Well, it’s been a while, but Adequate Yearly Progress is back after summer vacation! To honor the beginning of the (Seattle) school year, I’m posting a special round table episode. This episode features teachers I’ve interviewed before (Chris Bach, Paul Cavender, and Hillary Graham) discussing last year, specifically around testing, Common Core, standards-based grading, and technology. It’s a long episode, but a good one.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 16. In this episode, I interview Anne Dame, another middle school librarian. Anne and I actually went to the University of Washington’s Library and Information Science Master’s program together. Also, Anne was one of the previous librarians for Eckstein Middle School librarian (where I work!) before moving to Einstein Middle School to be the librarian there. I give total credit to Anne for getting me my job.Listen to Anne talk about how she reaches reluctant readers, why being a teacher librarian is the best profession, and how she engages with the public librarian through a books and pizza program and a writing program.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 15. In this episode, I interview Adam McDonald, a relatively new computer science teacher. Adam just started teaching at Eckstein with methis year and has an interesting background: he studied history in college, taught in Thailand for a few years, worked at a nonprofit to get students into computer science, and on a non-teaching but generally interesting sidenote, is the youngest of 12 kids! Listen to Adam talk about his optimistic outlook on teaching, what computer science education at a middle school looks like, and how history and computer science go hand in hand.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, Episode 14. In this episode, I finally interview a school librarian so you can understand what we do and why we do consider ourselves teachers. TuesD Chambers is an energetic, enthusiastic, dynamic school librarian at McClure Middle School in Seattle, WA who has years of experience as a language arts and social studies teacher and who transitioned into a school librarian a year and a half ago. Listen to TuesD talk about the day-to-day life of a middle school librarian, why this profession brings her so much joy, and the impact she has had on a few students in particular.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, Episode 13. In this episode, I interview Paul Cavender, another friend of mine who works with me at Eckstein Middle School. Some of my teachers friends call him Papa Bear because of his big heart, goofy nature, general likeability, and ability to connect with students, often at their level. Paul is also an incredibly smart Renaissance Man who can wax poetic on any number of topics while also offering practical advice and handy tools to fix things around school that need to be fixed, such as helping me jury-rig the cases of my library iPads so that a USB connector would fit in. (But that’s a story for another day.) Listen to Paul talk about why he stopped being a chef to become a teacher who has taught everything from high school biology and math to middle school language arts and social studies and how to avoid teacher burnout.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 12. This episode features Chris Bach, a teacher and friend of mine who only started at Eckstein last year but is someone who I feel like I’ve known for a long time. Chris has taught high school, has his principal credentials, is now teaching middle school and what comes across in this interview is his full commitment to education, love of teaching and how he tries every day to make learning both relevant and fun for students. Listen to Chris talk about how hetransitioned from someone who was not engaged in school into someone completely motivated to change the world through teaching.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 11. Today’s interview features Jessica Levine, a compassionate, musical, energetic science teacher at Eckstein Middle School. Jessica and I not only have a shared interest in using theater and music in the classroom, but also love John Green novels, sharing books of all types we’re reading with each other, and we both went to small liberal arts colleges. (I went to Carleton College and she went to Oberlin).Listen to Jessica talk about how she transitioned from working in environmental after-school nonprofits to public school, the power of song and rhythm in teaching, and a new way she’s engaging students in their own assessments this year.
Plus, a bonus! In this episode, instead of using the normal intro and outro music, you get to listen to Jessica singing and playing the ukelele for a science parody of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising that explains the concepts Conduction, Convection, Radiation. A great test for you who haven’t studied science since high school. (I’ve put the words below).
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, Episode 10! Today’s interview features Josh Hanson. Josh is a P.E. teacher at Eckstein who has also taught social studies, language arts, science, and tech at a middle school level, which just goes to show you his breadth of knowledge and excitement for teaching.Listen to Josh talk about his vision for P.E. curriculum, how on earth he has so many endorsements, and about the benefits of substitute teaching all over the district.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 9! After a brief hiatus for the holidays, we are back with a great episode featuring Linda Reger. Linda is a retired teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing in Connecticut and has a lot of experience to share about being a speech and audio pathologist at public schools, team teaching at a time when that was a completely new concept, and developing meaningful relationships with students.
Welcome to Adequate Yearly Progress, episode 8. In this episode, I interview Sam Huckabee, who also used to work with me at Eckstein Middle School and now teaches special education at Jane Addams Middle School in Seattle. Sam is one of those compassionate, super-organized, and confident teachers who forges strong relationships with students. Listen to her talk about her how she transitioned from teaching theater to special education, how she deals with the sometimes frustrating bureaucracy that education and special education in particular can be, and her future career aspirations.