Blog Post 6 - Papahana Kuaola

     This year my students and I had the opportunity to have a day where we had community guest speakers come to speak with us about their various organizations. One of these that came to speak with us was a group from Papahana Kuaola on the windward side of Oʻahu. It is a nonprofit organization that covers 63 acres that reach from peaks of the Koolau Mountains to the ocean. Their mission is to "create quality educational programs focused on environmental restoration and economic sustainability fully integrated with the Hawaiian knowledge in order to exemplify a lifestyle resepectful of kānaka, ʻāina, and ākua". After they spoke to us, we had the opportunity to visit Papahana Kuaola and have two days of hands on experiences that I want to share.
     At Papahana Kuaola we started by chanting (oli) to be allowed entrance into this beautiful place. We were greeted and welcomed to Waipao. We were broken into our two teams, Hui Honuamea to cover Aloha ʻĀina and Hui Kulāiwi to cover the wai (water). On the first day, there were many activities taking place. One group took a hike into the forest to collect waiawī (strawberry guava) branches, which is an invasive tree, to create ōʻō (digging tool). After they collected their ōʻō that needed to be taller than each student, it was then cut at where the branch touched their nose. This extra smaller piece was used to hit the long piece of the ōʻō to take off the bark of the branch. Once the branch was debarked, stones were used to make their ʻōʻō smooth. Another group was in the loʻi stomping the mud to make it soft as they weeded the edges of the loʻi. Another group went to harvest a piece of bamboo to create ʻohe wai (water vessel). These students also had to find the perfect pōhaku (rock) to be the lid to their ʻohe wai.
     The two teams of students then learned two chants (oli).
Hui Honuamea learned Pule ʻōʻō:
Kūmokuhāliʻi (repeat)
Kūpulupulu (repeat)
Kūʻālanawao (repeat)
Kūpaʻaikeʻe (repeat)
Kua i ke kumu (repeat)
Kua i kaʻe lau (repeat)
Kua i ka lālā (repeat)
E ʻike e nānā i ke kālai ʻana o ka ʻōʻō
he lapa ka oo mahi au i ka aina kula.

Hui Kulāiwi learned He Mele no Käne:                           The Water of Käne:
                                 (No Kaua‘i mai këia mele)
He ui, he ninau:                                                       A query, a question,
E ui aku ana au ia oe,                                               I put to you:
Aia i hea ka Wai a Kane?                                        Where is the water of Kane?
Aia i ka hikina a ka La,                                           At the Eastern Gate
Puka i Haehae,                                                        Where the Sun comes in at Haehae
Aia i laila ka Wai a Kane.                                       There is the water of Kane.
E ui aku ana au ia oe,                                              A question I ask of you:
Aia i hea ka Wai a Kane?                                       Where is the water of Kane?
Aia i Kaulana a ka la,                                             Out there with the floating Sun,
I ka pae opua i ke kai,                                            Where the cloud-forms rest on Oceans breast,
Ea mai ana ma Nihoa,                                            Uplifting their forms of Nihoa,
Ma ka mole mai o Lehua;                                      This side the base of Lehua;
Aia i laila ka Wai a Kane.                                      There is the water of Kane.
E ui aku ana au ia oe,                                             One question I put to you:
Aia i hea ka Wai a Kane?                                      Where is the water of Kane?
Aia i ke kuahiwi,                                                    Yonder on mountain peak,
I ke kualono,                                                          On the ridges steep,
I ke awawa,                                                            In the valleys deep,
i ke kahawai;                                                         Where the rivers sweep:
Aia i laila ka Wai a Kane.                                     There is the water of Kane
E ui aku ana au ia oe,                                            This question I ask of you:
Aia i hea ka Wai a Kane?                                     Where, pray, is the water of Kane?
Aia i kai, i ka moana,                                            Yonder, at sea, on the ocean,
I ke Kualau, i ke anuenue                                      In the driving rain, in the heavenly bow,
I ka punohu, i ka ua koko,                                     In the piled-up mist wraith, in the blood-red rainfall
I ka alewalewa;                                                      In the ghost-pale cloud form;
Aia i laila ka Wai a Kane.                                     There is the water of Kane.

     The next day, the students were broken into three groups, the first group (Mālama ʻĀina/Heiau) learned about the heiau and took care of the laʻi (pulling weeds within the ti leave patch). The second group took care of the imu (Imu/Mālama Mala). The third group made kuʻiʻai (mashing taro into paʻiʻai). The Mālama/Mele group first went to learn about the different levels within the heiau. Kanaka to kanaka or the bottom level was a place where you stand when not engaging in ceremonies. Kanaka to Āina or the second level and Kanaka to Akua or the top level where offerings were put. The pōhaku that formed the heiau were from different areas of the island. Niho rocks were the bottom rocks or base of the heiau where the rocks looks like they are chomping on the ʻāina. There are corner rocks which were the starter rocks that help to keep the rock wall up. Once the students finished learning about the heiau they started their Laʻi weed pulling activity. There were 3 main jobs for this group: the weed pullers that pulled the weeds and put them in a pile, the transfer people that moved the individual piles to the bucket people, and the bucket people that took the piles from the transfer people and put it into a giant pile. The students were taught that they could not just pull the weed since it could be wrapped around the laʻi. They needed to pull the weed from the root and shake off the excess dirt. The students were surprised at the amound of cane spiders and centipedes they found.
     The next group Imu/Mālama Mala first needed to prepare the ground for the imu. So the students cleaned the area where the imu was to be placed. They dug a whole about 3 feet deep to feed about 160 people. They then pushed the dirt around the rim about a foot away from the edge. Next was fire preparation. Wood was gathered and a chimney was formed by stacking sticks and rocks around a tall stick with a 5-inch diameter. Placing the firewood into the hole starting with smaller sticks first, then medium sticks, and then ending with logs. They stacked the wood into a diamond or pyramid shape. They created a hole facing the direction of the wind as the fire would need oxygen. Also there was a second hole on the opposite side of the fire stack just in case the wind changed direction. Next was rock preparation, pōhaku or ʻeho used in the fire, the bigger rocks were stacked around the stack of sticks. The students had to make sure not to cover the breathing puka. The fire was lit and burned for three hours when the logs were taken out and the rocks fell flat and were leveled so it was even. It was time to make the levels within the imu. Bottom was the hot rocks, then the haliʻi or banana stumps and extra laʻi, then the food, followed by the wet banana leaves, two layers of wet burlap, tarp, plastic over the top, and the dirt from the edge onto the plastic. Then we waited and lunch as our reward for all the hard work we did.
     The third group was the kuʻiʻai group. This group took steamed kalo that was sitting in buckets of water and skinned the kalo and took out any black spots. Once the kalo was cleaned they each a poi pounder and began to mash the kalo into paʻiʻai which was later made into the poi for our lunch. The students were advised that when cleaning and mashing they needed to have positive thoughts and not get angry with each other or we would be able to taste their anger and impatience in their final project. At the end of the day, we all came together to unite as one and enjoy the meal that we all helped in preparing. The students were happy with all that they learned and are even more looking forward to our Big Island trip in February.

Blog Post 5 - What Makes A Strong STEMS Unit?

What should a STEMS unit look like? I think a STEMS Unit should be one that is first and foremost engaging to our students, relevant to the standards and benchmarks, and of course has our STEMS perspective rolled into it. The unit should be more than just scratching the surface of their core subjects, but should enable the students to delve deeper and ask those higher level questions. It should have the students thinking beyond what we cover in class and having them thinking "what else"? With Mathematics I am constantly telling my students, you don't stop using the Math skills you learned in previous grades it is the foundation of where we will be going. We need to use those skiils as stepping stones to be able to push ourselves further so we get the deeper meaning and fuller understandings. To get the students engaged, we need to have those hands on experiences where they are able to see the real-life appication and so they don't have to ask the question...when in life am I going to use this? The students need to see the relevance to their own lives because it is that personal connection that helps them to buy into what we are teaching them.

What kinds of experiences are students and teachers engaged in? Students and teachers are focused and learning off of each other. It is a space of give and take. We are sharing our own experiences and are relating it to our students so that they are able to make their own personal connections. Once that happens, they are able to take ownership of their learning and they are able to put value in it. It is no longer just a field trip, but a learning journey that pulls everything that was taught together. It is not just a guest speaker, but a specialist within their field that is willing to share their expertise with our students. It no longer just getting up and being active, but having hands on activities where we are totally emersed in the activity and we're able to see things through a new learning lense.  Once we have these types of experiences, we are then able to have the conversations with our students and these discussions that are student driven versus teacher driven.

How long is a unit that allows space and time for such experiences? I think how long a unit is will vary from unit to unit and from subject to subject. Typically a unit will be dependent on whatever content I am trying to cover. This unit can then be broken down into smaller lessons. As for the amount of time it takes that is another variable in the equation. Each class period is normally one lesson within the unit as I have seventy-five minute periods. I believe there needs to be that flexibility to allow the time and space needed to have these experiences.

What qualities and/or characteristics should be present in all STEMS units? Of course with everything that has been said thusfar, there has to be the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics part of STEMS along with the Social Studies and Sense of Place. As teachers, we are no longer acting alone, but should be working hand in hand with our teammates and having these interdisciplinary units where the students see the relevance across every subject of their education. We need to have resources available for our students to get that deeper knowledge so we can stop just scratching the surface. Every class will be different in what they get out of the unit because of what their input into the unit. We are no longer able to teach the same thing year in and year out because education is constantly changing and reinventing itself and becoming more relevant to us as teacher and of course as learners.

Blog Post 4 - A Look Back at Quarter 1

     As I was starting at a new school in a new grade level with a new team, I had a lot on my plate at the beginning of the school year. I had big plans, but fear eventually crept in and made me doubt that I would be able to accomplish everything that I wanted to. Needless to say, I am pleased with the outcome of my first quarter with the esception of accomplishing a STEMS project every quarter I am on point of where I want to be. The only reason our quarter 1 STEMS project was delayed was due to the overly wet weather on the windward side of the Island and the director thinking of safety first! Hopefully you will be able to hear about our trip to Papahana Kuaola in a later blog post.

     The huge adjustment for me was the Hawaiian Language and learning the many oli, mele, and pule that my haumana are all familiar with. As a team, we have a Piko Wehena every morning and a Piko Panina every afternoon. The morning consists of a oli, pule, and mele while the afternoon closes the day with Oli Mahalo. In the beginning, I felt bad that I had to oli my return to the students by looking at the words. One day, as the haumana began their oli I realized that I was the only kumu there! My social studies kumu had a substitute for the day and my English Kumu was running late! The realization hit me that I would be saying the response to the oli all alone. As the haumana finished, they looked at me with smiles in their eyes and I slowly, but surely got through the response! At the end, the students cheered and gave me a round of applause. Their support got me through it. It has been very rewarding to hear the confidence in their voices as they call out their oli and pule. Even their Hawaiian language kumu has remarked at the difference in the beginning of the year where the the students would just recite the words to now when it is said with feeling and reverence.

     The next huge thing has been switching from teaching 7th and 8th graders to teaching 6th graders. I didnʻt think that it would be too much of a difference and I began the year by pushing them just as I would my incoming 7th graders. The good thing is that most of these students have been with each other either from kindergarden or 4th grade with a handful entering in 5th and 6th grade. This enabled them to understand ahead of time what was expected of them and they had no problems falling into line of what I expected of them. The first day, I could feel their apprehension in the class as they waited to see how I would be as a teacher. I was quickly able to calm their nerves as walking outside my sandal wedge broke and I went flying down onto the concrete...nothing like having the teacher fall to calm the nerves of the whole class! We instantly bonded as they all came to my rescue.

     

     One thing that I took from our cohort experience over the summer was having the sudents doing an "I Am Poem". I tweaked it just a little so that the "I Am Poem" had to deal with a mathematics topic. The students chose various Math related topics from Pi, Golden Ratio, Geometry, Patterns, and Symmetry, to various Mathemeticians such as Einstein, Plato, Archimedes, and Newton, just to name a few. They had the opportunity to research their topic as it was also to be the cover of their interactive notebooks (INB). They enjoyed the research and their INBʻs were beautifully done and presented to their classmates. Their oral presentations on their "I Am Poems" were also well done. I wish you all could have been there to see and hear their final results.

     We have had our ups and downs and yes I have even had a few students cry not to mention my own tears spilt at home. There is still a lot I want to do with these students as we find our individual sense of place and have a variety of place-based learning to guide us. I am happy to say that our class has finally gotten into our routine and that our STEMS projects are planned for each quarter. I have even gotten my team to combine with me so that these projects will be interdisciplinary units. The support from parents, my team, administration, students, and of course my STEMS cohort has been extraordinary. Each has lent a hand to the success of this first quarter. It has not been perfect, but definitely a step in the right direction, with the steps to follow being that much easier to take.

Blog Post 3 - What is Sense of Place & Why Does it Matter?

Perceptual -
            Our sense of place is based on our own personal and emotional experiences. I asked my students what they felt was their sense of place and they all had a sense of place that related to something that they were familiar with and had a personal connection to. Their sense of place all had to do with where they were from or where they spent a majority of their time. My "lifers" (students who began school at Kamehameha from Kindergarden) school sense of place were each of the teacher's classrooms that they had. While my students that came from multiple schools saw each school as a different experience that formed their overall school sense of place. 

Sociological -
            When I discussed this sociological piece with my students, it was one that took a while to figure out what they were thinking. When I asked them to give me an idea that they went into something without having a full understanding of it and how it was changed. It was an overwhelming response in how they were scared when they found out that their new math teacher had once been a police officer. They were convinced that my class would be a dictatorship type of class and since I was teaching math, a subject that they consider not fun or easy, that made them even more nervous. After six weeks of class, they are beginning to see that Mathematics can be fun and that I am not the scary hard teacher they were anticipating. They are also starting to understand their role within the classroom as they complete their classroom jobs. I have everything from paper passers, mailbox stuffer, pencil sharpener, mailman, door opener, line leaders, to desk wipers, chair wipers, and table wipers. They each know that we are trying to build a place that they are comfortable in and this can only be done by working together as a collaborative unit.

Ideological -
            One thing that my team has tried to instill into our students this year, is that we are all coming from the same place in our teaching philosophy. We all want them to succeed, to grow individually as students while getting a deeper understanding of their own personal school sense of place. It amuses me when they ask me a question and when not liking the given answer will go to another core teacher and how surprised they are to get the same answer across the board. They are only figuring out that we hold the same standards within each of our classrooms. 

Ecological -
            My classroom is its own ecosystem. The students are the living organism that relate one to another on a daily basis. We are constatnly trying to figure each other out so that our classroom will be able to work like a well oiled machine. Needless to say, we are not there yet. We are still in the adaptive stages of getting used to each other and knowing how far we can push each other without having a verbal lashout.

Political -
            The students say that within the walls of my classroom it is my way or the highway. I'm not sure where they came up with this and why they originally thought this. After six weeks of school, they now know that my classroom is an open and safe environment where we come up with class rules together and that every member has a voice and that each of these voices are important.

Why does it matter?
            That is a loaded question, but it comes down to the fact that as life-long learners each of us has a sense of place and we can relate to others sense of place on a daily basis. We are all intertwined and this unites our various sense of place. My students now know that when they are in the classroom of one of their core teachers that we all have the same mindset and set of rules that pertain to our classroom. They know that when they go to their Hawaiian Language class that they will have to oli to enter and wait for their permission to enter. The students are starting to understand that sense of place is more than where you are from. It is more than just your own ideas and personal experiences. Sense of place is a constantly changing and adaptive idea that unites the students to each other.  I look forward to this year, where we will continue to learn and grow from each other. It's not the destination that matters, but this year will be all about the journey.

            

Blog Post 2 - Portrait of My School - Kamehameha

My Students 
I have twenty-four 6th graders - twelve girls and twelve boys. They come from a range of different backgrounds, but the commonality being their Hawaiian heritage. The majority have been here since kindergarten, some entered in fourth grade, and a handful just this year in 6th grade. Their overall goal is to graduate from Kamehameha Schools. For a few they are the first to start off at Kamehameha School while many are following the footsteps of their siblings, parents, and their 'ohana.

WEO - Working Exit Outcomes

Just as DOE has their GLO's, here at Kamehameha, we have the WEO, working exit outcomes. We use these daily in our classrooms and the students are constantly looking for connections to their learning. They make cultural connections daily through our morning Piko Wehena (morning protocol) where the students oli or chant to start off their day, followed by pule (prayer), and a mele (song). To close the day we attend our afternoon Piko Panina (afternoon protocol) where they give thanks with their Oli Mahalo. The goal is to make our haumana (students) good and industrious people. To be life-long learners and though we are diverse we will come together as one in education.

Educational Mission

The mission of Kamehameha Schools is to improve the capability and well-being of Hawaiians through education.

A Brief History of Kamehameha Schools

Kamehameha Schools was founded by the will of Hawaiian Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884), the great-granddaughter and last direct royal descendant of Kamehameha the Great.

During her lifetime, Princess Pauahi witnessed the rapid decline of the Hawaiian population. With that decline came a challenge to preserve the Hawaiian language and culture she held dear.

The princess knew that education would be key to the survival of her people, so in an enduring act of aloha, she left them a precious gift upon her passing – 375,000 acres of ancestral land. She instructed the trustees of her estate to use the land to educate her people.

In 1887, three years after her death, the Kamehameha School for Boys opened with 37 students and four teachers. In 1894 the Kamehameha School for Girls opened.

From these modest beginnings Kamehameha Schools has grown to become a symbol of educational excellence for Hawaiians. Today, Kamehameha is a statewide educational system with three campuses on Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi serving more than 5,500 students in kindergarten through grade 12.

Kamehameha Schools also operates 29 preschools statewide, which serve more than 1,500 students.  Additionally, more than 30,000 additional Hawaiian learners are reached annually through a variety of Kamehameha Schools outreach programs, community collaborations and scholarships. (Information gathered from the ksbe.edu website).

Blog Post 1 - Where I am right now with STEMS2 in my teaching

Where I Am Right Now With STEMS2 In My Teaching

     Wow, that is a loaded statement. As you know, I am starting a new teaching position in a new grade level (6th vs 7th & 8th) , at a new school (Kamehameha), with a new team of teachers. Needless to say, I have been overwhelmed, but I am taking things slowly as they come one day at a time step by step. 

     At Kamehameha, we hold protocol every morning. We greet the 6th graders with roll call in Hawaiian to each class before we begin with oli, mele, and pule. As teachers we must respond to their oli (chant) so I have been quickly trying my best to learn my response vs looking at my notes. Just as we needed to learn new things for our summer institute so I am trying to emulate all that we learned on our Big Island trip.

     Since I've only been with the haumana (students) for two weeks since we began a few weeks after DOE, I have not gotten into content as of yet. I have tried some STEMS2 like activities to get to know each other. We began with a paper table challenge to see how many math textbooks the students would be able to stack on their paper tables. They were only given an 8.5" x 11" piece of cardboard, 8 sheets of newspaper, and a foot of masking tape to start. If they needed additional supplies, they needed to justify their needs for an additional foot of tape and four more sheets of newspaper. I now know who my negotiators are! There was a student who when she could not get what she needed from me began to barter and trade with her classmates for what she needed! 

     So time had elapsed and it was time to test the tables. My first class came up and I got my expected results of 1-2 books being held up by their paper tables. Success! My next class was where I was utterly surprised by how many heavy mathematics textbooks were able to be held. Guesses? If you said 5, guess higher. 10 - higher. 15 - higher. They were able to carry 20 textbooks! The record was set and the rest of my classes tried to beat that, but 2nd place came in with only 14 textbooks.

     A few days later, our campus lost electricity power due to the storms so the paper airplane challenge ensued. I had gliders, cranes, and planes. What a fun activity. The students were quick to point out how they needed to figure out which wing span would give the best lift to their planes. As this was a last minute lesson due to the power outage, the students did not have time to test and re-test their planes, but in the future I will be looking at returning to this lesson to see what we can due to improve the distance that their planes were able to fly!