Among the most rewarding moments as a teacher are those when students discover connections between their own learning and the world around them. This semester, Washington Prep’s 6th grade ELA class read the novel A Long Walk to Water, a fictionalized account of the real-life experiences of Salva Dut, a South Sudanese refugee. Salva became a Lost Boy of Sudan when he was separated from his family in Sudan’s Civil War in the 1980s. After spending a decade in refugee camps, Salva was relocated to the United States, where he developed the idea for Water for South Sudan, a non-profit organization committed to providing clean drinking water for remote villages in South Sudan. Inspired by reading Salva’s story, Washington Prep 6th graders decided to lead efforts for the school to fundraise $1,000 for Salva’s mission. After much brainstorming, students made a plan to raise funds by making and selling soap! Through this experience, students have learned valuable leadership, service, and work skills. Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon during block 9, WA Prep students give their time and energy to community service. 8th and 10th, and 11th graders head into the Bothell community to volunteer at a local food bank and thrift store; 6th, 7th, and 9th grade students have been on-campus, alternating between online citizen science projects and trying their hands at soap making.   In the course of their service project for Water for South Sudan, on-campus students have also been honing marketing and entrepreneurial skills: 10th grade students are currently coordinating an on-site event for November 23rd, to sell baked goods and soaps — and all proceeds will go to Water for South Sudan. On the marketing end, 6th grade students coordinated their community service project with a unit in English class, as they wrote persuasive speeches and …

As a child, I saw the ins and outs of Día de los muertos around me because it wasn’t a holiday we observed at home. Part of my family would go to the cemetery and clean the tombstones of our relatives. They would bring pan muerto (bread of the dead) home with them, and I would happily devour it with a cup of hot chocolate, which I remember the brand was Chocolate Abuelita. “That lady (the lady on the picture of the hot chocolate box) was already old when I was a boy.” Said my Dad. “She should be dead by now.” We would all laugh, doña Sara García was indeed an old lady, and it seemed as if she had always been old. She is an icon of Mexican cinema, and I firmly believe the world is a better place because she lived in it. El día de los muertos has always been a colorful and festive occasion. It’s a time when we hear stories of relatives we may or may not have met. It is a time when we listen to old music and talk about who is named after somebody and how your cousin looks so much like tío Pepe, and here is a picture of tio Pepe, and sure enough, I thought it was my cousin in a black and white image. It’s a holiday where laughter and songs are heard, where special food is tasted, and where the children recite morbid yet funny poetry of people’s deaths. No one is scared or cries. Everyone celebrates the interweaving of our stories. Our stories are a part of a chain that leads us back to our ancestors, which will lead us into our children’s lives and our legacy. Here, in the present, COVID aside, we have no …

When I was a student, I dreamed that I could speak English fluently. Because I thought English could help me to open another door to the world. I worked very hard and learned tons of vocabulary and grammar rules. However, after almost 23 years of learning and having been through so many tests, I still felt horrible about my daily communications when I arrived in the United States. I realized that even though I worked so hard to learn English, I had never really used it. When I started to teach Mandarin, helping my students feel comfortable and confident in communicating in Mandarin are the core values of my teaching. As indicated in Krashen’s second language acquisition theory, there are two ways of developing language ability (https://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash-english.html). The acquisition involves the subconscious acceptance of knowledge where information is stored in the brain through communication; this is the process used for developing native languages. On the other hand, learning is the conscious acceptance of knowledge ‘about’ a language (i.e., the grammar or form). According to this theory, the optimal way to learn a new language is through natural communication. As a second language teacher, the idea is to create a situation wherein language is used to fulfill authentic purposes. Therefore, speaking in the new language will help students ‘acquire’ the language instead of just ‘learning’ it. In language acquisition, a hypothetical filter is influenced by emotional variables that can prevent learning. The ‘screen’ does not impact acquisition directly but rather prevents input from reaching the brain’s language acquisition part. According to Krashen, the affective filter is influenced by many different variables, including anxiety, self-confidence, motivation, and stress (https://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash-english.html). In any aspect of education, it is always essential to create a safe, welcoming environment in which students can learn. In language education, …

In the mid-2000s, a few of my colleagues and I thought it would be prudent to consider and then develop a process for extended school closure. Now, you native Pacific North-Westerners know darn well that it doesn’t “really” snow in Seattle and its surrounding cities, but occasionally two feet will indeed drop and shut the cities down. Moreover, in 2001 there was an earthquake that was at least a 6-point that did some damage. So, what if a school had to shut down for more than a day or two? Considering the swine flu or some other debilitating virus, my colleagues helped develop a strategy to maintain forward motion for classes and, most importantly, continue to engage students in their learning. In the early 2000s, video conferencing was in the development stages. Skype (2003), Zoom (2011), and Google Classroom (2014) have helped to advance how people around the globe can communicate efficiently and effectively. Spinning forward to 2018, the year in which WaPrep was established, I carried forward the hours of conversations and planning that had been done to prepare for an extended school closure with my colleagues from a former private school. In February of 2019, the Seattle area was hit with a significant snowstorm, and icy conditions prevailed. Our students took one snow day and then began school, from home, with their teachers on Zoom and email exchange. Students uploaded their work electronically, and teachers provided feedback effectively. It was a starting place for us as a school and gave us just enough data to make improvements for future events like a snowstorm. Unusually, in January 2020, we had another significant snow and ice event. WaPrep’s teaching team and students knew what to do, and more data was gathered for us to utilize for improvements… And then…on March …

In biology there is a joke we pass around: the more complicated a system is, the more difficult it is to study. Biological systems are the most complicated systems humanity has yet observed, and thusly studying these systems is the most difficult science. This joke is especially fun around physicists and chemists. Yet there is truth in this joke. Biological systems are immensely complicated and they exist under an unfathomable scale, from subcellular structures to entire ecosystems. How then do we approach this science, and how do we teach it to the people who will inherit our knowledge? I am trained as a population geneticist and molecular ecologist. Molecular ecology is the study of how genetics is shaped by ecology (ranges, niches, etc.) or vice-versa. This field attempts to relate the big-scale (ecology) to the small-scale (genes) to see how they influence one another. Molecular ecology is the perfect bridge between the small and the large phenomena we encounter in biology. The IB Programme is similar in its pedagogy. Seemingly disparate topics are dovetailed together and their common themes are found. The IB Programme stresses how each classroom is tied to other classes, be it through language, culture, history, or ethics. Science is no exception: science is simply a human institution, and human institutions are shaped by history, language, and philosophy. At WaPrep, IB Biology is structured as a university-level class. Exams are difficult and focus on essays, themes and content, as opposed to simple answers. Academic rigour, thoroughness, and precise wording are stressed to truly prepare students for a university education. It is my goal that zero students from my class return home to express shock at how difficult their classes are; I intend for them to first taste this at WaPrep; I want them to hit the ground …

Last academic year (2018-2019) I was fortunate to work as a Spanish teacher in three different schools: our own school Washington Preparatory School in Bothell, Soundview School in Lynnwood, and Cedar River Montessori School in Renton. I will let go of the idea of writing about the most efficient way to drive around the entire Seattle area but rather I will write of how I was introduced to the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB, and yes, the spelling is in the British form), also introduced to the Montessori system (another European educational system and philosophy) and about some aspects of IB which I will bring into my teaching at a conscientious and committal level. These are reflection (T.O.K.), independent learning (learner profile), project-based learning and teaching, and the philosophy that all teachers are language teachers. I have been teaching language acquisition since 1999, and the phrase, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” immediately began applying to me regarding IB.  WaPrep and one of the other schools are IB schools. Suddenly and immediately, my teaching routine had to begin the process of adjustment. Yes, the process, because change doesn’t come immediately, because to be a true educator means becoming involved and loving the process of learning, because my own education and teaching experience were being augmented. I was coached and assisted with the writing of the IB curriculum for the MYP (Middle Years Programme) because one of the schools was already an IB school. Until this March, WaPrep was an IB candidate school. WaPrep sent me to my initial IB training in Portland which took place in November of 2018. Three of us, Qian Zhang the Mandarin Teacher, Teresa Coggins the Physical Education Teacher and Administrative Assistant and I traveled to Portland together by train. The IB training left me thinking like Socrates, “I know that I know nothing.” I was so confused with acronyms and new ways of assessment and a curriculum form that I had to do and re-do so much, and that, although similar, was not the same as the MYP form with which I received so much help and guidance. This was the DP (Diploma Programme for grades 11 and 12) curriculum form. I began to wonder if I’d ever be able to teach this way. …

Kara Walker, Exxodus of Confederates from Atlanta from Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated) [set of 15 prints], 2005. Offset lithography and silkscreen. 39” x 53’. Edition of 35 Kehinde Wiley, Arms of Nicolaas Ruterius, Bishop of Arras, 2014, Stained Glass, 54” x 36” Two inspiration artists that have been part of our discussions in class are Kehinde Wiley and Kara Walker. These contemporary, internationally acclaimed African American artists use shape and pattern symbolically to address the history of racial injustice and representation in their work. In Walker’s work, silhouettes of black figures create narratives that tell the story of slavery and racial violence in the United States prior to the Civil War. While the details in the dress and hair of Walker’s figures reflect a past point in time, the emotional and conceptual weight of her work is magnified under the lens of today’s headlines. Kehinde Wiley’s work focuses on the image of African Americans in the present day and often on specific individuals in lush, patterned backgrounds. His hyperrealist paintings make the subjects seem larger than life either figuratively or literally. Wiley also references history by taking inspiration from the titles and poses of works by classical masters. Wiley’s figures exude the same power, grace and poise that was the hallmark of many Renaissance era works but, unlike those past paintings, his figures and faces are those of living black people in clothing that is evocative of their culture and the present moment.  Through his artwork Wiley documents a new history that includes black faces and brings attention to their absence in the canon of classical art. In our first set of projects students are considering the techniques of Walker and Wiley for their own designs addressing shape and pattern. In art class we have been …