I Did It 😊

It’s almost a year since I retired back on June 30, 2018. At the time, I didn’t have any goals for myself except to enjoy this new phase of my life. Yes, I planned to do some cleaning up around the house, go to the gym more regularly, spend more time with the family, go on long walks with our dog, and relax. I did all that.

I also wrote a book. 😊

The book is titled Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office and it shares how my life as a kid growing up in a pineapple plantation village as well as my experiences as a teacher, a wife, and a parent influenced my core values and beliefs which then impacted how I led our school, Daniel K. Inouye Elementary, for over fifteen wonderful and memorable years.

I was thinking about writing a book before I retired even though I didn’t have a firm grasp on what I would write about. My book evolved after receiving valuable feedback from others. Eventually, though, the final manuscript was mine - my experiences, my ideas, my book.

I knew that I wanted to go with a local publisher so I met with George from Legacy Isle Publishing.  I liked that their company publishes “Hawai`i’s stories” and that they would provide guidance and support through the process. George shared that they hadn’t published a book by an educator before; that gave me the motivation to continue the painstaking process of revising and editing my manuscript.

I learned a lot, not just about the process, but about myself. I learned that I can persevere on a project that took nearly a year and many drafts and revisions to complete. Writing a book takes commitment and determination, and there were times when I wondered if I should/could continue. I’m glad I didn’t give up. It was difficult for me to ask others to read my early drafts and to provide me with feedback because I knew that everyone has commitments and things to do. I am grateful that I took that step out of my comfort zone because the comments and questions I received really helped me to hone in on why I chose to write a book. Additionally, so often, we in the education world assume that the general public knows what we are talking about when we use acronyms or educational phrases. My husband Randy used to tell his Public Utilities Commission staff: explain it to me like you’re talking to the person at the bus stop. He reminded me that non-educators might not be familiar with “educalese” so I needed to explain the terminology that might not be familiar to readers.

The book is now at the printer and is available for preorder now. It will be available at bookstores in early July. The next step for me is promoting the book; I know this is a necessary part of being an author. This blog post is the first step in sharing about my book, Leading with Aloha, and I’ve created a website to share a bit more about my background and about my first book. There will be a book-signing later this summer at Barnes & Noble, Ala Moana Center, and hopefully, there will be other opportunities for me to connect with the public to share my book.

This is an exciting time for my family and me. I never thought that I’d add “author” to my name, but now that my first book is being published, I am an author. Who knows? Maybe I’ll write another book in the future.

The Difference a Teacher Makes

This past Friday was the 100th birthday of a special lady whom I had the privilege to meet last year at our family reunion in San Jose. Kathleen Lloyd is the mother of a cousin’s husband, and she and other family members who live in the area joined our Amemiya clan to share stories and make new memories. When I was introduced to Kathleen, she shared that she had been Facebook friends with our son Jarand who had recently passed away. I immediately invited Kathleen to be my friend on Facebook. She accepted. 😊

I was scrolling through my FB feed on Friday and saw this post from Carol Conway. It resonated with me; I wasn’t aware that Kathleen had been a teacher in her younger days. I read that post several times and knew that I wanted to share it. I messaged Carol, and she agreed to let me use her post in my blog. Thanks, Carol! 👍 Here it is:

Do you remember 5th grade?  For me, it was 1973-74, my father had died the year before and my mom, I'm sure, was struggling to keep us in our Mill Valley home.  (She succeeded - thanks Mom!)

My fifth grade teacher celebrated her 100th birthday today, (and she's on Facebook!) so I tried to pry a few memories from the dark recesses of my creaky brain.  

I remember the  garden that Mrs Lloyd started on our school grounds.  She taught us about growing food in unyielding soil.   I remember learning how to do batik and making a lovely Douglas Iris on a purple background, which I turned in to a pillow.  I remember going to Cronkhite beach to gather pebbles to make mosaics, and finding a single carnelian which I used to make the eye of the snail I created.

In 5th grade I remember competing with Geoff Barnard for the highest level in SRA - and winning.   Mrs. Lloyd,  I can picture the classroom, the tall windows facing south, and you sitting in front with an open book, looking out at us between paragraphs.  I loved being read to - I have no surviving memories of what you were reading, but it was a quiet time for me when my world was tumbly, and I enjoyed it.

Mrs. Lloyd, I hope that you had a birthday full of the things and the people that you love.  I hope that you know that your students felt loved and protected in your class, and that you made a difference.  And I know that I speak for my brothers as well - David before me, Jeff after - you mattered to us.

Happy Birthday!

As I read and re-read this tribute to a beautiful teacher, I had a few aha's. First, 1973-1974 was my first year of teaching. I was just getting started in my career while Mrs. Lloyd was making lasting memories with her students. The second thing I noticed was that Carol remembers things like gardening and art and field trips. There's nothing in there about test scores or academics. (Hmm. . . what will students remember about their teachers 45 years from now?) Carol mentions SRA levels, something I remember from my 7th grade Reading class where, like her, I quietly competed to get to the highest level before anyone else. (Someone beat me; I was second, but once I was done, I got to read whatever I wanted to in that class.) Lastly, Carol's recollection of being read to was so touching. Mrs. Lloyd was reading aloud to her students in the fifth grade, and Carol cherished and needed that quiet time when her world was "tumbly." (In today's classrooms, read-aloud time is often eliminated as teachers rush to "cover" the curriculum, but students may need that time to settle their "tumbly" world.)

This lovely post spoke volumes about the positive impact of a teacher on a student, one who was going through emotional challenges. 45 years later, this student shared these fond memories, and I am sure Mrs. Lloyd was touched. Henry Adams said it best: "A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence ends." 

Thank you, Carol, for sharing your memories of your fifth grade teacher on Facebook! What a gift to all of us!

This was a photo taken at our family reunion in 2018.

Mrs. Lloyd is somewhat hidden in this photo, but she is there in the second row from the back.