MĀla (garden)
Hawai`i has a thriving ecosystem of learning and support for teachers and teacher-leaders across the education spectrum.
Examples include robust teacher professional development centers, comprehensive supports for school and system leaders, trusted teacher education programs, innovative grassroots community initiatives, leadership development opportunities for high school students, and cross-sector partnerships that are paving exciting new directions for the future of our state. Hawai‘i-based professional development initiatives like these uplift local resources and expertise, bring valuable internal perspectives, and provide a strong foundation for external collaboration. At the April 2019 ‘Aha Kūkā gathering, we aim to build this ecosystem - of homegrown professional development opportunities for educators - to ensure that the experiences of children in our state are grounded in the diverse strengths of Hawaiʻi, and that locally-based, community-sourced, culturally-sustaining models of education have the capacity to create a better future society both here in Hawai‘i and beyond. (It is not hard to tell that Hawaiʻi is choke with amazing, cutting edge professional development events!)
Examples include robust teacher professional development centers, comprehensive supports for school and system leaders, trusted teacher education programs, innovative grassroots community initiatives, leadership development opportunities for high school students, and cross-sector partnerships that are paving exciting new directions for the future of our state. Hawai‘i-based professional development initiatives like these uplift local resources and expertise, bring valuable internal perspectives, and provide a strong foundation for external collaboration. At the April 2019 ‘Aha Kūkā gathering, we aim to build this ecosystem - of homegrown professional development opportunities for educators - to ensure that the experiences of children in our state are grounded in the diverse strengths of Hawaiʻi, and that locally-based, community-sourced, culturally-sustaining models of education have the capacity to create a better future society both here in Hawai‘i and beyond. (It is not hard to tell that Hawaiʻi is choke with amazing, cutting edge professional development events!)
On April 5-6, 2019, over 250 educator stakeholders gathered in Waimea, Hawaiʻi from across the pae ʻāina for the HĀ Summit to EXPERIENCE HĀ, build a COLLECTIVE understanding of the HĀ framework, SHARE knowledge and resources in effort to support effective use, and CONNECT to a network of practitioners. The theme of the summit was ʻO wai kou inoa? Summit experiences connected to the concept of knowing who you are by knowing the names of the waters of your place that feed can nourish you in mind, body, and spirit.
This was ʻAha Kūkā, A Gathering Around Skills, Habits and Dispositions, January 25th, 2018 at the Bishop Museum. 100 public, private and charter leaders, plus Ted Dintersmith, Tony Wagner and Nainoa Thompson, engaged in three back-to-back town hall meetings around the essential skills our kids need to thrive in this 21st Century.
On January 27th, 2018 ʻAha Kūkā, A Gathering Around Skills, Habits and Dispositions went on the road to Ewa Makai Middle School, where 10 public, private and charter school teams (which included students) worked for eight hours to develop "sail plans" for 21st century assessments and transcripts.
On October 26th, 2017 at PBS Hawaii over 100 public, private and charter school educators and leaders gathered at the 4th Hawai'i Education Leadership Summit (HELS) to create school innovation, creativity and imagination sail plans for 2018 and beyond.
On July 16th and 17th, 2018 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, @MLTSinHawaii's Design Team delivered a two-day training to principals and campus allies from Maui, Lanai and Molokai schools, otherwise known as the Canoe Complex. This high energy moment focused on Ted Dintersmith's InnovationPlaylist.org, which positions a micro-theory of school change (small steps lead to big impacts). Participants read Ted's book, "What School Could Be," and watched Ted's film "Most Likely to Succeed."
On January 8th, 2019 @MLTSinHawaii's Design Team went on the road to Molokai, where it delivered an 8-hour, full-day InnovationPlaylist.org training to five Canoe Complex schools. We played songs like Socratic seminar, shadow a student, essential skills and learner profiles, creativity time, project-based learning and much more. All the songs sounded...awesome.
In January of 2018 @MLTSinHawaii and Ted Dintersmith traveled to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa's College of Education to screen "Most Likely to Succeed" the ITE Secondary Cohort, the so-called "home grown" group of educators seeking certification to teach in our Department of Education. 40% of the students are on campus, 60% pipe in via Zoom from Lanai, Molokai, Maui and Hawai'i Island. This was a great night of professional development for future Hawai'i teachers.
Pictured here is workshop number two of Hawai'i's first SchoolRetool.org, all-island cohort, which worked from January 19th to March 23rd. This first Retool cohort graduated 22 Fellows, school leaders from public, charter and private schools from Maui, Hawai'i Island, Kaua’i and O'ahu. Retool Fellows build on a micro-theory of school transformation (small steps lead to big change) and hack their way to greater student engagement.
At HAIS's Leading Schools of the Future conference in April, 2018, teacher candidates in the UH Manoa, College of Education ITE Secondary Cohort facilitated table discussions based on the following question: What does wise school leadership look, sound and feel like? Engaged leaders from public, public charter and private schools in Hawaiʻi dove deeply into this question; the answers were incredibly varied.
On February 28th, 2017 @MLTSinHawaii teamed up with Waialae Public Charter School's Kapono Ciotti to carry out another edition of the Waʻa Talks, which is a fishbowl, roundtable series of discussions between educators, school leaders and community leaders about the purpose and meaning of "school."
On March 25th, 2019, @MLTSinHawaii facilitated a half-day professional development event at Ka ʻOhua Public Charter School (formerly known as Lanikai Elementary). Faculty were asked to watch "Most Likely to Succeed," then work in groups to develop a #manywaaonevoyage set of sail plans for taking micro innovative ideas to other parts of campus, or even other public and private schools. Participants explained their sail plans in a fishbowl format, then committed to action.