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I am most proud of the last unit we did for Q4, which was on colonialism. I am proud of this unit in particular because I piloted what inquiry-based learning would look like in the Papa Ea framework that I have been developing.

In this unit, students had complete autonomy in their work, whereas in the previous lessons, it was "structured autonomy. They were responsible for developing their research question, choose the medium to present their research through, developed an inquiry proposal, kept an evidence log, AN AI LOG, and finally sought out manaʻo form their peers about their project before turning in their final draft.

The things that these haumāna created was on a whole other level from what they were creating in past units. I am excited to continue to integrate this into what we do next year and hope to collaborate with other kauhale on developing inter-disciplinary projects that would limit the amount of "double work" we end up giving the kids, so instead we look at one project across multiple content classes.

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I found the following to be most helpful in keeping students engaged:

Learner Check-in and Daily Goal Setting

This allowed haumāna to set the tone for their day in class and have a goal to strive for as they do their work for class.

1-on-1 Check-ins

Allowed me the opportunity to meet with every one of my haumāna daily and help them verbally process where they're at in their learning/work.

Choice Board Activities/Projects

Allowed students to choose the medium in which to present their project. This kept students engaged because they got to choose what best worked for them and not a singular format that they may have struggles with that is being forced upon them.

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As I transitioned from a traditional way of teaching to this style, I made sure to keep my haumāna in the loop and actively sought out their manaʻo of how to improve this model.

The biggest source of feedback that I gained from my students were the surveys that I would administer at the end of each quarter. From these surveys, I would look at the data and (with the help of Aunty Chatty GPT), I was able to conduct a gap analysis each quarter that took the feedback from the students compared it to the goals that I had set for what I wanted the Papa Ea Framework to be.

I used this feedback to make significant shifts quarterly.

Outside of that, through my daily check-ins and 1-on-1s, I would be able to verbally talk to the haumāna to see what is working for them and what isn't indirectly through just listening to what haumāna have to say.

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I want to be able to work on finding the balance between: 1) allowing the haumāna the independency required for them to develop the executive functions necessary for success after high school; and 2) developing systems that aid in my classroom management (phone use, off-task behavior, etc).

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The most rewarding part of this year really was the pilina that I built with my haumāna. It was a pleasure getting to know them over the course of the year and I am thankful that this system really allowed me the time and the space to get to know them more as individuals.

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My advice to new kumu would be to always take a moment to hanu. Hanu is the great moments and take it all in. Hanu in the difficult moments when nothing goes as planned and you have to shift entirely. Hanu in the morning and hanu at the end of the work day.

Taking these moments to hanu are what really helped me make it through the year and not be stuck in the moments that were overwhelming and felt like I failed.

Beyond taking the moment to hanu, I would also tell our new kumu to not be afraid to push the boundaries of what education means for you as a kumu as you teach your haumāna. Try new things in your classroom; if it flops, thats ok, but it will more often than not be successful...but if you never try, youʻll never know.

Also, lean on your hoa kumu and take the time to make pilina with them as well. We place a lot of emphasis on making pilina with our haumāna, but we should also try to make pilina with our colleagues.

My colleagues/hoa kumu were one of the big factors that helped me make it through the year!

Good luck!

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Max. Profit or finding max on a parabola

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Max. Profit or finding max on a parabola

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This was an Algebra II unit. I used AI to create 40 different word problems centered around all different topics. In groups, students chose a problem then solved it on posters. Additionally, they had to add one follow up question on the poster for the authors. One student at the end said, "This is the best day in math ever!" So, that was great.

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On my whiteboard I have a place for each class. Before class, I have what are plan is for the day and if we will have assignments to turn in. This helps with students coming in and asking, "what are we doing today?" but also it sets the tone for our plan for the day. Students read it when they come in so they are more prepared for the day.

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I surveyed students after every test and they said what they wanted most was group projects and working together. I made adjustments and they were happy.

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I highly recommend starting a list now of the changes you want to make next year. That way, inevitably when all of us forget after a long summer, it will come back. On my list, I want to work on increasing my restrictions on cell phones. I didnʻt do a great job always on this. I am not ready to "lock" them all up, but I need to get some students to put them up more often when it is a huge distraction for them. Another big area I want to work on is more tutoring videos for Canvas for students who are out or are struggling with a concept.

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I received a few emails from students at the end of the year thanking me. Shay B. also had a "shout out" to me on the KS Instagram post. These were wonderful moments and it was so rewarding to know they were happy this year. I am going to miss these students!

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Lots of things come to mind for advice to new Kumu. Here are my top ones:

1) Ask your department leads for help when you need it

2) Ask about special weeks and how it will affect classes.

3) Realize that many students will be out for field trips and sports, so have alternate plans in mind, be flexible.

4) Know that Dory and Corrine are here to help you. They are great resources when you are thinking of what to do and need help.

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My Memoir Unit I felt was the best because students were able to successfully understand the writing process while digging deeper into their own personal identity and sharing that through memoir writing. I felt like students opened up and I got to see a lot of their personality through their storytelling.

Also I feel like it reminded me the importance of humanizing and empowering students in a world flooded with AI writing nowadays.

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Every class period a student walks in, I always present a slideshow on the board. It covers agenda, why they are learning things, how they know they have learned, what was due, and what is their homework. Starting every class period with that build a routine for students that helped eliminate the repeating questions and demonstrated to them that I am also prepared for the day.

Classroom procedures: we had a talk about what "respect" looks like in the classroom (showing up on time, putting cell phones away, speaking & listening to one another) and we developed classroom rules. I had students sign their agreement and if they did not meet the expectations of the rules, the consequences were applied (mostly they had to oli to reenter class). Sticking to the follow-up also showed the severity of my expectations and them respecting that helped build pilina

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After every quarter, I had students give me feedback on how we read the literature that quarter and give me feedback. Each quarter, I adjusted how we read text (HW, in class, with a partner, out loud in class) and it gave them a chance to explore what reading style suited them.

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Collaboration with ʻOhana/ Move away from technology

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Collaboration with ʻOhana/ Move away from technology

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I would like to really get the ʻohana involved in their child's learning. I feel like it is the last missing part that gets students invested in their education.

I would also like to move away from using the laptop. I have seen significant improvements to students' skills by "forcing" them to learn the foundation and "force" them to critically think.

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Definitely one of the toughest school years of my career thus far. Happy to have just gotten through without quitting.

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Genki Ball Cross Collaboration (Engineering, Biology, Construction)

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Genki Ball Cross Collaboration (Engineering, Biology, Construction)

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We were able to have an awesome interdisciplinary project between 3 different pathways. Biology presented the problem, Engineering designed the solutions, and Construction was able to help us construct/prototype said solutions.

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1. Donʻt sacrifice your hobbies to be a teacher

2. Theyʻre kids... theyʻre going to say mean things they donʻt mean

3. Lean on your support systems

4. Invest in a good outlet for your stress

5. You can only control the controllable

6. Use your Pākī Mobilizer Baddies

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I still consider myself a new teacher, so I say this with a grain of salt-knowing it's easier said than done-but one of my guiding objectives when creating lessons or talking with students is to make my content real-world relevant/practical. I know it's much simpler to do that in a career pathway, but I try to ask or help them understand: How could this actually be used?

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1) I want to increase student autonomy

2) Develop a better system for classroom management, like phones.

3) Have more opportunities for daily check-ins with students.

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The most rewarding part of the school year is honestly a tie between two things.

First, I tend to get a lot of students who don’t exactly consider themselves “high flyers.” Many sign up for my classes thinking they’ll be easy (which is the first mistake, lol). Once the course gets going, they often start out pretty discouraged. But over time, something clicks. By the end, they’re walking out with confidence, often with some of my favorite projects.

Second, it’s the good conversations. Not every student’s a deep thinker, of course, but every so often, you get those few who really want to engage in something meaningful. When those moments happen, they stick. I leave work with a full heart, and honestly, it’s those conversations that energize me to wake up the next day.

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Every year, I do end-of-course evals to get a little more from the student perspective. One of the ones that I got more often was to allow more opportunity for personal projects and so next year, I am going to try and lean into an 80/20 approach for some of my classes where they do regular content 80% of the time and 20% personal projects.

Not sure how Iʻll grade this yet, but Iʻll figure something out.

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I am most proud of my monster unit because it was such a shift, for both myself and my students, in terms of fun and engagement. Quarter 1 was research-based, and the students did a lot of independent work, so it lacked that full, genuine engagement. Monsters are such a silly topic on the surface, so it immediately grasped their attention. We read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and I can say with full confidence that every single student read the book. Some enjoyed it more than others, but it was still engaging, and they had a lot of fun with it. I think this unit was also a shift for me as a teacher. Quarter 1 was kind of difficult, so I felt like I found my footing during this unit/quarter.

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During our finals period, I had my students write a quick reflection. I asked them questions ranging from what their greatest accomplishments were in our class, and suggestions on things they would have changed. Throughout the year, I continuously reflected on what I was doing and if I was actually making an impact on my students. Overall, their reflections were really reassuring and heartwarming because all of them talked about how much they had grown as a student. Even those students I felt like I was never quite sure about in terms of whether they were enjoying our class or not, expressed that they enjoyed the class a lot. One student even said this was his favorite English class since elementary school (insert crying emoji). Some students even talked about appreciating the comfortable, safe classroom environment, which was really rewarding, because that is something I really wanted to focus on. Overall, just knowing that my students felt like they actually got things out of our class and that they enjoyed themselves made me really happy.

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1. Including more assessments

2. Incorporating more SAT prep

3. Tackling the misuse of AI by using less technology in the classroom

4. Increasing literacy and fostering a more positive relationship with reading among students

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Overall, I feel like student engagement this year was pretty high and consistent. I found that the following made the biggest impact on engagement.

1. Incorporating collaborative activities

2. Tailoring the curriculum to student interests/input

1. I took a survey at the beginning of the year to gauge their initial interests and what they wanted to explore. After each unit, I would ask for more student feedback to keep/change things in the quarters after.

2. An example of this is our quarter 4 capstone unit. For the most part, the students were engaged and took each assignment seriously. I think it was because I sent out a survey at the start of Quarter 3, asking if and how they wanted to work on their capstone this semester. Even though the capstone is very research-based and was mostly independent work, students were engaged overall.

3. Incorporating other types of literature, like documentaries, movies, plays, and short stories.

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1. Imposter syndrome is real, but just remind yourself that you are here for a reason.

2. Don't be afraid to give students a say in the classroom structure and activities. This is THEIR educational experience; allow them to make the most of it.

3. Allow your students to surprise you.

4. Leave at 3:30!!! You can work within your contracted hours and still be a great kumu. Of course, there will be times when you have to stay later, but don't make it a habit to live here after school and on the weekends. Everything will get done, I promise :)

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The overarching point of this project was to get students to be able to identify connections between a variety of socioeconomic issues that we all face in every one of our communities. They were able to get an idea of how the ripple affects of decision making and government policy influence everything around us starting with our most basic physiological needs, food. Students also got to identify how these things connect and brainstorm to see how they would provide possible relief or solutions to these issues. There were some good ideas produced.

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-Thought provoking bellwork questions that at times did not have anything to do with content

-Frequently having genuine talk story sessions. Entertaining all ideas and input no matter how absurd.

-Emphasizing personal connection to topics

-Doing periodic personal temperature checks with individual students on both school and home happenings

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I received feedback from students in a variety of ways. Be it written responses in bell work assignments, talk story sessions, or email. The most valuable I feel was the negative feedback. The things that they did not enjoy and wish they did not have to do. They were tired of taking notes. They wanted to get out of the class more, etc. etc. It definitely helps in my gradual redesign of curriculum in knowing what I need to cut out or modify in some way that is more successful toward student buy in.

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Firstly, I need to work toward revamping curriculum. I need to do more collaboration with community resources and access all the different professionals that we have available. Also working closer and aligning curriculum with our other department kumu.

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My most rewarding part of the school year is starting to grow roots. Building pilina with students, kumu, ohana, and other staff members has enabled me to start to build my foundation in KS and find my footing. Just like roots I have had the opportunities to spread out and connect myself to a network of people and resources. I have had opportunities to go on meaningful huaka'i in a variety of contexts as well as with students I don't teach directly. I also was able to help with athletics for multiple sports. So I think that would my most rewarding aspect, starting to put down some roots and get a little more stabilized.

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I would say don't be shame to utilize the resources that are in place to help. Shigematsu, Kanno, and Martines saved my life countless times over the last two years. Also don't overthink situations so much, trust yourself. Remember why we are here, for the kids. As important as our role is don't take yourself so serious, it won't kill you to laugh. (at yourself too) Lastly, focus on the "why's".

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I am most proud of about 90% of my Health Occs students becoming CPR Certified by the American Heart Association. Our very own Lance Dolera conducted the training, with me assisting him with examples and monitoring the students as they performed their tasks for their certification. I did not realize that this had not been done for students recently, and I felt like this was not only an accomplishment for myself, but a huge accomplishment for my students. They were resistant due to the online portion taking three hours, but a good chunk of my students finished it before the three-hour mark. When we do this next year, I hope we receive a 100% completion rating.

As for my final for Health Occs, I held mock interviews. The students needed to create a resume, answer interview questions from Magic School AI that I pulled based on the career they want to go into after high school/college. They also needed to include their CPR cards as an extra skill they possessed. I had my Seniors spruce up their resumes by adding any extracurricular achievements they have accomplished this year, along with adding that they have become AHA CPR Certified. The interviews went great and it really opened my eyes to how prepared/motivated they can be if pushed in the right direction. I had great feedback from hoa Kumu who assisted (Aunty Keiki, Isaac Vigilla, and Chey Zimmerman), they really made this happen for me, I appreciate them tremendously for helping me.

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I tried to make the class a little more engaging so that they wouldn't be staring at their screens or a paper the entire class. I utilized Kahoot to help with my Medical Terminology class. I grouped them up, and at the end of each quarter, the winning group would get gift cards from the group's choice. This brought a small element of competition and it helped the students be more prepared for their assessments.

In my Health Occs class, I tried to do more project-based learning or hands-on activities to use as a way to help them think of real-life scenarios to help them understand what we are learning in our lectures.

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I would ask students what they would like to see more of, or how I could adjust the game or lesson to make it more intriguing for them. A few students suggested that the online program GimKit would be a fun way for them to learn medical terms. I am considering using that in my classes next year. For my Health Occs students, they would like to do more hands-on activities, to engage them in the lesson more. I am considering doing a little bit more huakaʻi and inviting guests to speak about the health field.

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1) Work on revamping the Health content with Chad.

2) Collaborate more with my kauhale Kumu and other kauhale.

3) Be more consistent with disciplining phone usage in class.

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Being able to engage with the students as a Kumu as opposed to an EA has been incredible. It opened my perspective of certain students to a whole new view of them. This year has also taught me how to connect with other Kumu on a teaching level, instead of an assisting level. They have helped me with the numerous questions I had, and sometimes reassured me that I am moving in a positive direction with the students. Engaging with some about their futures and where they want to be or do in life is inspiring for me to continue to come back the next day. We all have those bumps in life, but it is amazing to have a group of kids and peers pushing you to be and do the best we can.

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Give yourself grace. I've heard this many times this school year, and it's been hard for me to do that. I am very hard on myself, and that's not necessarily a positive thing, but it has helped me think about what I need to do to improve the students, as well as myself. Be patient with the process, and everything will work out in the way it is supposed to be worked out.

Utilize Corrine and Dory! They have come through for me many times! They always had my back and never gave up on me. They knew how to position me in a way that allowed my capabilities to flourish. They will help you succeed here.