The @MLTSinHawaii Newsletter
Most Likely to Succeed
July, 2021
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Coming Soon, Jan Iwase's 2nd Book! |
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This is the jacket blurb I wrote for Jan Iwase's forthcoming book: For a very long time, since the beginning of our current model of education in 1893, if we heard from public school principals at all it was about how to manage schools and close the so-called achievement gap. Rarely did we hear from imaginative, creative and innovative principals dancing on the edge of what school could be as the world entered its current technological age of information and acceleration. One spectacular exception is retired Hawai’i public school principal Jan Iwase, who wrote, "Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office," a deeply insightful book about what it means to empower teachers - the real source of innovation - and move a school’s culture towards 21st century student-driven, purpose-driven, real world learning. Equally rare was the school principal who made the inner workings of her mind and heart accessible to parents and community members through mediums like blogs. Again, Jan Iwase proves the remarkable exception, and with her new book, "Educating With Aloha" she provides for her readers both a historical window into those blogs, which she started writing back in 2012 and her own growth as a leader on an inspiring learning journey. In education leadership programs around the nation - from Harvard to your local district’s stepladder to principalship, Jan Iwase’s "Educating With Aloha" should be required reading.
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Ungrading - What Is It And Why Do It? |
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Why do we grade? It seems like such a basic question, but in reality, it's profoundly complex. "If you're a teacher and you hate grading, stop doing it," says internationally recognized author and educator, Jesse Stommel, in this free 45-minute Big Questions Institute webinar, which unpacks some of the bigger questions around grading and offers some provocative ideas for doing without. You'll leave inspired to look closely at your own practice around grading, and you'll have a sense of how to change that practice to more effectively serve your students.
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Save The Date!
August 20th, 2021
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Public, private and charter school educator friends and colleagues, save August 20th, 2021 (a state holiday) on your calendar. Coming shortly, an Eventbrite announcement about a very cool education festival at DreamHouse Ewa Beach PCS that will mark the return of in-person learning and a brave and bold new future. It will be super fun and all about what school could be. |
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Why Competency-Based Education (CBE)? |
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Competency-Based Education means designing instruction that includes explicit, measurable, transferable learning objectives that empower students with specificity in their learning and at its best, enables them to move at their own pace. Join Getting Smart for "Let's Talk About C.B.E.: Competency-Based Everything," a Town Hall where GS will dive into Competency-Based Education; you will hear from national experts and join an open forum to discuss the challenges you’re experiencing and best practices to support the practice. This event will take place on July 14th at 6:00 a.m. Hawai'i time. |
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Awesome PD Opportunity!
Kupu Hou Academy and HOPE
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The "Aloha ʻAina Academy: Ocean Food Systems" workshop is designed to help teachers understand and demonstrate basic ocean systems knowledge and skills; cultivate a sense of place, practices for ocean conservation, marine life needs for optimal health, and the connection between healthy oceans and human health; align the basic ocean knowledge and skills to appropriate national and Hawaii State standards; design and implement ocean food-system based lessons, activities and assessments to meet Hawaii DOE system-wide HĀ outcomes; apply teaching techniques and practices, including design thinking, for effective student management in the outdoor classroom. This workshop and the PDE3 support are funded by the “Hawaii Online Portal for Education” (HOPE). |
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Expeditionary Learning
The Power Of Video In PD
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Recently I had the privilege of getting to know David Grant, the videographer, cinematographer and editor who wrote, produced, shot and edited the video library resource that is Expeditionary Learning. David's productions are an epic window into the best of teaching and learning. You all know I am a former history teacher, so forgive me if I gush over this particular video about using primary sources to teach kids how to BE historians. In this two-part video, fifth-grade students in Aubrey Wilk's class at Polaris Charter Academy in Chicago analyze primary sources about American slavery. Students will conclude their study of this time in American history by writing a fictional memoir written from the perspective of someone who was affected by slavery. This is truly what school could be.
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[What are] the skills citizens will need in the future world of work? To future-proof citizens’ ability to work, they will require new skills—but which ones? A survey of 18,000 people in 15 countries suggests those that governments may wish to prioritize. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute has looked at the kind of jobs that will be lost, as well as those that will be created, as automation, AI, and robotics take hold. And it has inferred the type of high-level skills that will become increasingly important as a result. The need for manual and physical skills, as well as basic cognitive ones, will decline, but demand for technological, social and emotional, and higher cognitive skills will grow. |
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HIDOE and HIDOE PCS Teachers of the Year |
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CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Cara Chaudron on being named Hawaiʻi Charter School Teacher of the Year for 2021/2022! Dr. Chaudron leads a student-centered, inquiry-based classroom that allows students to grow in their understanding and love of 6th grade math. She takes on many leadership roles at SEEQS and her value to the school is immeasurable. Dr. Chaudron follows in the footsteps of other SEEQS teachers who received this award in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 and is deeply worthy of this honor! And CONGRATULATIONS to Lori Kwee on being named our 2021/2022 Hawaii Public School Teacher of the Year! Lori encourages her fourth-graders at Ala Wai Elementary School to look for real-life problems and try to solve them. “Lori has been instrumental in leading the way in showing how if we ignite student passion, students are so willing to take the lead and inspire those around them,” Principal Michelle DeBusca said. “It’s been just beautiful.” |
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I am going to step outside my Hawai'i circle of educator friends and tell you about Dennis Harbaugh, my oldest and dearest friend in the whole world. Dennis, the founder of the Harbaugh-Williams Education Promise Fund (which gives college scholarships to African-American kids in Waterloo, Iowa who finish high school) has been with me through thick and thin for 43 years. Love you, bro! Go Hawkeyes!
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