Skip to main content

Signing OFF


Now that we have our family website up and running, I've decided that this is a good time to sign off on this blog and recreate it into something else. There's no need for two personal blogs, so I'm going to take the rest of this week to recreate this one into its own niche.

Blogging is about writing about your passion and finding your niche so that you can hook up with like minded people and learn and share, so I've got to really hone in on what passion I want to explore for this manao blog. Some passions on the family blog: food, family, fun, books. That's already there and mom can still share her mana'o and memories on that blog for all of us to savor.

My other passion is my work. I love being an English teacher, a literacy resource teacher and an advocate of using local culture and local literature to raise the educational bar for local students. My passion is to use technology to enhance literacy. Really, it still comes down to a simple formula that's not new at all: good literacy instruction + (web tools) + real world assessment = intrinsically motivated, authentic, differentiated learning.

I want this blog to be a resource, not just for my colleagues at school (that's what my school blog is for), but a resource for teachers who don't have the time or the school funds to engage in PD. I want this to be a resource for teachers who are teaching local, Hawaii kids (not just Hawaiian kids). I want to be an advocate for the unique needs of our local students who don't learn in the same way and don't need to have prescribed programs in order to succeed on standardized tests.

A lot of teachers I've worked with are local teachers with plantation roots. We are a colonized people teaching minority students. There are certain cultural practices ingrained in us that keeps us from speaking up, speaking out, raising our voices, and sharing our mana'o. I want to change these through this humble little blog, even if it's just tapping into the collective knowledge of my friends (teachers, authors, mothers, daughters, fathers, sons).

I'm hoping to be set up by the time this Chinese new year of the ox rolls around. I know some very prominent oxes in my life, so it's a good time. People born in the year of the ox are patient, speak little and inspire confidence in others. That's a good way to begin. This year will also be in the Chinese year of the earth element, which means that like the earth, this blog will be firmly rooted in morals, ethics and responsibilities.

Thanks for reading. A hui hou.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
mahalo for your mana'o. i have enjoyed reading your blog and will continue to do so. happy blogging!
January 1, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Anonymous said…
how can you write a so cool blog,i am watting your new post in the future!
January 5, 2009 at 3:24 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Battle of the Sexes

Ok, it's not a battle, but after being married for 20 years, I realize that there are some things that fall into the "mom's job" category, and there are some things that are strictly dad's domain. Mom's job is to find things. For 20 years I have lived in a male dominant household. The fact that the majority of the toilet seats in my house remain in the down position is a testament of the power of the one and only alpha female. However, what I can't do is teach my children (and my husband) how to do what I call "mom looking" versus "man looking." I don't need to explain this for the moms. They know exactly what I'm talking about. The guys are slower to catch on. I'll type s-l-o-w-l-y. Here's a typical "man looking" conversation: "mom! (or Cat!), where's the ______ (insert anything from socks to the car)?" "It's in the _________ (insert my instructions like refrigerator, garage, o...
3 comments
Read more

5 things that teachers do when they are in all-day workshops

1. Listen attentively for 10 minutes Presenters: welcome to your worst teaching nightmare. Teachers learn how to be antsy from their students. If you have a lot of middle school teachers, expect them to act like middle schoolers, ADHD disorders and all. You have 10 minutes to hook us and we want to get up, move and be active every half hour. 2. Talk to our neighbor while the presenter is still talking This practice is a natural way for teachers to use each other as a sounding board for the connections they are making to their own teaching (or they're just gossiping). If you can't tell the difference between productive noise and idle gossip, you need to go back to the classroom and practice. 3. Text and read posts When speakers talk about another author, or another concept, we get on our smart phones and look up the links so we can expand our knowledge immediately. (Or we're blogging or catching up on our email). Don't be offended. Only kick us out if we don't realiz...
2 comments
Read more