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.