Eileen Hynes

Eileen Hynes is currently the Director of Thematic Studies at the Lake and Park School in Seattle, where she works throughout the school with each of the classrooms and all of the teachers.  As an educator, Eileen sees her role as that of a facilitator.  The classroom belongs to the community of children and teachers who come together to explore and to learn. As the teacher she works to create an environment that welcomes all children and reflects every child’s sense of self back to the community.  She works to create a warm and inviting space that allows children to feel safe, to focus, to explore and to take risks.  It is from the secure place of belonging that the individual can be open to the unknown, and begin to trace ever-widening orbits of understanding. Eileen has taught for over thirty years, in both public and independent schools.  Wherever she is teaching she works to bring the world into the classroom, and also to create opportunities for students to venture out into the world.

Eileen shares her love of developing integrated curriculum with a global focus with community partners that support schools. She joined the World Affairs Council and began attending Global Classroom workshops in 2001, became a teacher liaison in 2003 and traveled to Turkey with the Turkish Cultural Foundation/World Affairs Council in 2009. She was the Teacher-in-Residence at the World Affairs Council during the 2010/2011 school year, working to include elementary school-friendly materials in all learning packets, and writing the Global Sandbox blog. In 2013 she participated in the Global Classroom Teacher Leaders for Online Exchange Program.

Eileen was named a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow in 2012. She traveled to Arctic Svalbard with National Geographic in 2012 and has continued to contribute to the NatGeo learning community, most recently developing materials for the Washington State Geographic Alliance.  After returning from the Arctic where the effects of climate change were so pronounced, Eileen joined the NOAA Climate Stewards to further her own education and understanding of the causes and effects of climate change on the world’s systems as she worked to develop classroom materials to share with her students.  Eileen joined the National Center for Science Education Teacher Advisory Panel in 2015. She helped pilot the NCSEteach program to help K-12 teachers teach about evolution and climate change.  Eileen has also worked with EarthEcho International which also includes the World Water Monitoring Challenge, as part of their Learning and Education Advisory Panel since 2014.