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1. Professional Identity: I am a first grade teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary. This is my 12th year. I love it!

2. Personal Identity: I love to snorkel, take pictures of fish, walk my doggie, hike, eat good food, make new recipes, travel, spend time with family and friends, read.

3. Cultural Identity: I grew up in Texas in the Dallas area. My town was known for good football and my family loved to go to the out the deer lease, the men would hunt while the kids would drive around 4 wheelers and play outside. I am caucasian, which I always try to find the 'cultural' part of. We ate Tex-Mex and went to church on Sundays. I have been on Maui for 15 years as of 1/9 and have enjoyed learning and being a part of the many cultures that reside here.

4. Relational Identity: I am lucky to have many great friends, a strong family, and a really spunky chihuahua that I enjoy spending time with.

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Professional Identity: I am a first grade teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary School on the island of Moloka'i. This is my 9th? year teaching first grade.

Personal Identity: I love to play softball and am usually super busy :)

Cultural Identity: I guess my cultural identity is workaholic. It's good and not good. Sometimes I have a hard time finding balance but been making it through.

Relational Identity: I am the "only" child of 8 sibling (figure that one out :)) I have been married to my husband for the past 12 years (next month). I am mother of 6 (5 girls & ONE boy) ages 19, 17, 11, 9, 4, 1.

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1. Professional Identity: I am a kindergarten teacher at Lāna'i High and Elementary School, this is my first year as a licensed teacher though I have been an Autism specialist EA for the past eight years. Being a teacher is my childhood dream!

2. Personal Identity: I love working out.

3. Cultural Identity: Born and raised in Hawai'i, I am all about family.

4. Relational Identity: I am an only child and mother to 14 year old twin boys.

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Teacher - Lahaina Intermediate 6g PE, 8 CTE/Career Exploration

Vegan

Child of a diaspora - Trying to learn some languages

Friend to some good friends

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1. Professional Identity:  I am a special education teacher, at Lāna'i High and Elementary at the elementary level.

2. Personal Identity: I love to travel, practice yoga, garden, read, listen to music, and eat good vegan food.

3. Cultural Identity: I grew up in Michigan in a large industrial metropolitan area. Although I respect the significant innovations by the auto industry, I longed for a connection with nature. I searched for natural spaces and thrived when I could take my shoes off and feel the earth between my toes surrounded by deciduous trees. I moved to Lāna'i in 2016. Living in an extremely rural environment has helped me develop a deep connection with nature. I spend my free time building healthy connections with self, community, and place.

4. Relational Identity: I have a wonderful husband, 6 children, and two French bulldogs.

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Professional Identity- I am a Kindergarten Special Education teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina, Maui. Most of my experience in education is in Southern California. Upon coming to Hawaii, I taught 1 year on Molokai, at a Hawaiian Immersion School, and loved it. I have been teaching since 1997.

Personal Identity - I love where I live and feel blessed every day to call West Maui...home. I enjoy being in and on the water, and enjoying all coastlines. I am very interested in Hawaiian Based Education and Hawaiian Cultural Studies.

Cultural Identity - Born and raised in Southern California in a small suburban area outside Los Angeles. I am a proud Mexican/American Latina. I was brought up to have great pride in my Latin culture.

Relational Identity - I am a mother of two adult children, 22 and 20. They both are going to school in California. All of my family lives in Southern California.

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1. Professional Identity: I am a kindergarten teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary. I previously taught first grade. This is my fourth year teaching.

2. Personal Identity: I like being outdoors and unplugging from the internet.

3. Cultural Identity: I am not a native to Hawaii, but finally don't feel like a haole.

4. Relational Identity: I have three children, two are Maui built. I have been married for 13 years and have lived on Maui for 17 years.

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1. Professional Identity: I am in my fourth year of teaching, and currently teach 2nd grade at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Molokai.

2. Personal Identity: I love to travel and try to take a trip with my family every year. Our next trip will hopefully be to Canada with some close family friends for some snowboarding this winter. :) I also love the outdoors and spend most of my free days at the beach or lounging at the park with my kids.

3. Cultural Identity: I was born and raised here on Molokai. I am a mixed plate of different ethnicities - Native Hawaiian, Okinawan, Filipino, Norwegian, French to name a few. :)

4. Relational Identity: I am married to my high school sweetheart, and together we have 3 amazing kiddos - 2 boys (Haloa, 14 and Asher, 11) and 1 girl (Rio, 1). They are my everything!

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1. Professional Identity: I am a 4th grade kumu at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Moloka'i. I have experience in grades 4-6 in the past 10 years.

2. Personal Identity: I am a team player and love working and learning from my peers.

3. Cultural Identity: Born and raised on Moloka'i. I am Hawaiian, Chinese, Portuguese, Puerto Rican. I love my hawaiian culture.

4. Relational Identity: I have an identical twin. My one and only child, my daughter, is a junior in high school.

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1. Professional Identity: This will be my 4th year teaching Kindergarten at King Kamehameha III. This will be my 5th year teaching overall.

2. Personal Identity: When I have free time after work or on the weekends, I enjoy going to the gym.

3. Cultural Identity: I grew up in a very Filipino household. I absolutely love family gatherings/parties that are filled with delicious food and great company!

4. Relation Identity: I have a older brother and a younger sister that are both 3 years apart from me - yay middle children!

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1. Professional Identity: I am a first grade teacher at King Kamehameha III. I have taught K, 1st and reading intervention. I am going into my 23rd year of teaching.

2. Personal Identity: I love to go on adventures.

3. Cultural Identity: I don't feel that I truly belong to a specific culture. I love to learn about all cultures. I specifically like to learn about their traditions, celebrations, foods, sports, games, language and roles of people in the society. I love foods, celebrations, traditions, games/sports from many different cultures.

4. My first born is about to start his senior year. I am going to try and be present each and every day of the next year before he leaves to go to college.

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1. Professional Identity: I am an 8th grade Math teacher at Molokai Middle School. I have experience teaching grades 6 - 8. I began my teaching career as a HLIP 6th grade teacher at Kualapu'u Elementary. Then I journeyed to Moloka Middle and taught both 7th and 8th grade ELA.

2. Personal Identity:  I love spending time with my family, cooking, baking, and singing (every chance we can get together). I love playing all kinds of sports, especially volleyball (my all time favorite).

3. Cultural Identity:  In 1987 we decided to move here to Molokai, where my husband was born and raised. We raised our children here too. I was able to not only feel a sense of belonging here on the island, but I soon realized that I have a lot of relatives from both my parents' sides of the family living here too. We, as a family, are culturally and spiritually grounded in our beliefs and the Hawaiian language.

4. Relational Identity:  My husband and I are both middle school teachers here at Molokai Middle.  We’ve been working side by side since our days at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We were blessed with four children (2 boys and 2 girls) and five beautiful grandchildren (3 boys and 2 girls).  Our daughters are educators too.  Our sons have the knack for helping and teaching others in their construction and health coaching job fields.

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1. Professional Identity: This is my 4th year as a special education teacher at Lahaina Intermediate. I have 7th and 8th grade inclusion classes for math and science.

2. Personal Identity: Friend, sister, daughter, mom, runner, sunset lover.

3. Cultural Identity: I grew up in northern California and moved to Lahaina 13 years ago. I am very blessed to get to call this place home still. Maui has taught me the importance of respecting and taking care of mother nature, creating and maintaining relationships, slowing down, and remembering to be grateful for EVERYTHING.

4. Relational Identity: I have a sweet 11 year old son who swims for Lahaina and is forced to go on sunset walks with me once in a while. He says his mullet is "Work in the front and country in the back."

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I recently graduated from my master’s program in learner-centered practices. 

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1. Professional Identity- I am a 1st grade teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary. This is my third year teaching but prior to this I’ve taught 4th grade for two years.

2. Personal Identity- I enjoy spending time with my children, hunting, and traveling.

3. Cultural Identity- I am Filipino and I love to cook/ eat! My favorite Filipino foods to make are pinakbet, adobo, mungo beans, chicken papaya, pancit, pork and peas.

4. Relational Identity- I have 3 amazing children. My daughter is 10, my son is 6, and my baby will be ONE in 2 weeks. They are my whole world!

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1. Professional Identity: I am an old DOE dog loving learning new tricks at Kilohana. I have been a middle school ELA (honors, reading workshop, sped) teacher at Wahiawa Middle for most of my DOE career, so I love this new chapter of teaching/learning with elementary kiddos.

2. Personal Identity: I love philosophy, play NY Times games, grow native plants, and hit the tennis court, golf course, and water whenever I can.

3. Cultural identity: I am Nisei - both my parents were born in Japan and moved to the United States after WWII. A bit of a cultural nomad, I was born and raised in California and speak French, not Japanese, fluently. I have been fortunate to call Hawaii home for 45 years. I abhor discrimination and yet there is comfort in belonging to a brown majority that is palably different than being a brown minority.

4. Relational identity: My husband is my other half. My colleague on Oahu once remarked that I "light up" whenever I talk about my husband. I used to revel in the solitude of surfing alone at dawn, but those days have passed. I cherish old, familiar friendships, nurture new friendships, and mourn the passing of both my parents.

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With my family in Germany this past summer

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1. Professional Identity: I am a 4th grade teacher at Kilohana Elementary. This is my second year in 4th grade. Prior to that I was the pre-k teacher for one year. This is my third year teaching.

2. Personal Identity: Travel. I love to travel and take my daughters to experience new places and see what the world has to offer.

3. Cultural Identity: I am Native Hawaiian/White mostly. I was raised in Kaneohe and grew up with a lot of family and cousins and gatherings. I love gathering and socializing with loved ones while enjoying FOOD! I loved watching my Nana cook and learn from her.

4. Relational Identity: I am a mother of two daughters, a 9 year old and a 16 year old. I adore them and enjoy spending time with them whether it is adventuring or just being at home.

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1. Professional Identity: I am a first grade teacher at King Kamehameha III Elementary. This is my 15th year here and my 27th year teaching.

2. Personal Identity: I'm a wife and mother of 3 kids. I am also currently a dog mom of 3 labradors and 8 lab puppies.

3. Cultural Identity: Honestly, I'm a pretty boring quiet person.

4. Relational Identity: I love going to the beach with friends and hanging out with my friends from work and spending time with my family.

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Anjanette Naganuma:

1. Professional Identity: Lahainaluna HS, ELA teacher; currently in the UHM Sped Add-a-Field cohort (mild/moderate) .

2. Personal Identity: Self-contained, but friendly. I like to read and enjoy swimming at the beach.

3. Cultural Identity: Mixed ethnicity. Lahaina-born & raised. My sense of self is very much tied to where I'm from.

4. Relational Identity: My husband and I both grew up in Lahaina and attended all the same schools -- I was a year behind him. We didn't date until after college. Our son would have attended all the same schools, except for the Fire. Last year, he attended Iao Middle and this year, he'll attend KS Maui.

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1. Professional: I am an ELA teacher at Lahaina Intermediate. I have been at this school for almost 5 years, and have taught in several other states and countries before coming here, teaching mostly high school or higher ed.

2. Personal: I love to write creatively, travel, relax, and spend time with my loved ones (including my cat).

3. Cultural: I'm originally from the PNW. I feel a strong sense of civic duty, which is one reason why I teach. I also come from a line of educators. My father was a teacher, and 3 of my 4 grandparents were teachers. The 4th was a principal.

4. Relational: I'm close with my parents, friends, sister, and partner.

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1. Professional Identity: I am the K-2 RTI teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary School. This is my second year in this position. Prior to being the RTI teacher, I taught first grade for 21 years in the same classroom at Kaunakakai School and 4 years in San Francisco.

2. Personal Identity: I am the "sandwich generation", I take care of my elderly mother with dementia and my 3 sons at the same time. Always, busy. . .

3. Cultural Identity: I am Filipino and Caucasian.

4. Relational Identity: My boys are 15, 13, and 11 (and 47 if you count my husband). We have a farm and each of my boy's have a business of their own related to the farm.

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1. Professional Identity: I am the 7th grade ELA teacher at Molokai Middle School. Prior to this I was a first grade teacher at Kualapuʻu Elementary, and a 2nd and 3rd grade teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary. Since 2001, I have worked in various capacities at all our public Molokai schools except for Maunaloa Elementary. Each opportunity has helped me grow and gain insights as an educator.

2. Personal Identity: I love to bake, and cook good food for others. I enjoy growing food plants in my yard and picture my children and their children being able to pick fruits and be nourished when they visit our homestead. This summer, I have been working on growing a lei garden. I love hula, although it has been a long time since I've danced. I'm a contemplative person and get rejuvenated when I am in nature (especially when in the forest or a river/stream).

3. Cultural Identity: I have a deep love for people and feel a deep responsibility to steward well the place in which I live and the responsibilities I've been blessed to have. Living the spirit of aloha with hospitality and kindness toward others and reaching out to help others when I can are meaningful to me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

4. Relational Identity: I am a mom of four, with a 16-year age gap between my oldest and youngest. This year I also became a grandmother to two little loves--a girl and a boy, with one more grandbaby on the way who is due in February! 😊🤍

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1. Professional Identity: I learned how to learn from my mom. I evolved into a teacher. My 4 siblings teachers and coaches. Sharing thoughts and experiences and ways to grow is a cornerstone of my practice.

2. Personal Identity: Difficult. I know how I feel and how I wish to present myself but I am often suprised at how others perceive me/ receive me. So, I will go with Left Handed as my personal identity.

3. Cultural Identity: My first go -to would be food related also. If I try to expand my cultural relationship with who I am I guess as I get older I am drawn more to others who have similar values and demonstrate like behaviors and belief systems. Regardless of any typical cultural identities.

4. Relational Identity: This is difficult also. I am very close with my siblings but I am also very,very far away. I said to a friend just yesterday that I am grateful that I have so many " pick up where we left off..." people in my life. I try every day to like "me". I relfect and hopefully learn and grow and do it all over the next day.

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1. Professional Identity: I am a K teacher at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Molokai. Have experienced teaching K to 5th grades in the past 20 plus years.

2. Personal Identity: The only teacher with a-fro in the whole entire complex and maybe State I believe...yeah!

3. Cultural Identity: Hail from FIJI, in the South Pacific and I read, write and speak my mother tongue fluently. RESPECT in the backbone of my culture and have chiefs in our village settings. dance my cultural dance including Tongan, Samoan and Tahitian. Love our tropical fruits:(mangoes, papaya, mountain apples, star fruits, guavas, pineapple, sugarcane, bananas, coconuts, dawa, tarawau, etc.) and island food (palusami, seafood, root crops (taro, cassava, yams, wild yams, sweet potatoes, etc).& desserts:

4. Relational Identity: Have only 1 child who currently resides in GA with POLY friends.

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1. Professional Identity: I am a Resource Teacher and one of the LETRS leads for HLLM Complex. I primarily focus on Literacy and Science. Before this role, I taught 5th-8th grade ELA for 8 years. I'm going into my 11th year in education.

2. Personal Identity: I've been a vegetarian for 20 years!

3. Cultural Identity: One of my favorite ways to share my cultural identity with others is through food and cooking for people. I come from an agriculture family so being able to cook what I grow is even more meaningful. Some of my favorites to make are homemade pasta, any type of dessert, and breads.
4. Relational Identity: My first nephew was born on May 9, 2023 and I'm officially an auntie to the cutest little boy ever. He's trying so hard to walk right now! 🥰

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James Paul Gee’s (1999) research tells us that we all have socially situated identities , multiple identities we use to navigate different complex social situations and environments embedded in a larger complex sociocultural context.  In a Teacher Learning Community (TLC) we are constantly co-constructing our identities and learning together as we move through the Lab process. It is important that we get to know one another on a deeper level, past our school identities. Prior to our Kick-Off, please take some time to reflect and share the following:

1. Professional Identity: Share one aspect your job (your school, your position, your profession).

2. Personal Identity: Share one personal aspect of your personal identity (i.e., vegetarian, traveler, soccer player, hobbies, etc.)

3. Cultural Identity: Share one aspect of your cultural identity Note: Please define culture in an expanded way.  This means you should consider the following aspects of culture, but not limited to: ethnic background, language, social and political life, religion, shared values/customs/traditions/pop culture/shared beliefs, etc…).

4. Relational Identity: Share one aspect of people that you are close to (children, brother/sister, auntie/uncle, etc…)?

Please include a picture that represents you as well!

Feel free to like and comment on othersʻ posts!