One Year Ends -- Another Begins

I am learning so much from other educators around the country and here at home.  Reading tweets and blogs or visiting and talking with other principals and teachers has provided me with ideas on ways to improve our school and my practices as principal.  It has also given me much food for thought as we continuously reflect on our practices and search for ways to make education more relevant and engaging for our students and teachers.

I recently read a wonderful graduation speech by Chris Lehmann who is principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.  I love to read about his school, and he inspires me to keep believing that we can make a difference, that our students can achieve greatness if we give them the guidance and the opportunity to create their own future.  This week, four of our teachers will be attending the International Society for Technology in Education along with 20,000+ other educators, and Chris Lehmann is being honored as ISTE's 2013 Outstanding Leader of the Year Award.  Also notable is the fact that one of our own teachers, Rachel Armstrong, is being honored as an Emerging Young Educator.  Rachel is our fifth grade Blended Learning teacher, and the success of our program is due to our great team which also includes Rebecca Linford (fourth grade teacher), Megan Cummings (Instructional Media Resource Teacher), and Michelle Colte (Librarian and Media Specialist).  Together, they have created a program which will continue to grow and provide us with ideas on ways to improve teaching and learning at our school.

Construction will begin shortly on our "new" school, and we can't wait!  I find myself looking at buildings more carefully to see how space is being utilized and how furniture is configured. I'm also looking at how art enhances and adds a special touch to the buildings. Recently, I attended a training at the Hawaii Convention Center and spent time each day admiring the Children's Courtyard where colorful artwork is displayed.  I took a photo and sent it to the architects to see if we might be able to exhibit our student work in this way.  I also took lots of photos from my grandson's school where art is displayed prominently throughout the school.  What a wonderful way to share the creative talents of our students!

Left - Students painted scenes of what is special about Hawaii.
Right - A mural made of tiles at my grandson's school


Finally, when I attended a training at Mililani High School, their principal, Fred Murphy, took me on a tour of their new building.  One idea we can implement right away is the school's "Did You Know?" which shared the many accomplishments of their students and staff -- honors they've received, championships they've won, competitions they've excelled in -- from academics to athletics to the arts to service and citizenship.  We can do that at our school, too, and we will!  We have much to be proud of at Hale Kula, and we need to share our accomplishments with our school community.

No time to rest . . . got to get back to work!

Reflecting and Re-energizing

One of the great things about summer is that it provides me with the time to reflect and re-energize.  This past year was a blur; it went by so quickly, and for the most part, I believe we were successful.  We made progress on our academic goals, and we were able to communicate with our school community more effectively through the use of social media.  Our Blended Learning pilot program showed us that students can excel and be self-directed learners if they are given instruction, guidance, and choices, and we are slowly transitioning to becoming a Google school with more on-line collaboration and sharing of files by our staff and students.  Additionally, our design plans and cost estimates were approved, we received the funding we requested, and very shortly, groundbreaking on our new buildings will take place.  We can't wait!

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend two conferences.  I am so grateful to Kamehameha Schools and AVID for hosting these conferences during the summer so educators can attend without having to leave their classrooms.  The Kamehameha conference focused on educational technology, and a number of our teachers were able to attend.  Titled, "Imagine," the conference focused on the possibilities for ourselves and our students if we open our minds to new ideas.  I was blown away by Nirvan Mullick's presentation and his video, Caine's Arcade.  As I listened to Nirvan and heard him share the story of a little boy and his creativity, a statement resonated with me.  "Every child is gifted."  Our job as educators is to find that gift and to nurture it.  I also believe, as Nirvan does, that every child deserves a "gifted" program where students are given opportunities to learn in an enriching, hands-on, collaborative, project-based learning environment.  I have always believed that such an environment has limitless potential to engage students and give them the confidence to explore their passions, and I would like to see our students have more of these opportunities in the coming school year.

AVID was originally developed to close the achievement gap and to make the college dream available to all students regardless of their station in life.  Students are told to "Dream Big" and to believe in the college dream.  From its humble beginnings in 1980, the program has expanded from a high school program for a few students to today's program which spans elementary, middle, high school, and post-secondary education and includes thousands of students.  The training reinforced our commitment to eventually implement AVID complex-wide.  The challenge of our site team (thanks, Tami, Lynele, and Keith!) will be to share how AVID fits in nicely with all of the initiatives at the State and school level.  We have some great ideas for introducing AVID to our teachers!

The one challenge for us will be to take what we are learning about technology in education with the essential components of AVID.  As more and more classes and students create ePortfolios, and as we expand what we've learned about Blended Learning to implement components in the "traditional" classroom, binders and planners may soon be outdated.  However, WICOR (Writing to Learn, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading to Learn) are applicable for ALL students if we want them to be successful in life, and we need to ensure that students receive rigorous instruction, learn to ask and answer higher level questions, work with others, and learn organizational skills.  This is particularly important for our highly transient military population.  If our students "Imagine," "Dream Big," internalize and implement AVID strategies, and learn to use technology as a tool for learning and creating, they can be successful wherever they go in the future.  That is our goal at Hale Kula - to prepare our students for success in LIFE!

Personal Reflections

At this time last week, my husband Randy and I were in San Antonio, Texas for my youngest son's graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training.  It was such a proud moment for us, particularly because this is a path he chose to follow after several years of drifting at the university and at community colleges.  When he made the decision not to go back to school, it really bothered me.  As an educator, I wondered if we had done something wrong.  Our son graduated with honors from high school, but he did the minimum required and wasn't particularly motivated to study.  It was evident from the start that he didn't enjoy his college classes.

As a mother, it was hard to see my son unmotivated, and although he had a part-time job, that certainly wasn't a career path.  When my son decided to join the military, I was torn.  As the principal of a school with 99% military dependents, I saw the challenges these students and families face.  Is this what I wanted for my son?

Long story short, my son was accepted into the Air Force, and as the time drew near for him to leave for Basic Military Training, we were all supportive.  We realized that our son had been counseled by his recruiter and he had been reading about what to expect at BMT.  He got advice from others -- his family and friends, his brothers' friends, and from strangers -- and he listened.

The 8 1/2 weeks of Basic Training went by slowly.  Not being able to communicate with him except through snail mail was a challenge in this electronic age.  We looked forward to receiving letters on Thursdays -- several at a time since they were all mailed on Sunday.  We wrote diligently and shared little anecdotes about what was happening at  home.  Frankly, it had been years since I'd written an actual letter; most of our communication with faraway families and friends is through email, text, or Facebook.

My husband is retired, and he would spend his days reading blogs or checking out information on what our son was going through and what he could expect in future weeks, then he'd tell me all about it.  Would our son survive?  Early on, our son mentioned a website and a FB group called AFWingmoms.  That was one of the best resources for us.  There was a group for my son's TRS and FLT where we could share information as well as celebrations. That was such a wonderful support group!

We breathed a sigh of relief when our son said he had done well in all aspects of BMT.  Our plane tickets, hotel and car reservations had been set weeks before, and we would be there for his graduation.  We arrived in San Antonio on Wednesday, and we arrived at Lackland AF Base for the start of graduation ceremonies on Thursday at 6:00 a.m.   Yes, we were early!  The Air Force graduates approximately 600 Airmen each week, and everything ran like clockwork!  The Airman's Run was impressive.  In 8 short weeks, these individuals had bonded and were running together, in formation, chanting as they passed.  Randy and I held a banner for him, something we hoped would stand out amongst all the other banners.  It worked; Jordan saw it and so did others in his flight.

We finally got to tap out our Airman after the equally-impressive Coin Ceremony and at his graduation the following day.  We knew he would look different with his buzz cut, but that wasn't the only difference.  Jordan now stood taller and prouder.  He walked with a purpose.  It is evident that his experiences at BMT had helped to build his confidence in himself.  He now had a whole new set of buddies; they had his back, and he had theirs.  He talked about going back to school, courtesy of Uncle Sam.  He looks forward to completing his training (he is now at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri where they were under tornado watch the other day) and to receiving his duty station assignment.  

I write this because the traditional schooling did not work for Jordan and for others like him.  Yes, he was always in college prep classes and he earned good grades in school, but those classes and that kind of learning wasn't meaningful to him.  He needed to work with his hands, to do projects and to research things that were relevant to him.  I think back to his sophomore year in high school when he and his friends built their own computers from parts they purchased on-line or in stores to get the best price.  I saw him figure out what was wrong when there was a problem with his computer and fix it himself.  I should have realized that perhaps college wouldn't be his path, and it disappointed me when he dropped out.  Well, it appears that he is taking a different path, and the structure and expectations of military life are what he needed to get back on-track.  I have no doubt that this time, he will succeed in getting a college degree.  We are so proud of our Airman and look forward to seeing where the Air Force takes him!

The Challenges and Rewards of Leading a Military-Impacted School

I attended a high school where about 25% of the students were military dependents.  When I started teaching, about half of my years were spent on a military base, working with students from military families.  However, I never realized the full impact of the challenges these families face as well as their resiliency to deal with these challenges until I became the principal of a military-impacted school.

I have been the principal of Hale Kula for over ten years. Back in February 2003 when I was first appointed, we had a student population of about 450 students.  Today, we more than doubled that number with our student enrollment fluctuating between 950 and 1,050 students this school year. The change in the number of students has much to do with the privatization of housing on military bases and the high occupancy rate because of these beautiful new homes.  As the principal of a school with 99% military dependents, the way we do things, our culture, is different from that of a "local" school.

I recently read an article in an issue of "Principal" magazine titled "Helping Military Children Feel 'At Ease'"  Few people realize that the military is a culture, and students face unique challenges as a result of being a military dependent.  Moving to Hawaii can be exciting, but it can add to the stresses which families face; being so far away from extended family and other systems of support.

Transitions are a major challenge for some military-impacted students.  Our students might attend three different schools in one year, and possibly many more before graduating from high school. Because the Schofield Inn is within our school's geographical boundaries, we have a high number of transitions each school year. Students are enrolled when they are at the Schofield Inn, but unfortunately, once a family is assigned permanent housing, the student may have to leave our school if they will not be living in our area.  Imagine having to be the "new kid in the class" several times in a school year.  It takes a student with confidence and resiliency to be able to make the adjustment each time he/she is enrolled in a new school.

Oftentimes, the curriculum and the school rules and procedures are different, and when a child moves in the middle of the year, adjusting can be a challenge. We have had students enroll after being out of school for several months because they were visiting family on the way to Hawaii.  As a result, military students can have gaps in their learning and may have missed important instruction which can impact their learning.  Unless the teacher is cognizant of these gaps, the student may go through the rest of the year without learning something which is an important foundational skill not just for that school year, but in future years as well.

When I became the principal ten years ago, our families did not have to worry about deployments.  Then things changed in the Middle East.  The first deployment took place nearly nine years ago, and after that, a significant percentage of our students were experiencing the challenges of dealing with a parent who was away from the family, in harm's way. Some families faced multiple deployments while they were attending our school.  The challenges of deployment didn't necessarily end when a parent returned home.  Families had to readjust to having a parent back home, and sometimes, the parent changed after experiencing trauma during the deployment.   Some students and families deal with deployment challenges positively while others have great difficulty.  

These challenges in military schools need to be addressed, and because we have flexibility over how we spend the funds allocated to us, we have been able to create positions at Hale Kula to address some of these issues.  For example, we have four counselors as well as a School-Based Behavioral Health Therapist.   They provide essential supports for students who may be experiencing difficulties which are impacting their success in school.  Our Transition Center Coordinator greets all new families to share information about our school and our policies prior to the child's first day.  Additionally, the Transition Coordinator checks on new students to ensure that he/she is adjusting to their new school.  Our Primary School Adjustment Project  Child Associate works with younger students who may be experiencing problems with adjustment which includes deployment or a new school.  We are also fortunate to have the support of the US Army Garrison Hawaii through their Army School Liaison Officers as well as a partnership with Tripler Army Medical Center which provides support through their School Mental Health Team. Our school staff works closely with District support personnel as well as the Tripler team to ensure that programs and supports are in place to ensure the success of all students and their families.

The "At Ease" article shared suggestions for schools which can have a positive impact on military students and their families.  Perhaps the most important support, however, comes from the teacher in the classroom.  Our teachers are a special group; they deal with transitioning students (sometimes several a week); they provide interventions for students who may enter their classroom with significant learning gaps, and they deal with deployment challenges which may affect a student's behavior and academics in the classroom.  Parents have shared that they appreciate the support from their child's teacher or from another adult in the school.

It is equally important, though, to address the needs of the families.  As a school, we made it a priority to plan activities for families so they can connect with other families - activities such as after-school parent-child workshops, Book Fair Family Events, parenting trainings, or student performances.  Additionally, we have been communicating with parents through social media as well as a weekly blog and our school website.  Parents appreciate being updated about what's going on in school and being able to communicate with the school via technology especially when there is only one adult at home.

I am proud of our school and the supports and services we provide for our military students and their families. Our goal is to ensure the success of every student and to provide them with the tools to be independent and to be responsible for their own learning and individual growth.  This means that we need to be aware of the military culture and addressing the challenges of our students and their families.

Real-life Learning - My Goal for Every Student

Back in 1993 (20 years ago!) I was one of the original teachers hired at Mililani Mauka Elementary School.  Prior to starting the school year, all of us newly-hired teachers were asked to read several articles about "thinking dispositions,"   I was overwhelmed and had no idea what the articles were talking about.  However, in time and after receiving training from David Perkins of Harvard's Project Zero, all of us teachers gained a greater understanding about thinking dispositions.  We then collaborated to design meaningful and relevant project-based units and to explicitly teach the thinking dispositions throughout the day,  When we taught these units, we saw how engaged our students were. Although we had our curriculum plan of what we wanted our students to learn and what resources we would use, teaching and learning were guided by the students' questions and their curiosity to find out more than what we had written into our plans. In fact,  learning often went way beyond what we originally envisioned.

When I became a principal ten years ago, one of my goals was for every grade level to collaborate on creating interdisciplinary units and to embed content standards to make learning more relevant for students. Today, every grade level has created units and review and revise them yearly.  However, with the emphasis on statewide assessments and making Adequate Yearly Progress, these units are sometimes set on the side in order to provide students with more time to practice reading and math skills.  Perhaps it was my fault in setting a goal every year to make AYP.  Perhaps I needed to rethink how we measure success for each student and to reflect on what is the real meaning of "quality education."

It was serendipitous that I was able to read this wonderful blog, "Deeper Learning:  Highlighting Student Work" and view the videos.  It brought me back to what I believe we need to focus on in education -- students doing meaningful and quality work with teachers coaching and guiding them.  The video on "Austin's Butterfly" is amazing; listen to the students' comments as they view each draft of Austin's drawing.  In order to get this kind of quality work, however, teachers need to guide students to understand how to give and receive specific feedback in order to improve a product.  This disposition needs to be nurtured from the time a student is young, and the work itself needs to be "important" with students applying what they've learned to a real-life situation.

Some of these kinds of projects are already happening at Hale Kula.  For example, after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in November 2012, our third graders brainstormed and decided to collect money to help families who were devastated by the super storm.  Our fifth grade Hope Garden is an example of sustainability, and students lead tours for the community during Earth Day activities.  Additionally, our sea urchin project is a great example of how our students are making a difference.  We know how excited students are about learning when they can participate in "real" learning, so this kind of learning needs to be the norm and not the exception.

As a youth soccer coach, I remember planning my practices to include working on skills and drills, oftentimes, the very ones the players had difficulty executing during the previous game.  Then we practiced those skills in controlled, game-like situations, and then hopefully, the players would be able to understand and use those skills during a real game.  Music, art, and foreign languages are similar in that students practice and then apply their skills in order to improve or showcase what they have learned.  The problem with school is that often, we teach and then have students practice skills, but they never have the opportunity to apply these skills to a real-life situation.

Engaging in quality, meaningful work, not just practicing skills -- that is my goal for every student at our school.  

Youth XChange Video Competition

The mission of`Olelo Community Media  is "To strengthen our island voices and advance community engagement through innovative media.."  Anyone can produce a video and share it on one of `Olelo's channels for free.  When `Olelo opened a studio in Wahiawa at Leilehua High School, several of our teachers participated in their training and learned the basics of videotaping and editing.  At first, we were interested in videotaping school events to show on one of `Olelo's channels, but today, these teachers are using what they learned in that class and teaching students how to create and produce videos to share their learning.

For ten years, `Olelo has sponsored a Youth XChange Video Competition.  This competition started with a few entries and has been growing steadily since.   I attended the awards ceremony last year and was amazed and impressed at how students shared their important messages in such diverse and creative ways.   I witnessed how a thirty second video can leave an audience  stunned into silence by its powerful message.

This year, there were 658 Youth XChange entries from students at all levels -- elementary, middle school, and high school - and for the first time since we began entering this competition, three of our Hale Kula entries were selected as finalists.  What an accomplishment for our students and their teachers!

Producing a 30-second public service announcement or a short 3-5 minute video takes collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity, the 4C's of 21st Century teaching and learning.  Producing a video which captures the message succinctly and creatively is not easy. I have observed disengaged students suddenly become excited learners when given the opportunity to participate in this project.    It requires students to research about the issues they are interested in. Our students watched commercials and public service announcements and discussed the effectiveness of the message.  They  shared ideas and while they didn't always agree, students learned to listen and respect the ideas of others and to collaborate to complete their project.

This type of project can have a profound effect on a child.  If we want an informed citizenry, we need to start with our youngsters and get them involved in thinking about issues which will impact them in the future.  We need them to ask questions and to share their concerns with others, and we need to hear their voices because they have important things to say.  

I urge you to check out the Youth XChange videos; I am quite sure you will be impressed.  Finally, I would like to thank `Olelo for giving our youth an opportunity to express themselves through this competition.  

Chronic Absenteeism = A Big Problem

I recently returned from a family vacation to celebrate my Dad's 88th birthday.  It was wonderful, and I am so glad I took the time off from school to be with our family for this very special event.  Of course, between email and texting, I was still tethered to my responsibilities as the principal at Hale Kula.  After all, I didn't want to come back to work and have to catch up with the hundreds of emails I receive daily!

This vacation led me to reflect on something which has been a challenge at our school -- attendance.  We know that students need to be in school in order to maximize their learning opportunities.  Last year, 16% of our students were chronically absent, defined as missing more than 15 days in the school year.  In other words,  16% of our students missed about one whole month of learning.  This is unacceptable, and we are implementing a variety of programs to reverse this trend including incentives for those who have perfect attendance for the quarter, informing parents more regularly, and asking for suggestions from our school community.  However, our data suggests that these incentives and procedures are not having as positive an impact as we had hoped.

Because we are a military-impacted school, our families have different challenges that affect school attendance.  With no extended family here on-island, a parent may not have the support when a child gets sick (and there's no way to get the student to school) or the soldier is deployed or in training.  When the soldier comes back from deployment or for R&R, families want to spend the time together or take a trip back home to spend time with their extended family.  My vacation with my family reinforced that this is valuable time, and even if we would prefer students to be in school, we understand the importance of reunification especially when a parent has been in harm's way.

So what can we do to ensure that students balance school and home needs effectively even if they are not physically in school?  Since our families are transient, we need to make sure that the loss of instructional days does not result in learning gaps which can impact students now and in the future when they enroll in a new school.  Besides implementing incentive programs, we need to send a consistent message to parents about the importance of students coming to school regularly and keeping up with their lessons, and technology can be used effectively for this purpose.

We have encouraged all of our teachers to post their assignments as well as learning resources on their class websites.  Additionally, we have licenses for programs such as Dreambox, KidBiz3000, and Measuring Up Live! which are web-based, and other resources are available on our library webpage which students can access anywhere, anytime from any computer.  We are moving towards cloud-based computing via google apps; students will be able to work on their assignments and keep in touch with their teachers even if they are not physically in school.  Our Blended Learning program is providing us with resources we can use with our fourth and fifth graders, and we should share similar resources for the other grade levels as well.

Our message to our parents is this:  we understand the challenges of being a military family, but we need to work together to ensure that our students -- your children -- will be ready for the next grade level whether they remain at Hale Kula or move to another school in our state, our country, or the world.  As a school, we need to have better procedures so parents understand that we are a team and that keeping up with schoolwork is essential even if a family is on a well-deserved vacation. This also means that parents need to set aside time during vacations so students can complete their assignments to ensure that they don't fall behind.

Our goal  is to decrease chronic absenteeism at our school from 16% to 11%.  It will take a collaborative effort to accomplish our goals, but we are determined to do all we can to reach our target so that all students continue to progress and have the skills and dispositions to be successful.