Skip to main content

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 promise where other Western culture-based strategies have failed in reducing educational disparities between indigenous students and their peers and in promoting positive and successful outcomes among indigenous students" (Kana'iaupuni, 2007).
  • A Brief Overview of Culture-Based Education and Annotated Bibliography (Kana'iaupuni, 2007) - this brief report answers the question of why culture-based education and what do we need to understand it better. It also includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography that informs her own research.
  • Culture-Based Education and its Relationship to Student Outcomes (Kana'iaupuni, Ledward, Jensen, 2010) this study looks at HCIE (Hawaiian cultural influences in education) and defines culture-based education (CBE) from a Hawaiian perspective. It also provides a theoretical model of what CBE looks like in the classroom and quantative data on student outcomes
  • E Lauhoe Mai Nā Waʻa: Toward a Hawaiian Indigenous Education Teaching Framework (Kanaʻiaupuni, Kawaiʻaeʻa, 2008) Spells out key components of CBE and gives me specific direction on where my own project could fit in this community of research. 
  • Reframing Evaluation: Defining an Indigenous Evaluation Framework (LaFrance, Nichols, 2010) defines a way to include indigenous evaluation in the development stage of the program as a way to build in sustainability.
Moenahā: Why this? Why now?
Moenahā (based on Bernice McCarthy's 4Mat) is an indigenous-based instructional framework that builds on the traditional Hawaiian learning continuum: hoʻolohe, hoʻopili, hoʻohana, hoʻopuka. It is an intentional process to teach the way our kupuna taught.

  • Teacher Responses to Participation in Hawaii's Kahua Induction Program (Thigpen, 2011) This dissertation looks at 9 West Hawaiʻi teachers that were new to Hawaiʻi or new to the system and participated in the Kahua new teacher induction program. Moenahā was used as their unit planning framework.
  • McCarthy's 4Mat Approach to Learning (Lahaie, 2006) - 4Mat is the foundation for moenahā, a collaboration between McCarthy and Kawaiʻaeʻa
National Writing Project Summer Institute Framework as a model for this course: Why?
As a former Hawaii Writing Project teacher consultant, a Lehua Writing Project co-director and a National Writing Project mentor to the South Africa Writing Project, this framework for professional development is a proven formula. I trust in the magic of the components. 
  • Research Brief: Writing Project Professional Development Continues to Yield Gains in Student Writing Achievement (2010). This data can be used to highlight ways to show student impact because of this professional development.
  • Invitational Summer Institute monographs - written by different sites to talk about the power of their own summer institutes in transforming teachers.
Teaching Standards, Curriculum and Assessment through an Indigenous Perspective (Kahumoku, Kaiwi, 2006) - used as a model for teachers to do the same within their own curriculum and content

Articulation of the mission: (my thinking so far)

The Alana Culture-Based Education Project is a grass roots collaborative community initiative to grow educators who practice culture-based educational practices and teach their standards, assessment and content through a Hawaiian world view as a way to impact student learning. The Alani teachers develop positive self-esteem and clarify their values on which to build sustainable teacher leaders in their community.

Mahalo for joining me on this journey. If you have questions, connections, confusions, please respond to this blog as a way to help me. 





Comments

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...

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...

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...