Blog Post 3: How is your personal STEMS research going?

     As I think about STEMS and the impact it has had thus far on my research and my teaching as a whole, I've come to realize that STEMS has opened up how I see things as a teacher. In the beginning when we first started this cohort experience, I was naive to STEMS and looked at it as an extra piece that I would be adding to my teaching. As we have been moving forward, my thoughts and ideas of STEMS has made a considerable change. I now know that STEMS is not an extra piece, but an integral piece that I am adding to my teaching. It is a way to enhance my teaching and give it an extra boost that engages students and gets them excited about what they are learning.

     This hold true about my STEMS research. I am no longer seeing the STEMS as the extra piece to throw in to make my lessons better, but the piece that builds a strong foundation that I can build upon with every lesson that I teach. STEMS is a way of teaching and as I research more in depth, I am finding more and more evidence of this. It is an exciting time to be a teacher with the benefits of the internet and the handfuls of resources and tools available all around us. 

     My research is about implementing STEMS lessons into units. What I found out early on, is that though many of us teach just one core subject it is teaching interdisciplinary units and working with a group of teachers with the same teaching philosophy that makes this the way of teaching. Teaming is a way to get STEMS lessons to the students in a manner that each teacher is building off of each other and doing whatever it takes to engage the students in a collaborative unit of learning. What I found makes this aspect difficult is not every teacher is ready to try or is willing to use this way of teaching. Without a supportive team that is willing to go the distance with you, STEMS will more likely be that extra piece of pizazz to enhance a lesson versus being the foundation to build upon. 

     However, if you do no have a team or group of teachers willing to work at this, in no way means that STEMS should be given up. Any teacher can implement STEMS lessons into their units. Of course it will be more difficult, but the results will be that much sweeter and your students will be the sole benefactors of the hard work that is put in to this way of teaching. We have talked many times about the fact that there is not a book of STEMS lessons or a lesson manual to walk us through how to do this implementation. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication on the side of the teacher that is willing to put in the effort. I am finding that there are not pre-made lessons ready to go, but there are ideas flowing all around us. I have found that I need to get past the fear of trying something different and just go for it because when I do I find my students and I are the ones that benefit the most.

Spring 2016 - Blog Post 2

    As I looked through the many articles on Google Scholar, I found that yes there are many articles that I am able to find in regards to my research question. As STEMS is a relatively "new" idea, there are definite thoughts and ideas in regards to it, but I would not consider the question answered. Many people have implemented STEMS lessons into various units, but through Google Scholar I have found that people are trying it out on a temporary basis. There are many willing to try, but the reason there seems to be no set STEMS curriculum made is the case studies that have been done have run out of funding and the timelines that are completed are still ongoing. 

     My research question is: how does a teacher integrate STEMS lessons into a unit? As we are the first cohort in our STEMS master's program, I found it fitting to research how we would be able implement all the things that we are doing into my classroom and of course into my units. As I am at a new school and on a new team, I found the timing to be perfect. My team took to the idea and we are running with it. Our 6th grade theme this year is Aloha ʻĀina and so integrating STEMS lessons into things have been fun and exciting. Our team goal is to infuse WEO - Working Exit Outcomes which are like the DOE GLO's (21st Century Skills and `Ōlelo a Mo`omeheu Hawai`i) into our teaching to engage students in their learning, which will encourage creativity and innovation, critical thinking, stewardship, servant leadership, opportunities for collaboration and communication, and a solid foundation in Hawaiian culture and language. Our focus to do this is to merge our outdoor and indoor classrooms by providing students with an integrated curriculum focusing on STEMS through Aloha 'Āina. What a perfect union between work and our master's program.  

     How did I come up with this research question? Well this cohort and this STEMS2 program is what made this question a possibility. Without having our learning journeys on Oahu and the Big Island this past summer and the opportunity to see things through a STEMS lens, my question would not have come to fruition. Another reason I decided to go with this research question is that my students will engage in STEMS learning in class and while on various huakaʻi. They will apply their learning of STEMS independently to a culminating servant leadership project with a foundation of STEMS through our 6th grade Aloha 'Āina theme. 

Spring 2016 - Blog Post 1

     As I looked over my research question and thought about my unit that leads up to it, I came to the realization that my plan b is a qualitative type of research project. The thing that brought all of this about was a video that my students and I watched called Lessons from a thousand years of island sustainability | Sam ‘Ohu Gon III, PhD | TEDxMaui. One part of this video talked about how our Hawaiian ancestors used to be 100% sustainable and how we are now down to 15%. Sam Gon went on to say, that if the "importation of goods were to stop, that we are just three weeks from famine". My students and I were surprised at this and my unit was created to look how we can become more sustainable in a modern day society. What changes do we need to make in order to bring up our sustainability percentage. My research question that was created off of this unit is: how does a teacher integrate STEMS lessons into a unit?
     Looking at the Creswell reading, I looked to which worldview I felt most applied to my plan b. I feel that my question comes from a pragmatic worldview in that it "arises out of actions, situations, and consequences rather than antecedent conditions" (Creswell, page 10). The drop in the sustainability is what fostered my unit which forced me to look how I could make a change that would affect my students. I wanted them to look to their ancestors and believe that just as their ancestors lived off the land that we too can use the world we live in as our classrooms and make a difference in our learning.
     Just as the Chilisa reading talked about the decolonization process, this in part is what I want my students to do. In the rediscovery and recovery process, is where we can look to our Hawaiian ancestors to "rediscover and recover their own, history, language, and identity" (Chilisa, page 15) as a way to rebuild and further our own personal growth within education. I want them to see that there can be learning outside the four walls of a classroom and that through this learning there is a deeper and fuller and more all around learning that takes place. This is where applying STEMS lessons into my unit will make it so my students can go beyond just scratching the surface of learning, but delve into the deeper thought provoking and inquiry based hands on learning.
     My sources of data for my project will be three-fold: from my students, my team of teacher, and myself. My students will provide their student work as well as their reaction to completing the unit. My team will be interviewed and provide their thoughts and ideas of what we are accomplishing through this interdisciplinary unit. Lastly, I will provide my thoughts, the unit, and journal entries of what I needed to do to get this unit going and leading it into my plan b project. The feedback from the students and my team of teachers will determine whether this kind of unit will continue to be implemented or whether a change needs to be made to better meet the needs of both the students and the teachers.
     I hope that I am able to do this question justice and that I will not skirt around the issue and not be able to find the answers that I seek. I do not want to fall into the attitude where pragmatists "stop asking questions" or where "they would simply like to change the subject" (Creswell, page 11). I want my students to come to the realization that learning can happen in any setting, at any time, and that there is learning to be found in everything they do all around them. If my students are able to come to this reality and learn that you do not need to be within the four walls of a classroom to learn then I have succeeded in my plan b.

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.