Learn As If You Were To Live Forever . . .

Congratulations 2009 graduates. Thank you for your courage, your humor, your compassion, and your creativity. Thank you families and friends for sharing your students with us. Thank you staff members, who are teachers first above all else. We are creating honorable, thinking, skillful citizens thanks to you!

Thank you Yoshiki Nakamura for these beautiful images. See more at:
Seattle Digital Photography
www.SeattleDigitalPhoto.com

Math Understanding at Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale mathematicians created projects to show applications of trigonometry:

The Math Carnival:

Math Jeopardy, complete with categories and questions of escalating difficulty:

The heart of trig:

Using trigonometry to learn about the bleachers at Nathan Hale:

Thanks Math teachers!

SIFF Filmmaker Visits Nathan Hale

Here is a report written by filmmaker Emily Kuntsler about her recent visit to Nathan Hale to screen The story of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe :

The highlight of our trip was getting to screen the film for 300 at Nathan Hale, a public high school in Seattle (go Raiders!). This screening was set up by Dustin Kaspar, SIFF's Educational Coordinator. Over time, I have become much more comfortable standing in front of a room of festival goers and talking about the film but nothing had prepared me for an auditorium full of sophomores. It was like being in high school all over again except this time I got to use the bathroom in the teachers' lounge. The students were so welcoming and enthusiastic that I soon forgot my initial apprehension.

The story of William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe is told from Sarah and my perspective when we were the age of the students who filled that auditorium, but until that day at Nathan Hale we had never had the privilege of sharing the film with young people. Before the screening began we asked the audience if any of them had heard of William Kunstler and a few lonely hands were raised. We always hoped that the film would be accessible to high school students but much of the history we tell in the film is not typically covered in high school curricula.

To our delight, the students were completely engaged and inspired by the film. Their questions following the screening were some of the most thoughtful and probing we have received from viewers of any age. They asked about racism in America and who was responsible for it and what it was like to lose a father while I was still in high school.

Bill loved nothing more than talking to young people. One student asked me what Bill might say to them were he there that day. The question completely caught me off guard, but it went to the heart of why Sarah and I made this film and what we hoped the film could accomplish in the world. I told the students that Bill would tell them the story of Michelangelo's statue of David and of Herman Melville's Moby Dick to illustrate how they all have the opportunity and the obligation to speak out and act in the face of seemingly unconquerable evil - how the struggle is perpetual and that we all must return to it day after day despite the odds.

As we were leaving students stopped us in the hall to talk about their desires to fight for justice and equality in their own way. Tracy and I left Nathan Hale High School completely exhilarated and excited to start our educational outreach campaign in the Fall, and to get the film into as many high school, college, and law school classes as possible. Bill would have loved to have been there.

An Exciting Week in June!

Vocal Jazz takes to the stage at our end of year concert, featuring as well the Concert Band, Jazz Band, Concert Choir, and a special performance by flutist Alice K., playing her own composition!

Seniors lead a Socratic Seminar at our Environmental Symposium:

Ninth Grade students participate in a Socratic Seminar at our HEP (Human Ecology Project)/Environmental Symposium event:

Teacher leaders Karl E. and Mike L. participate in a HEP Socratic Seminar:

More Seniors leading a Socratic Seminar at our Environmental Symposium:

Community members enjoy the gallery display of Environmental Science projects:

A final project in Advanced Ceramics:

Advanced Ceramics students work the pottery wheel:

Hard Hat Tour!

Thank you to our Annual Campaign committee for hosting our Hard Hat tour event. This event was originally conceived as a thank you to donors to the Annual Campaign (you can still donate here), but expanded to an event for any members of our community interested in getting a sneak peak at our new library, art classrooms, fitness center, and radio facility.

Here are a few snapshots of the evening.

Coordinator extraordinaire Earl Edwards supervises as attendees enter the construction site:

Our architect explains the scope of the modernization and rebuild of the main building:

Tour attendees in the new library space:

Parents helped to make this evening wonderful!

We featured our library collection, since our newest additions to our collection were funded by donations through the Nathan Hale Foundation. Thank you for your generosity!

Save the date for our grand ribbon-cutting and farewell to the old school: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3RD. This will be an all-day celebration, following our October 2nd Homecoming football game.

June CES Principle: Democracy and Equity

Democracy and Equity

The school should demonstrate non-discriminatory and inclusive policies, practices, and pedagogies. It should model democratic practices that involve all who are directly affected by the school. The school should honor diversity and build on the strength of its communities, deliberately and explicitly challenging all forms of inequity.

June Coalition of Essential Schools Common Principle

As we come to the completion of an exciting school year, and as we look at our class of 2009 Seniors who are heading into the world as young adults, I find myself more and more grateful for this final principle and its influence at Nathan Hale High School.

On May 12th, our Seniors presented their Culminating Projects at a community exhibition night. Each Senior presented a final summation of and reflection on her/his work on a project that shows “citizenship through service.” We saw a wide array of powerful projects, and our community panelists were truly astounded by the maturity and sensitivity of many of the presentations. Thank you to all who made this evening possible, from community and staff panelists to the PTSA who provided a lovely dinner, but most of all, thank you for raising such great kids, and for supporting them as they pursue their goals and become true honorable, thinking, skillful citizens.

Nathan Hale students continue to be honored in District, City, and State venues for their outstanding citizenship as well as their competitive excellence. Our Girls Track team placed first state-wide as Scholar Athletes, and our Tennis team recently won the Metro League Sportsmanship award. Our Girls Ultimate Frisbee team won the state title, and our Boys Soccer team progressed to the Metro finals. These are just a few of the amazing accomplishments of Nathan Hale athletes. In addition, ten of our Radio students recently took high honors in the Washington High School Radio Awards!

Our 9th grade Scientists and 12th graders in AP Environmental Science students will be presenting a joint evening exhibition highlighting issues of our responsibility for our physical environment. This is an unprecedented event, and is beautifully symbolic of the spirit and culture we would like to maintain and build at Nathan Hale. This event will take place on the evening of June 2nd—please join us!

Thank you for your support, dedication, encouragement, and feedback throughout the year. We value your input, and appreciate your commitment to excellence. It is a pleasure to share our community with you!

Marni Campbell

Raiders Rally!

Nathan Hale Environmental Science students attended a rally at the at Bell Harbor Conference Center, where the EPA was holding public comment hearings about its finding that carbon dioxide could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Over a thousand people rallied to support limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Thanks students!

Human Ecology Project

Ninth grade students are working on a final project that asks them to consider the relationship between human behavior and our environment. Here are notes from a class that is looking at the impact of the Three Gorges Dam in China:



And here are some definitions for the project:

The Wedding Singer!

Congratulations to Nathan Hale's cast, crew, and DIRECTOR (the fabulous Sydney Baird!!) for the following nominations in the Fifth Avenue High School Musical awards:

• Outstanding Direction - Honorable Mention

• Outstanding Choreography

• Outstanding Costume Design - Honorable Mention

• Outstanding Hair and Make-Up Design

• Outstanding Performance by a Chorus - Honorable Mention

C89.5 Radio Raiders in the News!

Check out the link here (search for C89) and here for exciting news about Nathan Hale students achieving excellence in broadcasting!

Also, congratulations to our Boys Soccer team, competing in State finals on May 19th, and to our Girls Ultimate Frisbee team, for winning first place in Western championships!

Yankee Doodle Days

It was an exciting Spirit Week at Nathan Hale, with Born To Be Wild day, Dynamic Duos and Trios day, and of course the ever-popular Decades day. Here's a parting shot of costumer extraordinaire Laura D. on Born To Be Wild day:




We hope that her classmates in Cambridge, Massachusetts appreciate her creative spirit as much as we do!

The Seniors found the Spirit Stick(ask a Nathan Hale student if you don't know about this tradition), we had Class and ASNH elections, and the Juniors won the final tug-of-war. All in all it was a delightful week made even better by the Friday afternoon sunshine.

And don't forget our fabulous Musical, The Wedding Singer, playing through Saturday night. Raiders Rock!!

Honorable, Thinking, Skillful Athletes!

Congratulations to Cary Stidham and members of our girl's track team. They are Academic State Champions for the third time in four years! See here for details!

And in tennis news . . .

Nathan Hale Varsity also swept the three major Metro League Awards. The team won the "Joe Flickinger" Team Sportsmanship Award. Sara Behrens Won the "Jill Curran" Award and Bob Behrens Won the "Gary Case" Coach of the Year Award.

Students at Work~May 2009 Edition

Students discuss the complexities of Environmental Science:

Our beautiful new Nathan Hale Library logo, ready to grace our new Library space:

Art created by one of our students in our medically fragile program:

Research and thinking for our students:

A gallery of art from our students in our medically fragile classroom:

Construction Update~Raider Rebuild Moving Forward!

This is advanced notice that the Seattle School District will be moving three portable classrooms to the Nathan Hale campus the week of June 22 to June 26.

Two portables will be moved into the south student parking lot, and a portable will be moved into the northwest staff parking lot. The District will put up NO PARKING barricades prior to the moves, so public parking and pedestrian access through these areas will be limited during this time.

We plan on posting large, color notices in the parking lots a few weeks before the moves.

We appreciate your understanding and will advise as other construction activities are scheduled this summer.

Harlem Renaissance Link

Look here for a wonderful page on the Nathan Hale website documenting our 11th grade American Studies Harlem Renaissance projects.

Thank you 11th grade teachers, students, families, and our wonderful web master Tony Hand!

Our Resources Are Committed to the Classroom!

MAY COALITION PRINCIPLE

The School’s resources should be dedicated to teaching and learning.
Ultimate administrative and budget targets should include student loads that promote personalization and substantial time for collective planning by teachers.

We are all feeling the effects of challenging financial times. In the State of Washington, our schools are particularly vulnerable since our revenue fluctuates directly with the volatile and changing economy. During this last budget cycle we had some difficult conversations as a staff, but as hard as our decisions were, I was inspired by the fact that as a community we knew our priorities. We work to keep resources in powerful classroom teaching and in necessary social/emotional support for students . Our budget process helped us to reflect and refocus on our essential work.

Thanks in large part to your support and contributions to our Annual Campaign, we have been able to maintain school staffing that will continue to provide small class sizes for ninth grade academies and math classes. As this month’s principle states, we strive to maintain small class loads that promote personalization and hence greater success. Although we cannot do this in all classes, we have identified key junctures--the ninth grade--and content areas—mathematics--where we often leave students behind. Our data continues to indicate that the added resources in these areas are creating remarkable success for all students.

Our Tuesday late start days give our teams and departments absolutely priceless time to plan collaboratively, to refine curriculum, and to analyze student work so that we can better teach your students. We are so grateful for your support of our staff on Tuesdays! Research shows again and again that teacher practice, and hence student success, improve dramatically when teachers have the chance to leave their individual classrooms and learn from one another.

If you stop by my office, you will see a bookcase just outside my door, where I keep an ever-evolving collection of fresh and exciting titles. Students and staff are welcome to borrow a book and keep it if they wish. Maintaining this little main office library is my way of focusing each day on our essential function as a school community; whatever work we do administratively, our first job is to model and practice critical thinking, literacy, problem-solving, and the joy of lifelong learning.

This library is also a tangible manifestation of the “stone soup” principle. What began as a small collection of books culled from my home and second hand bookstores has grown to abundance as anonymous givers regularly contribute to the collection. Regardless of the difficult financial times, when we are committed to core principles, to keeping our classrooms vibrant and rigorous, to keeping students at the heart of all we do, we will continue to thrive. Thank you for your generosity, and for sharing your remarkable students with us.

Best wishes for a happy spring!
Marni Campbell

Sun, Science, and Scholars

Welcome to a small virtual tour of a morning at Nathan Hale!

PE teacher Hoover Hopkins takes advantage of the sunshine to teach his students on Raider Field:





Physics students have created white boards to show their understanding of complex ideas:




Daily assignment log projected in a 10th grade Biology class showing their work on a genetics lab. Note the Daily Engage question: Identify the following variables from the taste lab: manipulated, responding and controlled.


US History scholars get some quality coaching on historical analysis from teacher Erin Lynch as they prepare to write an essay:

Nathan Hale Artists

With humblest apologies for the photo quality (cell phone cameras are VERY convenient for busy bloggers, but they do lack pixel power!) I share a few art pieces that are currently on display at the John Stanford Center as part of the annual Naramore Art Show. Stop by to see the wonderful pieces from High Schools throughout Seattle.





Members of Nathan Hale's Concert Choir, accompanied by the talented Yuki N. and directed by Mr. Nolet, practice "Dona Nobis Pacem" in our Performing Arts Center gallery: