Seattle Public Schools

Biography

6th grade art
7th and 8th grade art
Ceramics

Personal Message

Hello! My name is Ms. Alden and I use she/they pronouns. I teach 8th grade English and Journalism here at JAMS. I graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Teaching. My passions include my dog Oliver, finding diverse books for my classroom, and discussing critical literacy. Please feel free to contact me for questions about your student and our classroom!

This is my 7th year teaching ELA at JAMS and my 3rd year teaching Journalism. For all newspaper and yearbook inquiries, please email me at kaalden@seattleschools.org.

For the 2021-2022 school year, I will be splitting my time between Adams Elementary and Greenwood Elementary, on a weekly basis.

Heather McQuarrie (Ms. McQ) has been teaching in Seattle Public Schools since 2018. After three years as a second grade teacher in Ballard, she worked as a head teacher at Adams Elementary to support admin, teachers, families, and to create a building-wide Social Emotional Learning plan to help the building transition back to in-person learning. Following her maternity leave in 2022, she joined the James Baldwin family and loves being a part of this community.

Heather lives with her husband Toby and her toddler son Cavan in Edmonds. In her spare time, she enjoys singing & playing music, cooking, reading, and crafts.