Seen and Heard at Nathan Hale, Part 2

Here's a view of room 104, where students are learning about life under the sea. In this unique program, where students work hard to develop both receptive (receiving information) and expressive (sharing understanding) skills, our students have many opportunities to do both broad thinking and intellectual deep diving!



Biology and Chemistry teacher Mr. F.S. performs his "Cellular Respiration" song, featuring lyrics like "it's in the mitochondria, it's forming ATP." (ATP is adenosine triphosphate, the nucleotide that transports energy within cells and is an essential component of metabolism.)




Students are working on site improvement projects in our Horticulture program. In groups they had to brainstorm, research, and present a proposal for improving the Horticulture site. Here some students work on the pond:



And here you can see rows of beautiful poinsettia plants. Students in Horticulture and Ecology classes learn to grow healthy, beautiful plants using integrated pest management techniques.(Read about integrated pest management here)



And here are students in Nutrition class learning to bake muffins!



Eleventh grader US History students are learning about the conditions that led to the Revolutionary war. In both US History and Language Arts classes they are learning to analyze rhetoric, and are studying Thomas Paine's "Common Sense," identifying effective rhetorical techniques in his prose.

It's a great time to be a student at Nathan Hale!

Seen and Heard~September 24, 2008

• In a 9th grade Social Studies class, students have been given this task: "Imagine that it is 1947 and you have been asked to come up with your own plan for the partition of Palestine. Answer the following questions with your group member--a) What factors do you think should be considered in your partition plan? Think about things like geography, history, population, and the promises that were made at the time. What do you and your group members think are the most important issues to be considered? b) What will your group aim to achieve with your partition plan?

Student conversation sounded like this: "It's hard to balance all of the different factors like history and geography." "If it's not a fair plan, there will be conflict."

Tip of the Day~Nathan Hale Artists

Follow this link to a wonderful page about Nathan Hale artists!

http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/hale/art_web/Index.htm

Autumn Images

Ms. K, our wonderful Drawing, Painting, and Ceramics teacher, is temporarily housed in a lovely portable on the banks of Thornton Creek. Nathan Hale artists enjoy the rich late-summer light in their studio:



Of course, what could be better on a beautiful fall day than an afternoon of football?

Join us for our first Varsity home game this Friday, September 19th, and come back for Freshman Football Night on Saturday, September 20th!



And finally, our Cross Country team stretches in the mellow autumn air:

Nathan Hale and the Coalition of Essential Schools

After conducting an intensive five-year study of American High Schools in the early 1980s, Education professor Ted Sizer and his fellow researchers concluded that if American students were to become engaged, inquisitive, critical thinkers, the basic structure of High School needed to change. We had evolved a system of “shopping mall” high schools, full of scattered and superficial learning, anonymity, and too few daily opportunities for sustained rigorous thinking.
Sizer, then a professor at Brown University, founded the Coalition of Essential Schools (he also founded the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown). The Coalition was a consortium of High Schools committed to doing High School differently. They articulated10 Common Principles that would guide the work of creating school communities that would truly prepare students for any challenge.
In 1997, Nathan Hale High School took a bold step by becoming a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools. Since then, Nathan Hale has been at the forefront of school reform in the Northwest and in the nation. Nathan Hale regularly hosts visitors from around the United States and beyond. They come to see the unique and successful programs Nathan Hale has created.
The abbreviated Ten Common Principles, developed to guide High School reform, are as follows:
1. The school should focus on helping students learn to use their minds well
2. Less is more, depth over coverage
3. Goals apply to all students
4. Personalization
5. Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach
6. Demonstration and exhibition of mastery
7. A tone of decency and trust
8. Commitment to the entire school—teachers are generalists first
9. Resources dedicated to teaching and learning
10. Democracy and equity (this principle was added in the mid-nineties)
(For more thorough language, visit http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/about/phil/10cps/10cps.html)
Each month as a school we will focus on a different Coalition Principle. September’s principle, helping students learn to use their minds well, is evident in our schedule, which provides longer blocks of time on Wednesdays and Thursdays for all students, and every day for our 9th graders. We know that students think more deeply and are able to engage in more complex tasks when they can spend more than 50 minutes in a particular academic class. As I visit classrooms this month, I will be looking for how we do and do not create opportunities for students to develop intellectual stamina, make connections, and challenge themselves as writers and problem solvers.
School transformation is a continuous process, and we need your input. Please let me know if you see ways we can improve our work.I am delighted to welcome you, new families, and to welcome you back, returning families, to this great learning community. Above all, we strive to create a personalized learning experience, and a community where each student feels valued and respected.
Welcome to the 2008-2009 school year!
Marni Campbell, Principal

First Week

Hello Nathan Hale!



So many exciting things are happening this week. Here are just a few highlights:

• Our 9th graders are acclimated to high school, and already have their log books set up and ready to go.
• Family members and students helped stuff information packets--thank you! Watch for your packet, with important information, to come home next Wednesday, September 10th.
• After-school homework help will be available in the Library starting on Monday, September 15th.
• 10th grade Biology students have been finding spiders around our Nathan Hale grounds.
• Our athletic teams are practising, preparing, and working for excellence. Here is a far away photo of our Raider Soccer stars:

• And our September CES common principle reminds us that our first and foremost work as a learning community is to help students learn to use their minds WELL.
  
  

First Day!

Can it be that summer is already over? Well, we're delighted to be starting another school year at Nathan Hale. Thank you to all of the folks who helped to make Raider Day a success. Getting all of our business done on Raider Day means that we can focus on setting the tone for learning on the first day of school.

Here are a few images:

Students are greeted with a cheery "welcome" sign:


Raider Parkway is up and running. We have a lovely new community on the southeast side of our building:



Students lunch in the Performing Arts Center foyer: