As the pandemic stretches into its third year, I wonder when we will stop thinking in terms of “when this is over.” I wonder at all the voices calling for a time when we can “get back to normal.” I marvel at the desire to use the same, tired measurement tools to quantify the ever evolving ways we fail our students.

This week, I had the opportunity to speak with school leaders in Hawai`i and I shared that despite the Covid crisis, teachers and schools are doing amazing things. Out of this crisis came opportunities to try new ideas and to do things differently with their students. I shared a number of examples.

Active Learning = Real Learning. It's been too long since my last post. TOO LONG. Not for lack of thinking or amazing things that have been percolating in my brain. Just TOO LONG. Intimidated by the process of writing cogent prose? Probably. Lazy? Maybe. Here goes....

"When you're in motion, you're planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don't produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome." ~ James Clear. You ever wonder what students are actually doing when they are supposed to be working on a long-term project?

I recently attended a virtual professional development on a sunny Saturday morning. I was still hungover from a rough week at school. Despite a brief moment of elation when, for the first time in four months, I had all of my students in attendance, the week was overwhelming as usual.

In Remaking Gathering: Entering the Mess, Crossing the Thresholds , author Priya Parker shares about the "art of gathering." She explains, "gathering matters because it is through each other that we figure out what we believe." Given the number of ways human gatherings have changed over the course...

Following last week's blog about the preschoolers' aloha messages they left for the big kids in the middle and high school, I have one more to share. This observation occurred during a recent group meeting in the Pueo room. About...

When schools were closed statewide in 2020, there was a distinct moment of clarity amid the chaos. Times were scary and stressful and delirious, but at least people started to see how difficult other people's jobs were. It felt like we were having a long-overdue reckoning about what is really important in society.

A friend asked me recently to define what advisory is and what it could be. What a world apart those two definitions are! Let's explore what advisory is now, and more excitingly, what it could be.

From a Native Hawaiian perspective, modern science is a valuable tool but may lack an element needed to solve some of the world's most pressing problems involving climate change, sustainability and other challenges. Hawaiian culture and learning can offer the missing component. To understand why, you must first understand that Hawaiian culture is science.

It's not just arts and crafts. This is what maker-centered learning really teaches your keiki. My favorite childhood television series was MacGyver. If you were like me, you loved the fact that there was not a problem in the world that the show's namesake character could not fix with a little duct tape and chewing gum.

In the spring of 2020, a time that seems so long ago, educators were thrust into global pandemic and resistance spread like wildfire. We hoped all would be "just fine" when returning from spring break. What seemed to be a promise of a return to normalcy after the extended lockdown turned into after the summer, then after first-quarter, after winter break, after the delta variant...

This collaborative piece by Nick Strope, a high school math/AVID teacher, and Kecia McDonald, a district resource teacher and parent of a high schooler, intertwines the unique perspectives from a student, parent, and teacher point of view. "Kecia: I knew my son was not looking forward to returning to in-person schooling. During distance learning, he had enjoyed the independence of getting school assignments done at his own pace..."