By: Gina Stukenholtz, Middle School HAL Teacher, Bellevue Public Schools<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change the world. Make a difference. Give back. Impact the lives of others. Give students hope. Change hearts and minds. Make learning relevant. All of those.\u00a0 I went to college to become a teacher for precisely all of those<\/em> reasons.\u00a0 In 2006, I was a fresh-faced, young, energetic, burgeoning teacher in my second year of teaching.\u00a0 I naturally sought and soaked up any advice and information on ways to be an effective teacher.\u00a0 Back in those days, teachers could sign up to receive scholarly journals through the district resource library.\u00a0 A checklist showed up in your mailbox each August and I (over)eagerly checked too many boxes. I wanted to read them all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October 2006, a copy of The Technology Teacher<\/em> showed up in my mailbox.\u00a0 I photocopied an article called \u201cClassroom Activities Can Last a Lifetime\u201d authored by Harry T. Roman, a retired engineer. \u00a0 I was a 7th grade math teacher and was always wanting to answer the pervasive question: \u201cWhen will I ever need this?\u201d\u00a0 I wanted to answer this persistent question with genuine answers.\u00a0 I wanted to give middle school math relevance. Relevance.<\/em> Talk about a perpetual teaching buzz word.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harry T. Roman wrote about his 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson, who championed \u201cschool-to-career\u201d learning.\u00a0 In the article, he looks back and says \u201cI am an inventor and engineer today because of something that happened in the fourth grade, way back in 1957.\u201d Mr. Roman tells of a project where Mrs. Wilson had them write letters to companies asking how they used science and technology to make products. He wrote to Thomas Edison Company, and his life was changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I admit; I stole this idea from Mr. Roman.\u00a0 I immediately told my principal I was doing this project and we talked through how to make it happen.\u00a0 That article was it; it was exactly what I was looking for.\u00a0 I could answer the question how math was used in the real world – not by me, a mere math teacher, but by professionals in the community.\u00a0 Real people, real talk, real advice. It was my best lesson of the year.\u00a0 It continued to be the highlight of each subsequent year of teaching.\u00a0 Not only did my kids get to ask the question to someone in their dream profession if math was important, but they learned the valuable skill of writing a professional letter and addressing an envelope.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how many kids had never addressed an envelope before.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Receiving snail mail seems on the verge of extinction; some professional recipients mentioned how surprising it was to receive a written letter from students. It was awesome delivering each letter as the responses came in later in the year. Confirmation that math was needed in each and every profession, along with sage wisdom filled each and every response.\u00a0 Nearly every letter said they use math on a daily basis.\u00a0 Numerous professionals admitted they did not find the value of their classes and studies until later.\u00a0 A few memorable lines include:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is time to embrace mathematics; I use it everyday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can be anything you want to\u00a0 be as long as you are willing to work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is not a day that goes by that I do not use math.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLearn as much as you can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMath is the subject which opens doors to all the technical careers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responses ran the gamut of professions.\u00a0 Responses came from near and far.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n An astrophysicist with Space Telescope Science Institute responded with a blog post: <\/p>\n\n\n\n