We made heaps of new education friends, re-connected with existing ones, got some really challenging ideas and were able to offer help and connections to some who could benefit from this.
Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 April 2016
Aloha
After a wealth of education experiences and warm welcome from so many people, we left the final school and returned to our apartment, packed our bags and headed for Paris via LAX.
We made heaps of new education friends, re-connected with existing ones, got some really challenging ideas and were able to offer help and connections to some who could benefit from this.
We made heaps of new education friends, re-connected with existing ones, got some really challenging ideas and were able to offer help and connections to some who could benefit from this.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Imagine
‘Iolani School
This is a private K-12 school which is like St Kentigern on steroids, and is how the other half goes to school.
We went there to see their Maker Space - a four story purposed designed $20M Maker Space. The ground floor is pure Maker Space meets hard materials meets Auckland Uni Product Accelerator. It has laser cutters, fabricators, every kind of big expensive doohicky imaginable. Imagine a school with a water powered steel cutter.
Not a place I would go and boast about our 2 tiny 3D printers!
About 150 kids a week go through this building in class sizes of about 15 with 2 teachers around all the time.
Amazing.
The second floor was a space aged Library which also contains the archives.
The Library seating left the Koru Lounge for dead!
And then we visited Tusitala…. Wow. The woman in the picture is their Donna. Her full time job is to look after visitors. To the school? No. To just this building. She’s happy because the Tusitala furniture is all on wheels so it’s easy for her to re-configure.
There is a chef who looks after the commestibles.
The TV trolleys in their Tusitala will give Garth Screen and Trolley Envy. A bit hard to tell from the pic how large they are. Let’s just settle for enormous.
The 3rd floor is where you take the robots you’ve built to battle it out and has break rooms and lots of space to do things with the things you’ve made.
The 4th floor is robotics central and also has the most amazing hydroponic roof gardens for their garden to table project.
Original post RG Burt
This is a private K-12 school which is like St Kentigern on steroids, and is how the other half goes to school.
We went there to see their Maker Space - a four story purposed designed $20M Maker Space. The ground floor is pure Maker Space meets hard materials meets Auckland Uni Product Accelerator. It has laser cutters, fabricators, every kind of big expensive doohicky imaginable. Imagine a school with a water powered steel cutter.
About 150 kids a week go through this building in class sizes of about 15 with 2 teachers around all the time.
Amazing.
The second floor was a space aged Library which also contains the archives.
The Library seating left the Koru Lounge for dead!
And then we visited Tusitala…. Wow. The woman in the picture is their Donna. Her full time job is to look after visitors. To the school? No. To just this building. She’s happy because the Tusitala furniture is all on wheels so it’s easy for her to re-configure.
There is a chef who looks after the commestibles.
The 3rd floor is where you take the robots you’ve built to battle it out and has break rooms and lots of space to do things with the things you’ve made.
The 4th floor is robotics central and also has the most amazing hydroponic roof gardens for their garden to table project.
Original post RG Burt
Wa'a Talks
In the afternoon we went on to visit Kaimuki High School where we had another beautiful welcome, were given absolutely gorgeous leis and met more people who had watched the Mālama Honua Landing at Pt England Beach. The kaiako or “kumu” cried when we gave her one of our Hei Matou o Maui, the hooks Donna secured for us from the Carver before we came away. What a blessing those turned out to be! Hawaiians who received them were particularly moved.
We were taken upstairs through the school to hear the wa’a talks. We were honoured guests, seated at the front, as proud young Hawaiian learners ran PLD for teachers, telling them how their lives had been changed by sailing on the wa’a. Rather like our Ambassadors. Very real and powerful.
The two facilitating teachers then encouraged the 60 or so staff present from around Honolulu, to include or integrate the wa’a in their teaching, rather like we would experience at PLD on Te Aō Māori.
We were taken upstairs through the school to hear the wa’a talks. We were honoured guests, seated at the front, as proud young Hawaiian learners ran PLD for teachers, telling them how their lives had been changed by sailing on the wa’a. Rather like our Ambassadors. Very real and powerful.
The two facilitating teachers then encouraged the 60 or so staff present from around Honolulu, to include or integrate the wa’a in their teaching, rather like we would experience at PLD on Te Aō Māori.
Streaming Maths
Our good friend and fellow Googler Brendan Brennan, who put together much of this itinerary for us, works here at this school as a Maths Teacher.
The morning we visited, he was courageously 360º live-streaming his maths teaching and his learners’ responses. -Way to go Brendan!
The school was founded on and continues to follow John Dewey’s principles and the original classroom blocks were designed by him. They look rather like NZ 1950’s blocks but with better verandahs and opening french doors where we have push out windows.
For all this, by following John Dewey’s methods, they get the highest scores in the state once the kids get to Y10. A bit like our kura, the teaching method does not lend itself to good scores in the junior classes, but if everyone holds their nerve and keeps with the programme, it all “comes right” or better than right by Y10. Interesting support for an excellent liberal arts programme.
The maths we saw was organised around clever questioning and looked like what the NZ Numeracy Project hoped to achieve but never quite managed. Gotta say though, we only saw it and heard it from Maths Specialists, -so maybe the Herald , supported by Stuart McNaughton during the week, was right!
Original post by RG Burt
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Get Crackin'
After walking past the Crackin' Kitchen for a couple of days we had to go in and try it for ourselves.
Seafood with a difference - no plates and diners are dressed in big bibs before the meal is delivered. The waiter covered the table with paper and brought out our orders in buckets, which were upended in front of us. From there it was a case of on with the rubber gloves and 'get cracking'.
Photos had to be taken in advance as there were no clean fingers to use a camera with once you took the plunge.
Very delicious and it went everywhere.
Voyagers
Our next education visit was to the Marine Education Training Centre on Sand Island.
This is where our friends from Mālama Honua hang out along with their va’a or waka.Once we signed in, our 1st visit was over the historic vessel Hawai’iloa along with one of the early navigator companions of Nainoa, “Uncle Billy”.
On the way we learned lots about the va’a from Na’alehu and “Uncle Bob” the navigators, as well as learning about the shoreline and local geographic features. I loved hearing tales of sailing to different tricky destinations like Rapanui & Tahiti.
To say I loved it, is rather mild. Definitely my idea of an extremely great time!
Original post: RG Burt
The Dorothy
This deserved a post of its own.
Tara and Miki took us to a lunch place, Ginger Cafe, serving very tasty vegan food.
The headline special, "The Dorothy" caught my eye!
The headline special, "The Dorothy" caught my eye!
Kamehameha Schools
Tuesday 26 April
Kamehameha Schools
Contacts
Holoua Stender, Executive Vice President of Education
Phyllis Unebasami, Managing Director, Ho`olaukoa Educational Systems and Strategies
Kamehameha Schools
Kamehameha Schools is in some ways a misleading name in that although this enterprise runs three beautiful K-12 Campuses, and many pre-schools, it’s actually the name of the Enterprise that holds the land, investments and and businesses that Princess Pauahi left in trust for 5 trustees to administer.
This $11B enterprise has clearly stated purposes:
Purpose
Kamehameha Schools’ endowment exists to support our educational mission to fulfill Pauahi’s desire of creating educational opportunities in perpetuity to improve the capability and well-being of people of Hawaiian ancestry.
Background
Pauahi’s estate encompasses more than 363,000 acres throughout Hawai‘i — approximately 169,000 acres zoned for agriculture, 189,158 acres in conservation, 15,000 acres in commercial and 3,000 residential acres — and generates income to serve more than 48,000 learners and caregivers per year.
All Kamehameha Schools’ land-based and investment decisions are filtered through a set of five core principles — culture, community, education, economics, and environment. This balanced approach to decision-making ensures the perpetuation of Pauahi’s legacy, her lands and the execution of her will.
We had an absolutely delightful breakfast meeting with Phyllis and Holoua in an engagement that was brought about by Prof Michael Fullan, who we also expect to visit on this trip.
We discovered that we have much in common, with real desire to bring about practice change for better outcomes for Polynesian learners and similar but different struggles in trying to bring this about.
KS have a support type relationship with other ‘native schools’ as their trust deed has set the mission stated above. Consequently they have a relationship with Nanakuli (where we were the day before) and it may be that we could have future involvement in their effort to bring greater success and better outcomes to their indigenous population, many of whom suffer significant disparity.
KS are most like our Integrated Schools, but with a far larger endowment.
The campuses are beautiful and have everything. Like Sacred Heart College in NZ, the kids get great facilities, good education and only pay $500 p.a. because the endowment supports the cost of education. The Honolulu campus is on a mountainside above the city and enjoys one of the best views in Hawai’i.
The principal, Earl, has just won a position as Superintendent of Stanford School District and Dorothy thinks I should apply for the job here! I think I’d better make sure I get back to Pt England on time!
Kamehameha Schools
Holoua Stender, Executive Vice President of Education
Phyllis Unebasami, Managing Director, Ho`olaukoa Educational Systems and Strategies
Kamehameha Schools
Kamehameha Schools is in some ways a misleading name in that although this enterprise runs three beautiful K-12 Campuses, and many pre-schools, it’s actually the name of the Enterprise that holds the land, investments and and businesses that Princess Pauahi left in trust for 5 trustees to administer.
This $11B enterprise has clearly stated purposes:
PurposeKamehameha Schools’ endowment exists to support our educational mission to fulfill Pauahi’s desire of creating educational opportunities in perpetuity to improve the capability and well-being of people of Hawaiian ancestry.
Background
Pauahi’s estate encompasses more than 363,000 acres throughout Hawai‘i — approximately 169,000 acres zoned for agriculture, 189,158 acres in conservation, 15,000 acres in commercial and 3,000 residential acres — and generates income to serve more than 48,000 learners and caregivers per year.
All Kamehameha Schools’ land-based and investment decisions are filtered through a set of five core principles — culture, community, education, economics, and environment. This balanced approach to decision-making ensures the perpetuation of Pauahi’s legacy, her lands and the execution of her will.
We had an absolutely delightful breakfast meeting with Phyllis and Holoua in an engagement that was brought about by Prof Michael Fullan, who we also expect to visit on this trip.
We discovered that we have much in common, with real desire to bring about practice change for better outcomes for Polynesian learners and similar but different struggles in trying to bring this about.
KS have a support type relationship with other ‘native schools’ as their trust deed has set the mission stated above. Consequently they have a relationship with Nanakuli (where we were the day before) and it may be that we could have future involvement in their effort to bring greater success and better outcomes to their indigenous population, many of whom suffer significant disparity.KS are most like our Integrated Schools, but with a far larger endowment.
The campuses are beautiful and have everything. Like Sacred Heart College in NZ, the kids get great facilities, good education and only pay $500 p.a. because the endowment supports the cost of education. The Honolulu campus is on a mountainside above the city and enjoys one of the best views in Hawai’i.
The principal, Earl, has just won a position as Superintendent of Stanford School District and Dorothy thinks I should apply for the job here! I think I’d better make sure I get back to Pt England on time!
Sunshine in Hawaii
We met interesting lecturers and noticed they were translating our Sunshine Books into Hawai’ian language for their Kula.
It is always intriguing seeing what other people have on their book shelves.
So now we have the job of connecting them with Dame Wendy Pye, who owns Sunshine Books and supports Manaiakalani, to see if she would be happy to translate them properly and support their Kula with Sunshine Online.
Maker Movement
Ke Kula Kaiapuni 'O Ānuenue
Miki Tomita, who spent time at Pt England for the Mālama Honua visit, was our escort for the 2nd day of school visits.
Ānuenue is the equivalent of a New Zealand Wharekura, i.e. it's an immersion school and goes from K-12.
The principal, Glen is a lovely calm elder statesman in the place, where we were shown around by Vice Principal Baba.
Their inclusion of traditional crafts, built to honour parents and grandparents, along with their commitment to land and gardening was a real challenge to us.
When it comes to digital pedagogy, we are achieving a great deal, without the $1M grant for technology, most of these folks got.
By and large, our buildings are superior in build quality and design. Something our welfare state and government can be very proud of. This state has so much money it isn’t funny, but the way property taxes in poor areas have to fund school buildings causes so much inequity.
Never have we seen such run down school facilities in such close proximity (i.e. 3 city blocks) to really rich and fancy ones. It would be like Pt England built like St. Kentigern College, 4 blocks away from Ruapotaka looking as though it were in Papua New Guinea!
Anyway, back to Ānuenue, -they are like the days of the early kura movement, making the best of what they have, working in funny old buildings, beautifying the lands around them. Many native Hawai’ians choose to send their kids here and you can see and feel the love all around you. Like other Hawai’ian schools, the welcome is warm, but in the main the classroom is the domain of the class teacher and people don’t wander in and out like we do.
These guys are interested some of our stuff, including the questions we use to run our parent meetings. Along with other schools we visited, they are also keen to have Google Hang-outs with some of our classes.
All the kids in this class were making different kinds of Mothers’ Day or Grandmothers’ gifts, by traditional means. Some were weaving, some were polishing stones, some were sanding and polishing shells. All of them were to be presented with love to someone special.
Like the early days of the kura movement, they have few resources, and a massive problem with assessments not being in the language of instruction.
Like our kura, the kids do poorly in tests till they reach the equivalent of our Y10 and then they just take off and do really well, so the parents have to hold their nerve and not shift them out to mainstream at Y6, (like some of ours do).
And then there’s the gardens………... see photos above...
Different grade levels are responsible for different parts of the gardening process.
Original post by RG Burt
Ānuenue is the equivalent of a New Zealand Wharekura, i.e. it's an immersion school and goes from K-12.
The principal, Glen is a lovely calm elder statesman in the place, where we were shown around by Vice Principal Baba.
Their inclusion of traditional crafts, built to honour parents and grandparents, along with their commitment to land and gardening was a real challenge to us.
When it comes to digital pedagogy, we are achieving a great deal, without the $1M grant for technology, most of these folks got.
By and large, our buildings are superior in build quality and design. Something our welfare state and government can be very proud of. This state has so much money it isn’t funny, but the way property taxes in poor areas have to fund school buildings causes so much inequity.
Never have we seen such run down school facilities in such close proximity (i.e. 3 city blocks) to really rich and fancy ones. It would be like Pt England built like St. Kentigern College, 4 blocks away from Ruapotaka looking as though it were in Papua New Guinea!
Anyway, back to Ānuenue, -they are like the days of the early kura movement, making the best of what they have, working in funny old buildings, beautifying the lands around them. Many native Hawai’ians choose to send their kids here and you can see and feel the love all around you. Like other Hawai’ian schools, the welcome is warm, but in the main the classroom is the domain of the class teacher and people don’t wander in and out like we do.
These guys are interested some of our stuff, including the questions we use to run our parent meetings. Along with other schools we visited, they are also keen to have Google Hang-outs with some of our classes.
All the kids in this class were making different kinds of Mothers’ Day or Grandmothers’ gifts, by traditional means. Some were weaving, some were polishing stones, some were sanding and polishing shells. All of them were to be presented with love to someone special.
Like the early days of the kura movement, they have few resources, and a massive problem with assessments not being in the language of instruction.
Like our kura, the kids do poorly in tests till they reach the equivalent of our Y10 and then they just take off and do really well, so the parents have to hold their nerve and not shift them out to mainstream at Y6, (like some of ours do).
And then there’s the gardens………... see photos above...
Different grade levels are responsible for different parts of the gardening process.
Original post by RG Burt
Monday, 25 April 2016
Daniel Inouye Elementary School
Visit to Hale Kula Elementary on Schofield Military Base (now known as Daniel Inouye Elementary School)
Principal Jan Iwase
7:30 a.m. Denied access as foreigners with no armed services sponsor onto a US Military Base. We were told very firmly that we were unacceptable in our current state. Brendan, our good friend, guide and organiser no doubt found this frustrating and embarrassing as people were waiting for us in the school, but was carefully compliant and immediately began working on “Plan B”
8:00 a.m. Brendan has Plan B organised for us to visit a school down the road, when Jan, (principal from Hale Kula) calls to say she has a military sponsor for us.
8:30 a.m. we make it onto base after displaying our beautiful NZ passports and from there on it’s like being back in Hawai’i. The manaaki is amazing. Gifts of leis, food, drink, -a really warm welcome.This school is receiving a $33M property upgrade mostly courtesy of Dept of Defence, after President Obama realised as a result of parent pleas that Base Schools were in an embarrassingly shoddy condition.
The state contributes 20%.
As part of a state initiative these kids all got MacBook Airs 2 years ago.
This school has MLE’s in the new build (if the teachers choose to use them that way) and have blended learning going on although they have 1:1 potential. Their key question for us was ‘how did we get all our teachers onboard?’
As in much of the US they are talking about integration rather than fully digital learning.
The teachers in the MLE’s were taking the option of keeping them closed into cells, (much as our some of own teachers did when we first cut holes through the walls to create more flexible spaces.
Nyla talked me through the challenge she was solving; waste created by plastic Keurig (K-Cup) Single Serve Cups that are used in fast coffee machines like Nespresso.
She shared her Google doc with us which was a prototype of Manaiakalani's Learn Create Share.
Like Pt England, these people have lived through construction, noise and dust for the last two years. Working hard with incredibly high turn-over of students because they are a military base school.
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