Hawaiʻi 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 sought 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. In future blog posts we will highlight professional development events from around the islands. The format will be simple: 100-150 descriptive words and several photos. If you would like to submit an event to this blog, please click on the contact page! (With these Māla posts, we will demonstrate that it is not hard to tell Hawaiʻi is CHOKE with amazing, cutting edge professional development.)
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