Hayden's Kalaheo Experiment

Hayden’s Kalaheo Experiment

So far my classroom experience at Kalaheo High has been a roller coaster. I’ve been working since February to design the syllabus and curriculum for this class, trying to be as place-based and project based as possible. However, because I lack the teaching certificate I couldn’t be THE teacher so my role at Kalaheo is funded by Kupu. Kalaheo was forced to hire a teacher with the certification and they hired Mrs. Newman, a first year teacher from Texas with a bit of Ag background.

Through the first five weeks, as far as the students go, the class is a total success. However dealing with admin and other teachers it’s been like banging my head against a brick wall. Because Mrs. Newman was hired about 2 weeks before school started and because she just moved to Hawaii about 2 months ago, she had no plans or curriculum developed for our class. She’s overwhelmed with all the paperwork and stuff. So when I offered to use my syllabus she happily agreed to just follow that instead of writing her own.

My idea was to spend the first few weeks connecting the students back to place. A lot of them are military kids, we have a good number of native Hawaiians sprinkled in, and the rest are your typical Kailua beach kids. So the first project was to research their mo’oku’auhau (geneology) as far back as they could. Some students ran with it, others only went back only to their grandparents. But either way it got them thinking about the idea of 7 generations.

Next we built 3d playdo models of the Kailua ahupua’a to have them understand what was in their community. That was a huge success. 

Then we brought in a geologist to talk about how Kailua was shaped and formed. 

We talked about the history and mo’olelo of Kailua, and took 70 of the students on a field trip to Ulupo Heiau in Kailua.

I’ve seen an unbelievable amount of growth in these students in just 5 weeks. They’re excited to learn, they’re soaking everything up, they’re asking great questions, and they’re respectful to guest speakers. I even asked if anyone wanted to learn e ho mai, and 90% of the class raised their hand, so we learned it.

I’ve gotten the chance to read several students’ work and they’re saying how much they love this class and enjoy coming to it. One girl wrote, “In order to care for the land, we have to connect to it first.”

They ask me if we can learn more Hawaiian words, if we can make poi pounding boards, and learn how to make poi. They’re so into it. They’re so ‘ono for this stuff. I thought it would take way longer for them to get it.

However admin has told me several times they don’t want this class to be “too Hawaiian” as they put it and they’re worried that I’m not connecting to Natural Resources. My co-teacher told me at one point “I don’t see how learning their ahupua’a is gonna teach them natural resources?” I just pointed to the quote from the girl above.

Mrs. Newman is getting stressed out with the processes of being a new teacher and being new to these islands and her frustration turns on me from time to time. She believes that most of the students are just as lost as her when it comes to “Hawaiian stuff”, yet the students work speaks for itself.

I’ve been literally teaching this whole class myself, while Mrs. Newman stands at the back and keeps kids paying attention. She does grades and attendance but as far as being in front of the class, it’s all on me. I’ve asked her numerous times if she wants to teach the material, but she claims she doesn’t know it well enough and doesn’t want to teach the work of someone else. So I’ve had several meetings with her to discuss what things she wants to implement in the curriculum that she is comfortable with and she never has anything. She’s got no lesson plans and no curriculum. So basically she doesn’t want to teach my stuff, but doesn’t have any stuff of her own. So I’m left with no choice but to take on the role of the main teacher, to which admin is having a fit, because she’s the one getting paid to be there. I fear if I were absent one day, the kids would just sit there staring at the wall for 55 minutes.

I’ve been getting backstabbed by other teachers, including a substitute teacher for petty things like playing the speaker too loud, or bringing mud back into the class when I take them outside. It’s like no matter what I do, people complain about it even thought the students are loving it.

I’m experiencing all the nightmares of the DOE that I hear so often and it’s really discouraging. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and hard place. If I teach, I have a microscope hovering over me, and if I don’t, the students won’t learn anything.

But what keeps me going is the look on the students face. That’s what this is all about. And knowing that all my fellow teachers are going through the same thing keeps me going.