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Author Archives: Steve Atwater
Under the radar
At the end of the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics, NBC interviewed one of our American athletes who competes in the bobsled event. He was a gold medalist at the previous games, but I had no idea who he was because his sport does not command the media’s attention as does figure skating or […]
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School Counselors
Last week I attended the first 90 minutes of a district counselor meeting. It was a good chance to see this group and to get a feel for their meetings. After some initial discussion, the training turned to how counselors can recognize and support students who injure themselves. Although I knew that some teens do […]
Posted in Schools and Assessment 1 Comment
Service Learning
On Monday most of KPBSD will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day. The extra day of this weekend gives us time to pause and reflect on why the third Monday in January is a federal holiday. For many, the day is also a time to give back to your community by doing […]
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Student Safety
At the end of each school day I receive a report that lists student injuries that require medical attention. This is the district’s way of tracking each time a student is in an accident or gets hurt during an activity. On a good day there are one or two entries and on a bad day […]
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Children and poverty
If you go to the Safeway in Soldotna, you will notice that the store has placed a brown paper bag filled with non-perishable food items on most of the conveyor belts of the checkout aisles. If purchased, the bag will go to the local food bank. Earlier this week I added a bag to my […]
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The art and science of teaching
Earlier this week I spent time with some of our teachers discussing the challenges of their jobs. We had a good conversation about the changing nature of teaching and how more record keeping of the acquisition of basic skills is now required. While these teachers are prepared to fight the fight for their students, it […]
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Preschool and Math
I recently read that only 18% of the adults in our country can calculate how much a carpet will cost if they know the size of the room and the per-yard price of the carpet. This was written in response to another mediocre performance by American students on the math portion of an international test. […]
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New Standards
Each spring our students in grades 3-10 take the state’s required Standards Based Assessment (SBA) in reading, writing and math. The state is now developing a new set of assessments to measure proficiency on the new state standards that are closely tied to the Common Core State Standards. Because these standards are more rigorous than those […]
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School Culture
Earlier this week I spent a couple of hours at Kenai Central visiting classrooms and speaking with students, teachers and the principal. During a passing period I stood in the hallway to watch the students stream by, obviously relieved to be free of class for a moment. It was fun to watch the horseplay of […]
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