Leaving Compassion, Humanity and Empathy Behind: Thoughts on the Rutgers Tragedy!

I have been consumed with the senseless tragedy that unfolded at Rutgers University earlier this week. My thoughts keep turning to  the boy and the girl in the room next door, computers and smartphones at the ready. I feel a pit in my stomach when I try to imagine what they were thinking. I can’t get past my invented image of them laughing, belittling and joking about their peer. It haunts and disturbs me. We failed all three of the kids involved and if we don’t wake up to the implications of “instatech” on teaching, learning and morality, we stand to fail an entire generation.

My first thought is that we must all better understand how online interactions differ from face to face communication.We can be anonymous online – nicknames, monikers and the like make it all too easy to hide behind the screen. This makes some people say and do things that they would never have the guts to do in person. In a sense, the intended audience is dehumanized. We can’t see their reaction so we have no idea how what we are communicating is being received. This inhibits our moral filter and precludes our ability to adjust our communications. I learned early in my career that 90% of all communication is non-verbal. The rest is motions, gestures, tone, eye movement etc. When we communicate online via e-mail, chats, Facebook or Twitter, this 90% is missing, making it difficult to capture nuances. We are stuck with only text, punctuation and few other cues to help us interpret. Video clips are often taken out of or presented without context. Pair all of this with the still developing morality of tweens, teens and young adults and we have a recipe for disaster.  Additionally, online communications happen at warp speed. We no longer have time to adequately process what we receive online (or in person for some of the perpetually busy folks out there). We feel compelled to respond quickly. We fire off e-mail replies and comment on news stories, facebook posts and the like without  reflecting, spell-checking, proofreading or editing. We don’t even ask ourselves if our ideas are worthy. We somehow have come to automatically believe that all of our ideas are worthy. Opinions are not automatically truth. More and more, I see examples of writing and communication that are not well-planned, well-argued, well-researched or well-articulated. We are forsaking quality for quantity and this scares the heck out of me for some reason. We don’t think before we “speak”. This is not a new problem but what is new is the fact that now our thoughts go out to the world instantaneously. While this is wonderful for the spread of innovation and ideas, it is not so wonderful if we haven’t taught our students to filter and/or if the ideas are hurtful or damaging.

At the same time,  we are becoming more and more afraid to stand up to inappropriate behavior.  In our classrooms, we are afraid to admonish students when they display negative behavior. For one,  we don’t have time. We are too busy making sure kids are ready for tests so we let things slide that we know deep inside are not okay. Secondly, we have learned to be afraid of the possibility that  administrators and parents will not support us. In fact, we know from experience that some parents will complain if they feel we are singling out their child or being too hard on their child. End result? Negative behavior online or otherwise proliferates, goes unchecked and moral compasses go haywire.

So what is a good educator to do?  Blame the parents?  It’s tempting but it won’t help. It’s kind of a cop out. “Well the parents won’t do anything so I won’t either.” WRONG!  It needs to go something like this:

Step 1 – Find compassion for yourself and for the child.

Step 2 – Realize you can and should make a difference by lovingly helping a child to fully consider the implications of their actions.

Step 3  - Don’t be afraid to stand up and say “no, it’s not okay to write that, say that, do that to another person.” Find the right time and place to have a conversation with a child without stripping them of their dignity by asking a series of questions. (What just happened?   Do you think that was okay? Why or why not? What made you do that?  Here’s what I saw.. How might others have  perceived that? What else might have caused that behavior? What are you really upset about? If you could do that again, how would you do it? Do you need to reconcile with anyone? How will you do that? ) I’m not advocating that we all become counselors but I am saying that part of being a great teacher is taking the roles of great mentor, mirror and role model for kids seriously.

Step 4 – Find time and space in your lessons to integrate and address these types of issues on a more universal level. Don’t think that other teachers are “covering” this. It can’t be covered. It gets uncovered and it has to be hit again and again and again.

Step 5 – Press for digital literacy & citizenship workshops and curriculum for administrators, teachers, students and parents in your school. It’s essential that we help each other learn how to navigate this new territory.

Step 6 – If the love and reason approach does not seem to be having an impact and a child is a repeat offender, we need to call in extra help – another teacher, a coach, a friend of the student, counselors, psychologists, and/or parents and perhaps devise a custom plans for the child.

Yes, it’s a big problem and yes, it will take time and yes, it will be a giant pain in the rear and yes, it’s hard. But letting kids off the hook time and time again only hurts them and others in the long run.   We can’t afford to stand down anymore. Every time we do, we all lose. While we have been busy making sure no child gets left behind academically, we have somehow managed to leave behind humanity, empathy and compassion instead. No one can learn or shine while they are witnessing or being teased, taunted, or bullied online or in-person no matter how subtle it seems. For those of you wondering how the heck you are supposed to teach one more thing, I would argue it’s way more important to teach a child how to have respect and compassion for another’s dignity than it is to teach them how to solve for x any day, any time, any place.  I welcome your comments and hope this meager little post can help us fail one less child in what really matters.

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!

Dissertation Diatribe Number 1

Several years ago when I was working at the American School of Bombay as the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Staff Development, I decided that I didn’t know enough about how technology impacted learning. We had launched an ambitious one to one laptop program at the same time that we were newly implementing all three of the International Baccalaureate Programs. In many ways, we had no idea what we were doing. We muddled along and with the help of several teachers who kept asking, “But what about the learning?,  I was inspired to start a doctoral program in Educational Technology. The program was a hybrid program requiring five, five-day, face to face meetings per year. The rest was done via synchronous class sessions using TappedIn. I completed the first two years of my coursework during my last two years in India.

In 2004, we moved to Kaua’i so I could complete the final year of the program and finish my dissertation. We also wanted to be closer to our family on the mainland and something about Kaua’i really appealed to us after 9 years of living in Asia.  Maybe it was the peaceful, simple lifestyle. My friends at the time scoffed at the notion that I wouldn’t be working in a school. They gave me six months to go crazy. It only took three. By October, I had been lured in to a sweet little independent school with a beautiful mission and a lovely bunch of students, parents and teachers. Initially hired to redesign the curriculum at the elementary level, I was asked about six months later to become principal. I finished my comprehensive exams and tossed around ideas for my dissertation.

Fast forward five years later. The dissertation was attacked in fits and starts on nights when I would be raked with anxiety about the money I was wasting on tuition. Other times, I would devote an entire winter or spring break to it. I changed topics three times, advisors once. I tried forming study groups with other students from my Cadre. I watched as Cadre 10, 11 and 12 students graduated before me. I felt like a failure. This was a new feeling for me. I am one of those overachieving, neurotic, peppy people that never quits until I reach my goals.

So last November, after months of soul-searching, I handed in my resignation letter effective the end of the school year. This was tough. I loved my job as an elementary school principal. I loved the kids, the parents and the teachers. I loved everything about it.   But my need to finish my dissertation was greater than that love. I realized that having something hanging over my head that I could not attend to properly was draining me mentally, physically and spiritually.  It was making me resentful, frustrated and cranky. I could not concentrate on anything. I was a little slow on the uptake but I finally realized I was trying to do too much at once. I wanted to be the perfect principal, perfect mom, perfect wife, perfect friend, perfect housekeeper, perfect daughter, perfect sibling and perfect dissertation writer. I also didn’t want to let anyone down. But enough was enough. I couldn’t do it all and it was killing my soul. Did I let people down? Yes. Was that okay? Yes.

Today is August 9, 2010. The day I should have reported back to school for my 22nd year working in education. Instead I dropped my daughter off at school, went for a run/walk on the beach with two friends who have been sorely neglected and had a Skype meeting with my dissertation advisor. I made appointments with the dentist and eye doctor. I revised Chapter 1 and made a huge dent in Chapter 2. I picked up my daughter and her friends from school. I helped with homework. I wrote a little more. I made dinner. I wrote a little more. It felt really, really good.

Did I miss school? Not today.  Will I finish my dissertation? Stay tuned.

Day 3 & 4 ISTE Reflections & New Questions

So my grand plan to blog each day at ISTE fell by the wayside. There is SO Much to learn, know and do here! You don’t want to miss a minute or opportunity so taking time to blog has taken a back seat to the chance to interact with some amazingly, inspirational people.  However, I did want to get some of thoughts that are swirling around in my head down. Trying to promote inquiry, I am now putting everything into question format…

1. Do I really understand the power of the global network? Am I ensuring that our teachers, parents and students do?

2. Am I promoting practices that encourage mindfulness?

3. Are I making sure that teachers are aware of the importance of teaching network awareness/detection skills?

4. Can I find a way to send someone to the DIGITALES Camp or bring Bernajean to us? 

5. Do I know enough about ePortfolios to help facilitate their implementation?

6. Am I using my PLN to it’s fullest advantage? Should I be using hashtags more?

7. How can I best help board members, parents, donors and teachers understand the need to get kids ready for the extreme future?

8. How can we bring students more into the conversation about norms regarding the use of digital tools in the classroom?

9. Should we start a Hawaii ISTE affiliate? I think I might make it my personal mission…


Lots to think about – good thing I have until August to distill all of this new thinking!

ISTE Day 1 Reflections

My first full day at ISTE was spent in three pretty diverse sessions. The morning was spent in a constructivist consortium with Dr. Gary Stager. It was a wonderful experience and I was happy to get to play in the sandbox with Microworlds and Animationish. Super awesome programs that encourage us to allow students to actually CREATE instead of just having them snap photos, drop them in a prefabbed program and record a script. This is more like programming and students get to have much more ownership and creativity.   

However, after Dr. Stager presented, two otherwise wonderful presenters casually referred to using these software programs to “sneak curriculum” to the students.  I found myself wondering why it has to be snuck in? It smacks of  Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook where you hide the pureed veggies in things like pancakes. The thing is pureed veggies are for babies. Our students aren’t babies and they can see right through this type of sham.  Why can’t learning be delicious on it’s own? Why does having students create a meaningful animated autobiography have to be viewed as “snuck in learning”?

Another thing both presenters did is talk about how these programs will help the at-risk learners. Why is there so much discussion about at risk learners vs. gifted/bright learners?  Who is deciding how these kids are classified? Viewing kids up front as at risk just adds an overlay of negativity. If we have to use the term “at risk” we should be honest and admit that EVERY child is at risk.  At risk of being bored or classified in a way that limits their potential. At risk of spending 8 hours a day non-engaged and not reaching their full potential.  At risk of drowning in a sea of worksheets, meaningless quizzes and tests. At risk of never encountering a teacher who inspires them by designing meaningful, creative projects….What I learned today is that more educators need to TRUST that a heck of a lot of learning will take place when kids are given great tasks and when the teachers step back and coach, when they prompt, question and clarify instead of directing every step that a child must take to be “learning” in the eyes of the teacher. 

Okay, I’m blabbering and on a soapbox but it seems like we are STILL trying to get people to understand that tasks must be redesigned in order to engage students. Oh and don’t get me started about all the time we are wasting on developing standards. I had to leave the room when that conversation started at my table. Come on people! 

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. 

Does all this increased technology have an impact on student learning? If it does, how do we know? How do we measure it?

Recently someone posted a question in the Future of Education Ning. This person was getting ready to attend the ASB: Unplugged which was a recent conference dedicated to 1:1 learning in Mumbai India. 


His question was something like this:


Does all this increased technology have an impact on student learning? If it does, how do we know? How do we measure it? 


Having been one of the educators working at the American School of Bombay back when we started the laptop program, I would say that yes – technology has an impact on student learning IF it is used to transform teaching and learning. In other words, if we just use the computers to do the same old types of tasks we used to do or if we replace lectures with powerpoints then, no, there is probably no measurable impact. In fact, since technology amplifies, it might even make the worst of traditional methodology even worse. However,  technology (aka digital tools in this context, I mean after all, a pencil is technology right?) offers a world of possibilities for teachers to TRANSFORM their learning environments by creating more innovative, relevant and engaging tasks for their students in a way that wasn’t possible before. 


The trick is to ensure that critical thinking, problem solving and creativity are explicit goals of EACH task that students are asked to complete. What is the project? What will the students create? How will they do so? What do they need to know and be able to do to complete the task? How/when will we check to see what they already know and what we need to give them guidance on? 


I think access to endless amounts of valid and reliable information and digital tools that allow students to learn how to filter, synthesize, evaluate, analyze and most of all CREATE definitely can improve learning if the learning coaches (formerly known as teachers) know how to coach well….(hint: coaches don’t always have to play the sport they coach at the same level of their players – they just need to know how to get their players to play at the highest level – taking that to the classroom – they just need to know go get their learners to learn at the highest level).

There is plenty of research emerging on the impact of blogging, writing using computers etc…and how it can improve writing. However, to me the real measures are the following:

1. Are students engaged?
2. Are they producing high quality, creative projects?
3. Is there evidence of high quality student reflection attached to the projects?
4. Are student projects getting more complex as they progress through the grades?
5. Can students intelligently talk about what they are learning about/working on?
6. Are students effective at working with others?
7. Are students integrating the digital tools at their disposal in ethical and creative ways?

Just a few thoughts – I know I’m a little bit on the edge but I like hanging out there….

Building Virtual Professional Learning Communities in Elluminate

This morning, I participated in another wonderful professional learning opportunity.  Ben Daley of High Tech High sent me an e-mail inviting me to participate in a virtual protocol session using Elluminate.  Elluminate serves as a virtual classroom and offers whiteboard, chat, video and audio capabilities. I first heard about Elluminate about a year ago when I attended an information session for Hawaii Technology Academy, a charter school here in Hawaii. I checked out the product then and found it intriguing. Over the course of the past year, I have attended a handful of professional development sessions in Elluminate offered by Classroom 2.0 and during the recent Educon events.  These attempts were a bit feeble as I was stuck on my six year old Dell with very limited video and audio capabilities. I admit it, I was a lurker with an occasional contribution or question via the chat feature. About two weeks ago, my brand new iMac arrived. Voila! Built in web-cam and the latest audio! Finally able to jump in the sandbox completely!

I was pretty excited about the session today for two reasons. One, I was eager to try out my new toy! Second, I was very curious about how a protocol would work in this virtual environment.  Over the past year, I have been exposed to and utilizing protocols more to develop the professional learning community at Kaua’i Pacific School. The school is part of a state-wide Schools of the Future initiative and the project leaders at each school have been given several opportunities to practice protocols. At the same time, I am researching 21st century teaching & learning, professional learning communities and networked learning communities as I develop the literature review for my dissertation. I am finding myself very interested in how participation in networked learning communities can transform teacher practice. 

The session was terrific and although there were a few initial glitches getting everyone set up with their audio/video, I was surprised at how quickly the group adjusted to the environment. We were able to make mid-stream adjustments to strengthen the dialogue and everyone seemed to quickly get the hang of how to take advantage of the built-in communication features such as the hand-raising, poll, chat and smiley face.  The ability of the moderator and facilitator to turn on and off the video and the microphones at appropriate times greatly enhanced the experience. The group was also able to generate a terrific list of ideas to make future sessions even better during the debrief on the process.

The online participants included educators from Israel, Hawaii, and San Diego. It was a small group of about 8 participants and our problem of practice centered around a 6th grade teacher  Bobby was wondering how to provide more meaningful and succinct feedback to student’s on their writing to foster growth in future drafts.  Over the course of the hour, moderator Mark Hines from Mid-Pac Institute in Honolulu and Facilitator Ben Daley from High Tech High in San Diego artfully led the group through the protocol.  Bobby presented his problem, we asked clarifying and then probing questions using the chat feature and then broke into two smaller groups in different Elluminate rooms to have group discussions while Bobby.  Bobby seemed to really benefit from the  protocol and it was clear to me that he walked away from the session with a deeper understanding of how to address his problem of practice.

As I logged off the session, I found my mind wandering like crazy! First of all, I can see many wonderful applications for the School of the Future project. It would be amazing to bring together teachers from different schools. We could also bring sub-groups together such as principals, tech coordinators, and/or SOTF project leaders to address role specific challenges. The experiences would not only strengthen our networked learning community but they would also strengthen the professional learning communities at each school.   

I could also begin to see how Elluminate might be utilized to create more dynamic interchanges in online classes. My big beef with virtual schools and teaching online (I am an online affiliate faculty at Regis University in a mostly asynchronous model) is the static nature of the models I have been exposed to so far. Although I have participated for years in synchronous discussions as a student at Pepperdine via TappedIn, I appreciate the features that Elluminate offers to provide for a more dynamic and less chaotic exchange.   

The whole experience was amazing.  In just an hour, my learning leaped on so many levels! I firmly believe that the framework provided by the protocol strengthened the nature of the learning for all of the participants. I can only begin to imagine how this type of experience can exponentially allow us to provide more meaningful professional learning opportunities for teachers and administrators.

Thanks Ben for the invite! 

The Questions Matter More Than The Answers

Yesterday, I had the luxury of attending a dinner featuring Tony Wagner and Ben Daley. Both emphasized the  importance of teaching children to ask great questions rather than just teaching them the answers to mediocre questions.  When working with teachers and/or parents, I often express my frustration that the longer students stay in school, the less curious they seem to become. Young children are natural inquirers. Hang out with any 3 or 4 year old for more than 20 minutes and listen for their questions. It’s non-stop! Yet most children soon figure out that it’s the teachers who ask the questions and that there is usually only one right answer in they eyes of the teachers. The others keep asking and soon become perceived as behavioral problems.

Personally I think this is a travesty. Every child must learn how to ask great questions. Curiosity must by intentionally nurtured. I’m not talking about simple questions that beget yes or no responses.  Nor am I talking about only doing this with older children. We MUST be teaching each and every student from the time they start school  how to ask deep and meaningful questions.  There are a multitude of resources on how to encourage deep and effective question. Learning how to ask great questions yourself is a terrific start. I’ve started to put together a few resources on inquiry and questioning for the teachers I work with. 

Driving home from the dinner last night I started to consider how we might organize units of instruction around questions in order to promote deeper questioning. I started a list of questions that might promote some deeper thinking, questioning and engagement. Many of us learned the old “KWL” model – What do we know, What do we want to know? What did we learn? I always felt that using KWL never seemed to foster the type of engagement I was looking for. When I started to learn more about inquiry, I was exposed to the inquiry cycle which expands upon the KWL and which I enjoyed integrating into my teaching of both younger students and adults.  However, as my understanding of teaching and learning deepens, I find myself wanting different ways to approach designing units to help scaffold and organize learning for both teachers and for students.

• What do we know about _____________? (fill in the blank…division, overpopulation, genetics, love, Shakespeare, staying healthy, the solar system, maps, explorers, immigration, poverty, storytelling, etc.)
• What should we know about ______________ to understand it better? 
• Why does knowing about ______________ matter?
• How can we best discover more about ____________________?
• How can we best organize what we are discovering/learning about______________?
• How is what we are learning about _______________changing our previous perceptions/understandings?
• How can we best share what we are learning?
• Can we share it in a way that makes a difference?
• What new questions do we have about _________________?
• What do I know now about ________________ that I didn’t know before?

 I humbly offer this list up for discussion.  (and I’m sure there are many more out there that are much better!) Feel free to provide some feedback. 

One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. – Chinese Proverb

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.