The @MLTSinHawaii Newsletter Most Likely to Succeed / What School Could Be Thanksgiving, 2021 🦃

The What School Could Be in Hawaiʻi Podcast Season Three Continues Towards 1000 Points of Light

Episode #5: Dr. Chad Miller is a specialist in Philosophy for Children, known as p4c. He works as a "philosopher in residence" in Hawaii's public schools, and trains teachers how to elevate student voice and train kids to think and act ethically. Episode #6: Kevin Matsunaga is an extraordinary media teacher, mentor, coach, guide and sponsor at Chiefess Kamakahele Middle School on Kauaʻi. What his students have accomplished over the years is remarkable. In this episode, learn that "impossible is nothing" in Kevin's view.

Episode #7: Dr. Tammy Jones is a project coordinator at PLACES Hawaiʻi, which supports and trains teachers to implement place-based learning. And, she has launched a passion project called I to ʻAe, which creates spaces for educators to grow their practices...together. Episode #8: Wes Adkins is a remarkable math teacher at James Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, the largest school in all of Hawaiʻi. He proudly works in an inclusion classroom, promotes self-paced learning environments, and implements project based learning assessments.

Find The WSCBHI Podcast Here

New! Featured Writer, Aaron Schorn

Starting with this 13th newsletter I will be featuring three “educator/writers” whose work gets me thinking and puts sustainable fuel in my tank. The first, Aaron Schorn, is someone I admire deeply (which is an understatement). His work in the area of capstone programs and product-based, culture-based and place-based learning is truly remarkable. He continues in his role as program developer for Nalukai Academy, but also works in product development for Unrulr, a remarkable app that captures learning in real time. My first feature is Aaron’s recent article, "Creating a Culture of Trust In Your Classroom: The Twin Pillars of Authenticity and Vulnerability," written for GettingSmart.org. Enjoy!

Read Aaron's Article: Trust, Authenticity and Vulnerability

Learn About Unrulr

New! Featured Writers, Erin and Jonathon Medeiros

Again, starting with this 13th newsletter I will be featuring three “educator/writers” whose work gets me thinking deeply and puts sustainable fuel in my tank. The 2nd and 3rd writers are a wife/husband team, Erin and Jonathon Medeiros, who live and teach (Erin at a charter school, Jonathon at a public school) on the island of Kauaʻi. Read Erin’s beautiful essay, “On Slowing Down, Paying Attention, and Reimagining Our World,” and Jonathon’s moving essay, “The ‘Magic’ Teachers Need From Their Principals.”

Read Erin's Essay: Slowing Down, Paying Attention, Reimagining Our World

Read Jonathon's Essay: The Magic Teachers Need

Schools of the Future Conference Recap

At this year’s 2021 Schools of the Future Conference HAIS invited me to do a series of breakout sessions featuring previous What School Could Be in Hawaiʻi podcast guests. In nine sessions I paired up previous guests by theme (media teachers, or place-based learning, e.g.) who prepared by listening to each other’s episodes. During the breakouts these paired podcast guests interviewed each other and extended the edges of their episodes. It was a blast! Thank you, HAIS for the invitation. The energy generated was AMAZING! (The photo shows new authors, Stephanie Malia Krauss and Danielle Mizuta having their collegial conversation during SOTF.)

Video: The First 50 Years Of HAIS/SOTF

A Truly Remarkable Event

Recently, I participated in a truly remarkable “small steps” program designed through a partnership between the Hawaiʻi State Teacher Fellows, HawaiiKidsCAN, and Teach For America Hawaiʻi. It was called We’ve Got You. Typically events put on by these kinds of partnerships take months to develop and can be complicated to execute. In this case, a “spark of an idea” led to something altogether different: An agile and nimble program put together quickly and apparently seamlessly. A list of teachers, many from the Hawai’i State Teacher Fellows program, were paired with community members - government, nonprofits, business, community projects - generally active in our public, private and charter schools. Picture two rounds via Zoom where these pairs (in some cases, one on two) had twenty minutes to take some small steps needed to begin to build a relationship. Educators had 10 minutes to present a “problem of practice,” then 10 minutes to receive feedback. The pairings were intentional and inspired. A few pairs involved possible funders paired with educators looking for small grants to support their “small steps towards big change,” as Ted Dintersmith likes to say. After these two rounds the 15 pairs assembled in the Zoom “main room” and debriefed their sessions and the many “spark of small steps” presentations experienced by the group. Readers, you cannot imagine the energy generated during these 60 minutes. It was…astonishing, all I heard was: Yes, we can! In the months and years to come The Hawaiʻi State Teacher Fellows, HawaiiKidsCAN, and Teach For America Hawaiʻi will do a series of these events, generating even more energy, kickstarting even more educator-community relationships and fueling more small steps by curious educators wanting to get better at their practice. Who benefits? Everyone benefits, but more than any stakeholder, it will be kids in schools who benefit from all the sparks and small steps, many of which will develop into bonfires of innovation, creativity and imagination.

Click Here To Participate In We've Got You

A Must Watch And A New Podcast

Caine’s Arcade is a short video that changed everything for me. I first saw it at the KS Ed-Tech conference in 2013. It captures better than any short film I have watched what happens when kids are unbound to design and build and learn . Bring your Kleenex, the final scenes are incredibly inspiring! Watch Caine's Arcade A new podcast has joined my What School Could Be in Hawaiʻi and the very cool, Maestros Vibe series. It’s called Educator’s Edge and itʻs awesome. It was designed and built by and for Hawaiʻi public school educators who interview each other about interesting and relevant topics. Check it out!   Listen To  The Educator's Edge

The What School Could Be in Hawai'i Global Online Community Join The Many Wa'a, One Voyage Group

Our Many Waʻa, One Voyage group is focused on twice-monthly podcast discussion sessions. Low stress, super fun - a way to connect with friends around the nation and the world - and hopefully inspiring in its focus on small steps leading to big change. All you need to do is listen to the assigned episode, RSVP at Events in the group, and show up! Mica Clarkson in Montana and Josh Reppun in Honolulu will facilitate discussions.

Join The WSCB Global Online Community

#attitudeofgratitude! For the past two years, during this COVID-19 pandemic, my wife and I have "worked from home" (mostly) here in Honolulu. As a result, I got to know, quite deeply, how she, as Publisher, runs her Hawaii Business Magazine. And she has come to know, quite deeply, my MLTS/WSCB work. The extent to which she can now speak about education issues is both funny (cause before my edu-geek-dom was...annoying at best), and hugely gratifying. She gets it, and I get what she does. How cool is that? So, Happy Thanksgiving, Cheryl Oncea. Thank you for knowing me the way you do.