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Showing posts from 2012

Kino (an indigenous logic model): post 1 of 4

Passion I have. What I need is to practice my elevator speeches, those short informative program synopses that can be done in the time it takes to ride the elevator.  Of course it will take me 4 posts. Post 1: The honua: building on solid ground The Alana culture-based education course is graphically depicted by the above logic model. The honua (green box), the earth, represents the mo'ok ūauhau, the geneology of this program that informs and guides the building of this course. Dr. Shawn Kanaʻiaupuni and her team lay the foundation for culture-based education (CBE) modeling and immersion within the course. Dr. Walter Kahumoku and Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa, in consultation with Dr. Bernice McCarthy (4Mat) bring to the geneology the work of moenahā, a curriculum planning concept based on the way kupuna taught. Makawalu, literally eight eyes, is a concept practiced by Kaʻimipono Kaiwi and her teachers at Kamehameha Kapālama to encourage multiple perspectives in the standards-b

Dissertation Proposal 4 of 4: Timeline

Timeline Summer 12 - pre-proposal, lit reviews, submission for B-credit, negotiations for a course (place, time) Fall 12 - build the course using the village, build in  indigenous, developmental evaluation and sustainability Spring 13 - submit IRB approvals, pa ʻa the logic model, recruit teacher leaders Summer 13 - Alani Summer Institute Fall 13 - teacher action research and gathering of data Spring 14 - analyze data, write Summer 14 - write, collaborate, present This is a "in an ideal world" timeline that does not take into account the village, the permissions from higher ups, the ability to exist on a non-budget, the recruitment of teachers willing to participate in this work with me, the full time job duties that I already have AND the fact that Iʻm supposed to be in 6 or 9 credits worth of my own courses in the Summer of 13 on Oahu when I want to serve my Big Island teachers. Any suggestions?

Dissertation 3 of 4: Research Methods

"From the vantage point of the colonized, a position from which I write, and choose to privilege, the term 'research' is inextricably linked to European imperialism and colonialism. The word itself, 'research,' is probably one of the dirtiest words in the indigenous world's vocabulary." ( Tuhiwai Smith , 1999) Paula Moya, a Chicana researcher says, "identities are fundamental to the process of all knowledge production" ( p. 102 ).   Like Tuhiwai Smith, I must also embrace my identity as a colonized researcher.  Moya goes on to say that education,  "should not be about merely inculcating status quo values,"  but to reject the status quo as a way to inculcate a "transformative multicultural education" that will educate all learners for democracy and social justice  (p. 109). The Alana Project, starting with this professional development course, which becomes my dissertation action research, sees transformative multicu

Professional Practice Dissertation Pre-Proposal 2 of 4

Honua -  Land, earth, world; background, as of quilt designs; basic, at the foundation, fundamental (Pukui, Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary) Honua is what we start with. It is the solid foundation on which we build our own project. Honua is also the prior knowledge and experience that we all bring to this community of learners. What each participant brings to this community is their own personal sovereignty . We value the unique skills and talents that are inherent in each individual. The foundational work that comes before us are the key ingredients from the previous post (Chopped All Stars). The ho'o kahua is the structure that we build on this solid foundation.  This post is a mini shed to house a part of the literature review section that informs the Alana Culture Based Education Project (yes, I have a name now and an intentional design ).   Culture-based practices: Why this? Why now? "Indigenous culture-based educational strategies suggest  promi

Professional Practice Dissertation Pre-Proposal, Part 1 of 4

My dissertation proposal as a culture-based education (CBE) version of Chopped All-Stars Please indulge my need for metaphors and analogies to make sense of my world. This is Part 1 of  4 blog posts to clarify my thinking on my proposed dissertation topic.  How will this study work? Gather strong chefs, leaders and innovators in their own right and challenge them to create synergistic culinary masterpieces in the CBE Project,  a professional development program. change chef to teacher; change culinary masterpieces to culture-based education-infused practices and curriculum )  The parameters:  time (Kamehameha Hawaiʻi 4-week course with deadlines for teachers' own action research and learning portfolio to follow) key ingredients ( CBE practices , moenahā framework, makawalu ,  and the   National Writing Project program model) the course (teachers' own content area and current curriculum) The question: How does this PD impact teaching?

Intrinsic Motivation

I have sat in on leadership meetings where we talk about extrinsic motivators for positive student behavior. When students are asked, "what would motivate you to do your homework, tuck in your shirt, not chew gum in school. . .?" students have answers, from the far fetched to the practical. Homework passes, free dress day (if uniforms are the norm), pizza party (or other food incentives), pool day, inflatables, etc. Sound familiar? We are trying to incentivize challenging tasks for the 13 year old who is in a hormonal battle that tops the cognitive/logical battle. I know I will sit in on more of these types of meetings, and I will be as professional as possible and "watch my face," but really, it's not going to work. Dan Pink's point on this TED talk is that science has found that the more challenging the task, the less people are affected by extrinsic motivators. In fact, the more incentive offered, the lower the performance. Dan Pink's TED talk

ISTE 2012 Monday Highlight

The metaphor: Today was a salad with dressing on the side kind of day: healthy dose of affirmation, not too heavy on the sales pitches, not too saturated with bells and whistles, and a little bit of crunch to balance the dish. The facts: The highlight session for me was session #1 with Dr. Michael Fullan talking about "Stratosphere: Integrating Technology, Pedagogy, and Change Knowledge." In short: The session talked about the ineffective role of technology in change knowledge when it was not paired up with pedagogy. My takeaways: student motivation decreases the older they get (the above graph charts enthusiasm by grade level. At 9th grade, the enthusiasm rate drops to a low of 37) teacher satisfaction also decreases - "55% of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years" - Michael Fullan the necessary breakthrough to combat the downward trends  comes with new knowledge created with the partnering of technology, pedagogy and cha

ISTE 2012 Sunday Highlight

ISTE 2012 (International Society for Technology in Education) is in San Diego this summer at the convention center. The conference started off with the usual business affairs, then moved on to a much hyped keynote by Sir Ken Robinson , an advocate for creativity in education. The ISTE volunteers and hosts valiantly tried to control the seating in the room by cordoning off rows of seats in order to force educators into the sides of the room first. They did not realize that we are teachers who have traveled from across the country on our summer break to attend this conference. Not only that, but we breathe democracy and social justice. If we show up one hour before the talk and respectfully stand in front of the door, it's not fair to push us toward the nether regions of the room instead of the prime seats at the center. Controlling us was impossible as people started breaking the ribbons. Robinson talked about the need to personalize education, "The problem is the whole

Poster-Street.com

It's the end of the school year and the classroom clean up is the only thing holding us back from driving off into summer, but fall will come soon enough and if you want to change up the decor in your classroom, Poster-Street.com is a free source for cute posters that can downloaded as pdfs or embedded on your classroom webpage or blog. The categories of posters they have are: office, home, teacher, kid, and teen. I'm constantly looking for teen stuff and they're a bit too cutesy, but still, FREE and easy to use. Besides downloading the posters, you can share it on twitter, facebook, delicious and email. One more poster for the heck of it:

Tech Tool: Easel.ly

"Infographics are 30 to 40 times more likely to be viewed and shared than text."  I think that's especially true for our students who live in a world saturated by visual stimulants vying to grab our attention. It's not enough to have billboards lining the highways. Now it's animated billboards. It's no wonder that our textbooks and newspapers are filled with colorful infographics. It's how we read. As a genre, infographics challenge creators to synthesize information and visually depict the information in a catchy, yet logical fashion. It's hard, but it's still a worthy skill to have students practice. easel.ly , although still in beta form, and very limited in its templates is a nice site that allows students to play with data using pre-made templates. The teacher would of course need to have a conversation with students on the purpose of each of the templates, and it's by no means perfect for all content areas, but check it out, it's

Tech tool: VocabGrabber

Saw this on a tweet and decided to try it with our 6th grade Hawaiian studies readings. Check it out. Start here .  You'll get the screen below. I then went to grab some text from the Hawaiian Studies curriculum. This particular one is from the book on Kamehameha V: Lot Kapuāiwa, Introduction Chapter 1, pages 1-3. I put it into the VocabGrabber and here's what I got. A couple things I noticed: The list of 37 words on the bottom left are set up like a wordle, so the ability to bring out themes and important words is already built in. It gives you an example from the text which helps when doing a literary critique because you have possible citations. There are visual connections with the main word as the  piko  or the center (see screenshot below with the word unify) Yes, it does cost money if you want to create a word list or do more with it, but there is a 14-day free trial offer, and on their "educators" page on the menu bar, they give lots of tips o

Day 5 Poetry Challenge: Ten Rules

My grandmother was a woman of deep emotions but little words. Perhaps it was the broken English way she spoke, or the many hours alone in the back room with her foot-pedal Singer sewing machine, the dust threads flying into the stifling Lahaina heat like a gossamer shroud. But always, when she spoke, it was about the value of use, the shame of frivolity the decadence of   wastefulness. Study hard, wear clean panties, no waste water, paper, fabric, food, money. . . no make shame, no shame the family, no shame yourself, be a good girl, be smart,             no be like the neighbor girl, clean your ching ching good, clean your feet before you come in the house and marry Japanese. - Cathy Kanoelani Ikeda 4/5/12

Day 4: Poetry a Day Challenge - Big Ears

A student asked me where the stories come from to fill up my blank sheets of paper on the Elmo as they furiously try and make their 5-minute daily writing word count. I write, you write. Five minutes of furious drafting times three classes a day. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’ve put in my 10,000 hours of writing on blank sheets of paper. Making something out of nothing. But really, it’s because I’ve always had big ears. The kind that stick out when I try to make my hair lie flat against my face, the kind that pop out from under the edge of the hat. Big ears to sit silent under the breakfast table until everyone forgets I’m there and then the stories come they always come if I wait long enough and stick my big ears up into the sky like an antenna they always come.

Day 3 Poetry a Day Challenge: Take

Take my right slipper when you break yours Take my jacket button to hold up your pants.. Take my prayers floating skyward, let them whisper you to sleep. Take my eyes to help you search for what eludes you. Take my book when words betray you, Take my hands to tether you. Take my intestines to center yourself and at the end of the days when I have nothing left to take but my left earring, take this poem and know love.

Day 2 Poetry Challenge - Words (a haiku)

Words trickle lazy Honey droppings of verbs fall Effortless as mud   -- Cathy Kanoelani Ikeda 4/2/12

April 1: Poetry a Day Challenge: Living in an Airport

Arrivals and departures the same black screens cities scrolling by in steady waves Houston, San Francisco Johannesburg, Atlanta San Juan, Honolulu. . . Which leg am I on? How many tickets are stapled together? Which airport am I at? I check in on my Foursquare The local time is 6:26 am, this morning I’m in Newark leg three of four Each airport looks like another Starbucks, Hudson News, Best Buy, Wolfgang Puck’s I file through TSA laptop in a bin shoes on the belt jacket stuffed in my bag passport out - but I’m always in the slowest line behind babies and foreigners hiding six-packs of water in their carry on bags the story of my life, learning patience from the airport queue some things cannot be controlled arrivals and departures wanderlust solitary journeys anonymity of the gate aisle seats near the bathroom a preference for silent seat mates and redeye flights my life made up of arrivals and departures the safety of being strapped in a seat stuck in a metal bird with no