Digital Storytelling on Kaua’i…

Over the past year, Kaua’i Pacific School has worked to integrate Digital Storytelling into their elementary school program. Digital Storytelling makes sense on an island where the oral tradition of storytelling is losing ground to more modern forms. We wanted to help our students understand that storytelling is the oldest and perhaps most powerful form of both passing on knowledge and for helping us to make sense of the world around us. As we journeyed through the year, we learned many new things. Most significant for me is the reality that children come to school very well versed in the story format but we then hit them with lists and worksheets and disconnected curriculum that doesn’t fit with what they already know to be true about the world. The truth is that we are all connected, we all have stories and we can learn much about ourselves and others by listening to, creating and sharing stories. Stories are a wonderful information container and can help us to increase cognition and receptiveness in even the most reluctant of learners. Who doesn’t love a wonderful story?   The video here was created by Kelsey Matsu, on behalf of the Schools of the Future Project here in Hawaii. This is an ambitious five year program to transform practice in twenty schools across the islands into model schools of the future using the principles inherent in effective networked learning communities. Thank you to Kelsey, the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the Hawaii Community Foundation, Jason Ohler, Silvia Tolisano and others in our networked learning community for helping our vision come alive.

Please click here to see our Digital Storytelling Video!

Gardening at School – Making it Happen!

On Earth Day this year, our KPS students will be biking to Kauapea Farms to work in the garden all together for a couple of hours and to share some of the bounty from the garden. We are REALLY excited!

KPS is lucky to have an ever expanding garden program. The roots of the program go back a few years ago when a few parents approached me about integrating gardening into the curriculum. Many of our units of discovery had natural ties to the garden so when one parent said she had gotten us into the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center School Garden Teacher Training and that she would pay her own way if we could find a way to pay for a teacher to go, we jumped at the opportunity. The PTSA kicked in some money to send the teacher and a small garden program was born. We started by asking parents to meet and brainstorm some ideas. Luckily we live in a semi-rural area and many of the school’s parents are farmers so we had loads of expertise. Our campus is tiny so we decided to build some garden boxes outside a few of the classrooms, to offer a garden elective in our elective program and to start a Monday Market where we would ask parents to bring excess produce/goods from their homes/properties to school. Class parents take turns hosting the market and funds go back into sustainability related projects. The program stayed this way for a couple of years with the addition of several more garden boxes in Fall of 2008.

During the 2008-2009 school year,  we were invited to a session with Linda Redfeather who runs a School Garden Network on the Big Island of Hawaii as part of the Kohala Center. Several other educators were there including representatives from Kaua’i Community College. Linda inspired all of us including one of the school’s parents, Jillian Seals, who runs a nearby CSA and education center for some of KCC’s students. Jillian invited some of us to the farm and we brainstormed various ideas on how we could expand our garden program and start a partnership with the farm. After working through insurance and bathroom issues, Kauapea Farms agreed to allow us to use a 2000 square foot plot. We decided each class would get 12 weeks in the garden. They would go every Friday right after lunch for a double block. Parents would have to help us drive since we couldn’t afford to rent a bus each week but the garden is only about 2 miles away. We also scheduled the garden sessions for each class when they would be studying units that aligned with work in the garden.  We started the program in December 2009 and can’t believe how amazing it has been.  Here is why we think it’s working:

• The teachers from Kauapea Farms collaborate with our classroom teachers prior to the start of each session and keep in contact throughout the twelve weeks. We are also lucky in that several of our classroom teachers have strong science backgrounds and gardening experience. 
• We communicate with parents before the start of the session about the program and explain all the guidelines for the garden trips and for the composting part of the program. 
• Students are BUSY at the farm – they each have their own plot to tend – planting, weeding, pruning, harvesting etc. in addition to helping with other farm duties including planting starts, composting, weighing the harvest and compost and all sorts of other farm related activities. 
• The work in the garden is connected to projects the students are doing in their core classes. 
• Having the parents drive means that we have parents working in the garden side by side. Some have their own gardens and some have never gardened. The parent-child interaction has been beautiful to watch. 

Although the program is new, we are thrilled with how it is unfolding. Having kids engaged in the garden to learn about science & health, including the life cycle, how to grow healthy, organic produce, healthy eating and where their food comes from is really helping us to ensure that our students are living our core values by becoming exemplary stewards of sustainability! Check out some photos of our Garden program and if you’d like to learn more about the program, contact us at info@kauaipacific.org. 

Bringing the Arts Alive Authentically

Kaua’i Pacific School (KPS) recently received the prestigious and coveted Arts Excellence Award from the Hawaii Arts Alliance. This award is meaningful to us because at KPS we believe that children must receive an integrated and holistic education.  What do we mean by that?  When we watch children during unstructured play, we can see that they are natural artists. They move, they draw, they dance, they hum, they make up games – they are naturally and continually creating using their whole bodies. However, in schools, we marginalize this truth. As Sir Ken Robinson so eloquently points out, as children get older we progressively start to educate them more from the waist up…until we are only in their heads.  This is a grave mistake as intelligence lies in our entire body, not just in our heads. Students must learn to integrate their bodies, the hearts and their minds equally if they are to reach their full potential. The arts are a critical component of what we do here and we work very hard to ensure that the arts are integrated into our core program in a variety of ways:

1. We have designed units of discovery at each grade that facilitate integration of the art.
2. We hire lead teachers for each class with artistic talents and traits such as drama, pottery, music in their repertoire of skills. We also hire teaching artists to teach our visual and performing arts classes.  The specialty teachers and lead teachers regularly collaborate to plan and design the units of discovery insuring that the arts are integrated in an authentic manner.
3. We actively enlist the support of the parents who have visual and performing arts backgrounds. They help us out in a myriad of ways including serving as guest speakers, finding projects in the community for us to be a part of and teaching our Wednesday elective courses.
4. Our students have a specialty program that includes some sort of arts class each day.  This year they have Creative Dance/Storytelling on Mondays; Music on Tuesdays; Visual Art on Thursdays and Hawaiian Studies/Dance on Fridays.  
5. On Wednesdays, we have an elective program after lunch that includes or has included courses such as advanced music workshop, choir, theatre arts, watercolor, pottery, hip hop, cheerleading, digital media, body movement etc. These are cross-grade classes the students can choose from.
6. An understanding and appreciation of how digital tools can help us tell richer and more creative stories. The school recently received a multi-year School of the Future grant to create a model for others to draw from.  Our grant is anchored in digital storytelling which blends the arts, storytelling and technology.
7. We aim to support projects in the wider community that highlight and support the arts. For example, this year we hosted the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival here on Kaua’i which included screenings targeted to different age groups and animation workshops for children from all the schools on our island. 

I read an anonymous quote recently that said “Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us.”  AT KPS, we want to make sure that the music, art, drama and dance within becomes alive and creatively expressed in each and every student and adult that walks through our school doors. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Hawaii Arts Alliance  for continuing to support arts education in schools.

Twenty First Century Principal

So I made it official last week. I’ve decided to step down as principal of our school at the end of the school year. Although I LOVE what I do, I just have too much on my plate to remain an upbeat, positive presence on campus. I have decided to take a break and to devote time to my children, wrap up my dissertation on networked learning communities and to get back to leading workshops and consulting. I also really enjoy my online teaching gig for Regis University so hopefully I’ll have time to pick up some more of those classes.

As part of the transition for the school, the faculty brainstormed qualities/characteristics they would like to see in a new principal. Our school has a very clear mission and core values which we place at the center of what we do.  We have also been designated a model School of the Future by the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and the Hawaii Community Foundation. Our grant is anchored in Digital Storytelling.  So I was curious as to what qualities a 21st century principal should have in the eyes of the teachers. Here’s what they came up with!

• Classroom teaching experience
• Seasoned principal
• Good people skills/approachable/good liaison with all parts of our community (parents, kids, teachers, board, community)
• Perceptive, diplomatic, flexible
• Grounded
• Share our school philosophy and willing to continue on with our curriculum development and goals including inquiry and project based learning. no personal, pre-planned agenda.
• Experience in alternative educational environments
• Knowledgeable with eco-friendly schools, 21st century learning environments and schools that give the arts importance.
• Technologically literate
• Able to provide a digital portfolio
• Familiar with blogging and Twitter
• Familiar with the accreditation process
• Experience with early childhood (needs to qualify as a director, coursework needed – maybe 24 units)
• Financial background
• Familiar with Hawaii – community (island style)Ability to attract donors from different ‘layers’ of our island community
• Willingness to do community organizing and fundraising/be the face of the school at Rotary, etc.
• Good relationship with HAIS and/or state association and NAIS

What do you think? Is the list complete enough?  Should we add, delete or revise?  Would love to hear from my PLN to strengthen our list and our ability to attract someone who can lead the school down it’s amazing path on the next leg of it’s journey 

Keeping the Learning Central with Digital Tools

Over the past eight weeks, we have embarked on a major undertaking to become a model School of the Future. Since our grant is anchored in digital storytelling, we have had staff development from Jason Ohler, Syliva Tolisano and our very own Mauli Ola Cook who is a Kennedy Center Teaching Fellow and our very own storytelling teacher. We have Skyped, Blogged, Tweeted, Flickrd, Photostoried and Vado’d. Teachers have embraced the new ideas and new tools and I have been thrilled to watch the initial projects emerge. Some of our first attempts have been easy and seamless but others have been a little messier. From all of them, we have learned invaluable lessons!

However, I have a nagging concern about the learning! Our curriculum has units of discovery at the core. Each grade has six integrated units of discovery with an essential understanding and 3-6 essential questions. I wonder if the essential questions and understandings are getting lost in the glitz of the projects. Speaking with our technology teacher today gave me much greater insight into the implementation challenges the teachers are facing across all grade levels. We both agreed that we need to better guide the teachers in long range planning so that she has time for students to be introduced to and practice with the new tools before they start the classroom driven projects. We are thrilled at all the communication and requests to use the digital tools, however, some lessons aren’t going so great because we haven’t helped the teacher think through a complete task analysis. What do the students need to know and be able to do to complete the project? What do they already know? How and who will teach what they need to know for this project? When will they do it?

Today at our faculty meeting, we will be planning for our second units of discovery. We typically do a round robin planning that includes 10-15 minute brainstorms with each of our specialty teachers in the areas of Hawaiian studies, visual arts, music, technology, marine science and storytelling. This time, I am adding myself into the rotation so that I can better understand and support the teachers as they develop their next units. Here are the questions that I will pose to everyone before we start the collaboration session.

Questions to Ponder When Planning

*To what degree to I consider the essential questions and essential understanding when planning my units of discovery?
*To what degree am I integrating language arts, science, social studies, the arts and technology to strengthen student learning during my units of discovery?
*To what degree am I planning on using our new digital tools to help strengthen student learning during my units of discovery?
*To what degree am I keeping student learning and reflection at the center of all that is happening in my classroom every day?
*To what degree do I consider formative and summative assessment strategies when planning my units of discovery?
*To what degree am I using rubrics to help crystallize my learning objectives, to support student mastery and to help improve student chances of success on major projects?

When teachers meet with me, I will ask them the following:

*What is your final project for this unit?
*What do the students need to know and be able to do to complete the final project?
*What do they already know?
*How and who will teach what they need to know for this project?
*When will they do it?

If you have any suggestions, ideas or other guiding questions, please share them! I’ll let you know how it goes.

KPS Peace Day 2009

Kaua’i Pacific School celebrated Peace Day yesterday in a big way! Joined by Gary Heu from the Mayor’s office, teachers and parents,our students paraded through Kilauea town in celebration of Peace. It was an adorable spectacle rooted in acceptance, compassion and community. Along the parade route students wished on-lookers a Happy Peace Day while passing out artwork and their reflections on why Peace is important.

The youngest students were pulled in wagons by the oldest; each waving bamboo sticks with Peace messages written on fabric blowing in the breeze. One on-looker thanked the kids for reminding him that it was Peace Day while others honked their horns in support of the kid’s efforts. Several people along the route joined in on the march.Like a drop of water that ripples across still waters, Kaua’i Pacific students saw and felt the effects of their positive message within their community. Those who caught a glimpse of the parade could not help but to pause for a moment with the thought of Peace. The Parade route ended at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center where everyone gathered on the field to create a giant peace symbol with their bodies.

Perhaps most magical to me as a principal were the messages of peace from our students. When we talk about peace, we must help our students see the connection between individual and world peace. We can teach them to visualize a peaceful home, playground, classroom, community, nation and world but we must also teach them HOW to get there. Being conscious of the importance of peace is a good first step but there must also be layers and layers of peace building and conflict resolution woven into the everyday life of school through both the affective and academic curriculum. I could see and hear the evidence of our greater commitment to peace education in the words of our children:

A Poem By Sam Goldberg, 6th grade
WAR
blood, torture
fighting, bombing, shooting
loud, scared, quiet, calm
loving, caring, sharing
happiness, goodness
PEACE

The Peace Poem

Peace is love
Peace is caring
Peace is joy
Peace is sharing
Peace and quiet
Makes me happy
So I don’t
Get all snappy
Peace is our future
Peace is our past
Peace is the thing
That will make us all last

by Kaihalana locey grade 6

Our students documented the peace day events with video and still cameras and are working on making a short Peace Movie. Additionally, I will be making a peace day scrapbook using MixBook and will post it here on the blog!

Coming Together

Today I had a very inspiring meeting with Joel Guy about our School of the Future Digital Storytelling Grant. We had a wonderful meeting about how Joel could help us shape and reach our vision for this grant. As we talked, it became really clear that my preconceived idea about having one person serve as tech support and as a resource for the teachers in learning how to use Web 2.0 tools might work but that it would probably be better to have one person who is really savvy with Open Source, Web 2.0, Teaching and Troubleshooting work in collaboration with someone like Joel who is an expert in getting story ‘out there’. Joel has the background to help us with the project management piece and to help support teachers to make sure the tasks happen.

As we spoke it became clear that we need a TEAM! We need someone with the overall big picture and time frame in mind (me?), someone to inspire the children and teach them the content needed for the projects (the teachers), someone to teach the basics of tech, someone to troubleshoot for students and teachers (Donna?) and someone to serve as a resource in and out of the classroom (Joel?). We came up with this great idea to have Joel and Donna work as a teamand then to have them start out by meeting with each teacher to lay out a time frame for each project so that we have an overall yearly calendar and a clear delineation of who will help with what.

What is the point of this post? The point is that collaborative projects in schools need to be just that. COLLABORATIVE! Old notions of I’m in charge of this and you are in charge of that don’t work anymore. As we blend expertise to forge new roads, we need the experts to work and learn from each other. If we can do it at the macro level as teachers and administrators, we will be better able to model it and organize this for our children. The ideas are going to come together as we all come together!

So my conclusions today were:

1. This will be a COMING TOGETHER – a collaborative effort that will require a great deal of checking in and front end organization.
2. The project will morph as we move forward – strong vision and leadership will be required on my part to keep it moving. At the same time, I will have to provide space for the experts to “do their thing” without getting in the way. There is much to learn from others.
3. We should document the “story” of the grant itself and how we are changing/evolving in our practice. From initial vision to final projects, etc…what are we learning about teaching and learning?
4. Preconceived notions of silo based project organization should be rethought. For example, I should support the experts in coming together. I could pay Donna for teaching tech out of the specialty budget and pay her for troubleshooting out of the infrastructure budget (should allocate about $2,000 for that). I should pay Joel out of the Tech and Learning coordinator budget and call him a “Digital Media Resource Teacher” instead. He should spend about 10 hours a week mentoring teachers and working in the classroom with teachers & students on the projects. He can also teach a Digital Media class all year long in the elective program. I could also take about $2,000 from professional development to pay for him to teach teachers and work on collaboration meetings – another 75 hours or so throughout the year….since Donna gets Migraines both Paul and Joel can back her up. It would also be great if Donna could do the 3rd and 6th grade math!

Joel helped me learn so much! I was able to flush out some details and think differently and more effectively about how we can get this grant off the ground. I love the intersection of business and education….

Schedule as I see it today!

Trimester 1

• PSA’s on Ocean Conversation with Chris’ class
• Grade 5/6 – pick Wiki, brainstorm what to include in project, lay out timeline, start getting footage and having experiences with community members and groups..
• PKK1 – introduction to how to use voice thread
• Grade 2 – get EPals set up with Green School Bali
• Document garden project

Trimester 2

• Grade 5/6 – build wiki
• PKK1 – Record Stories on Voice Thread
• Grade 2 – continue withePals
• document garden project

Trimester 3

• Reflections on Wiki Project with Grade 5/6
• document garden project