Seattle Schools Community Forum

Nearly, finally here. From the NY Times , a cool look at first day of school throughout the decades. A great article from Longreads about writing from Mary Karr who has put forth two memoirs.  Ms. Karr teaches her grad students using a technique that I tried years ago at Whittier Elementary with a class of 5th graders.  You pretend you are going to talk about writing, have a co-conspirator burst in the room and argue with you and then... tell the kids to write exactly what they heard and saw.  (I hit the button on a CD player and played the theme from "Mission Impossible" to set the mood after my compatriot left the room.)  The kids thought it funny and it did get them thinking about writing and memory .   From Ms Karr's piece: So a single image can split open the hard seed of the past, and soon memory pours forth from every direction, sprouting its vines and flowers up around you till the old garden’s taken shape in all its fragrant glory The Nation...

First up today, it was the use of the word "illegals", then it seems "whom" may be on its way out and now the NY Times weighs in on language with this op-ed " Those Irritating Verbs-as-Nouns. " Today the Associated Press (via the Huffington Post) sent out a style guide to reporters about using the term "illegals, illegal immigrants and undocumented immigrants." From the AP Stylebook: illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.  Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented. Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution. Specify wherever possible ho...

I've found this to be something of a women's month for me, reading articles and watching tv shows about feisty, tenacious women. First up, from Germany, Amalie Noether who Einstein called " the most significant and creative " female mathematician of all time.  What did she do?  From the NY Times : She invented a theorem that united with magisterial concision two conceptual pillars of physics: symmetry in nature and the universal laws of conservation. Some consider Noether’s theorem, as it is now called, as important as Einstein’s theory of relativity; it undergirds much of today’s vanguard research in physics, including the hunt for the almighty Higgs boson.  It wasn't just that she was a great mathematician but she did it during a time when most German universities didn't have women enrolled and she was " a Jewish pacifist in the midst of the Nazis' rise to power. " Next, women in elective office from the great state of Washington .  T...

The Washington Education Association is sponsoring an essay contes t on "A Teacher To Remember". Here's the entry form . From the website: Washington state public school students in grades 3-12 are eligible to enter. Students may write about a special teacher who positively influenced them. One grand prize winner will be selected from each of the combined grade-level categories (3-5, 6-8, 9-12). There is a category for ESL/ELL students, and a category for multimedia entries. Here are the categories: Grades 3-5 -- Essays should be no more than 300 words Grades 6-8 -- Essays should be no more than 500 words Grades 9-12 -- Essays should be no more than 600 words ESL/ELL students (all grades) -- Essays should be no more than 500 words Multimedia (all grades) -- Presentation should be no more than two minutes Essays should be neatly printed or typed. Multimedia entries should contain audio-visual artistic elements, (not just a talking head), and be viewable on common Micro...