an interview piece from KCTS9 during his first month at the university. And bring your own questions to the up-coming CityClub event.

Join us for the opportunity to meet with the president face to face and find out his plans for the future. Ask him your questions and find out what other community members want to know. Get informed on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at A Conversation with Michael K. Young, Incoming President at the University of Washington at the Washington Atheletic Club.  See you there!

Interview on KCTS9:

Watch the full episode. See more KCTS 9 Connects.

The new state budget deal shows many cuts to education spending. How will our schools, teachers, students, and education administrators respond to the challenges they face? See more on the King5 report.

Then, join us for the forum on the state budget, The State Budget - Searching for Long-Term Sustainability on June 22, 2011. How can we find ways to manage the challenges we face now in a way that can ensure more long-term sustainability for the state budget into the future?

Let your voice be heard on this important issue with an memorable line-up of panelists and co-presenters.

Join us and join the conversation - register today!

Tune into Seattle Channel at one of the following times to see the entirety of our conversation with Dr. Phyllis Wise, Interim President of the University of Washington:

Tuesday, February 01, 2011 - 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 02, 2011 - 7:00 a.m.
Thursday, February 03, 2011 - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, February 04, 2011 - 3:00 p.m. & 9:00 a.m.
Saturday, February 05, 2011 - 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, February 06, 2011 - 2:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.
Monday, February 07, 2011 - 3:00 a.m. & 10:00 p.m.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, February 11, 2011 - 5:00 a.m.

If you missed our conversation yesterday with University of Washington Interim President Phyllis Wise, you'll be able to watch the event - both Seattle Channel and Puget Sound Access recorded the program. Stay tuned for more information when the video is available!

Meanwhile, here are a few links:

• Some photos from the event on Facebook.
• We were able to tweet live from the program - see the quotes on @CityClubLive.
• University of Washington recently released their Annual Report - it's all available online here.
• A few specific things that came up in conversation, for which we shared links through the Twitter feed: University of Washington's College of the Environment, Association of American Universities, and a student-initiated program called the Dream Project.

From the looks of our registration list, lots of you are excited about our upcoming Seattle Speaks program on Seattle Public Schools (a partnership with Seattle Channel) on February 10. (If you're not already registered, did we mention it's free? Learn more & sign up here.)

To get you all ready and rarin' to go, here are some relevant links:

• Transcription of SEA President Olga Addae's speech at the August 18, 2010 board meeting
• Seattle School District Excellence Update
• Seattle Council PTSA Value Statements
• Video of Kay Smith-Blum speaking at the March 3, 2010 Seattle Public School Board meeting

Have other resources you think we should share? Let us know in the comments!

Don't forget: if you can't attend in person, share your thoughts in advance or during the program--

1. Take our online pre-poll!
2. Submit comments via the Seattle Channel's Seattle Speaks website.
3. During the program, watch live from home and comment on our Facebook fan page or via Twitter!
4. ...or Seattle Channel's Facebook and Twitter if you prefer!
   

The 2010 LASER Award winners - click here to learn more about them!

Washington State LASER is looking for advocates of science education in the state of Washington, and they've opened nominations for the 2011 LASER Science Education Awards! We'll be hosting the awards luncheon again in 2011, so we wanted to help get the word out. Here's the call:

Do you know an individual or group that has put forth extraordinary efforts toward promoting, advocating, and/or influencing others to act in support of science education? Perhaps a dedicated parent, local radio station, or community outreach program that deserves recognition? Let us know!

Washington State LASER, with support from The Boeing Company, is pleased to announce the fifth annual Science Champions: Science Education Advocate Awards. This is an opportunity to recognize outstanding individuals, organizations, and/or project teams who have exhibited exceptional advocacy for science education in the State of Washington.  This award is intended to raise public awareness of the importance of science education and the many diverse efforts to promote it in our state.

The nomination submission deadline is January 24, 2011. Detailed information about the award, the nomination process, and the nomination forms can be found on the Washington State LASER website.