Using the Olympics to Build Community in the Classroom

One of my first blogs, written back in 2012, was titled, “It’s Time for the Olympics!”  Four years later, I wrote  “Using the Olympics to Excite and Engage.” I really enjoyed writing these blogs and now seemed like a good time to reread them. 

Covid-19 forced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to this year with the hope that the worldwide pandemic would be over by now and life would return to normal. It hasn’t. This year's events look different with no fans in the stands. Yet the Olympics goes on and elite athletes from around the world are in Tokyo, representing their countries with pride. The stories of perseverance and mental wellness provide opportunities for discussions about taking care of ourselves so we can be our best. 

With students returning to school next week in Hawaii and other parts of the country, teachers can use the Olympics as a theme to build community within the classroom. Share videos and articles and have students generate questions. Divide students into teams to research and share information with their classmates. Good questions lead to more questions and hopefully, students will continue to dig deeper to learn more and to understand the history of the Olympic Games. There are so many inspirational stories as well: Who does not appreciate Suni Lee's individual all-around gold medal in gymnastics and what it means to the Hmong community? I watched as two 13-year-old girls took the gold and silver medals in skateboarding. They were fearless and it was joyous to watch their excitement and energy.  Jordan Windle was adopted from an orphanage in Cambodia by a single dad and is representing the United States in diving.  And here in Hawaii, we cheered for our very own Carissa Moore who took the very first gold medal in women's surfing. There are many other individual stories about the athletes who are competing. Their pride at representing their country is evident, and the commitment to give their all and to do their best is admirable. 

Wouldn't it be fun to end the week with an Olympics-style event? Students can be divided into teams and come up with their own team name. They can design a flag to represent their team and have a parade much like the Opening Ceremonies. Students can think of Olympic-type activities that don't necessarily rely on athleticism such as a shot put event with an aluminum foil ball or a discus throw with paper plates. Brainstorm and make sure everyone is involved in some way; the emphasis is on sportsmanship and teamwork. 

As schools resume to full-time in-person learning, building relationships and community within the classroom are essential. If we want students to be invested in their own learning, we need to engage them as learners. The Olympics can encompass every content area - language arts, math, science, social studies, the arts, physical education. Let's use this worldwide event to engage our students in their own learning and set the tone for the rest of the school year.

“What School Could Be”

This book was published in 2018 and was written by Ted Dintersmith after a year-long trip across our country to visit schools in all fifty states. I had already watched Ted’s film, “Most Likely to Succeed” and had attended a local conference where Ted was the featured speaker. I definitely related to his message about schools needing to change in this, the 21st century. I eagerly read “What School Could Be” and was hopeful for the future of education in our state and our country.

I retired as a school principal shortly after reading the book, and a lot happened in that time. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the way we live, and schools were forced to change as well. It concerns me that schools seem to be going back to the same-old, same-old pre-pandemic educational system. Didn't we learn anything about students, teaching, and learning during the past year? Recently, I decided to reread What School Could Be. This time, I was not going to rush through to finish it. Instead, I would treat it as if I were doing a shared reading with other educators or community leaders because that is the power of this book; we should all read, reflect, and discuss how we can do school better. It was inspiring to reread the stories of innovative schools and districts.

It got me asking questions about what school could be. Why aren’t schools and educators trying new ideas to engage students? Why do schools continue to be judged by test scores rather than the ability to engage and empower students to be self-directed, community-minded problem-solvers? How can we expect our students to know how to collaborate, to be good listeners as well as clear communicators, to have empathy for others, to ask questions and research to find their own answers or solutions to problems, or to be able to separate facts from opinions if we expect them to be passive receptors of content rather than active learners of knowledge? Why aren't students given opportunities to work with others on important issues that concern them now and will impact them in the future? How can we involve our school communities - educators, students, parents, businesses, higher education, and government leaders - to discuss how we can make education more relevant in this, the 21st century? 

There are many resources out there - books, articles, films, social media communities, podcasts. How do we start conversations and excite school leaders, teachers, students, parents, and the community? What if we treat this issue like we would if we implemented epic learning or project-based learning in our classrooms? We could start with an entry event for the community and invite them to view a video. Here in Hawaii, we have two excellent documentaries: “The Innovation Playlist” and “Ka Helena A`o: The Learning Walk” about transforming education in our state in this, the 21st century. Then we break into smaller groups to address a driving question such as "Why should we care about education in our community?" or "How can we involve all sectors of our community to ensure a meaningful future for our children?" I am sure participants can come up with a driving question that is unique to their community. If we plan the event carefully to include all community members - students, educators, parents, complex area or district staff, businesses, coaches, lawmakers, higher education, etc. - and if we create opportunities to continue the discussion and to share ideas and successes, we can transform education, one community at a time. We want concerned citizens who think critically about issues that are relevant to them and who can work collaboratively with others to engage in discussions, problem-solve, and come up with workable solutions. Waiting until our children become adults is too late; they can and should be involved in examining issues that impact their world today and in the future. 

William Butler Yeats stated, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” Unless we actively make the effort, though, we may not be aware of how students at public, charter, and private schools are taking ownership of their own learning and really making a difference for themselves and for others. The educators at these schools were willing to step out of our comfort zones and see the whole world as an educational opportunity and resource for their students, and the results speak for themselves: engaged, empowered, enthusiastic young people who are making a difference in their communities and who will hopefully continue to be involved, informed citizens in the future. 

Note: Ted Dintersmith recently launched a What School Could Be community to share ideas and learn from each other. Join the conversation at https://whatschoolcouldbe.org/

I Did It (Again) 😊

 Two years ago, I shared about writing my first book in a blog “I Did It 😊”  At the time, I shared about how much I had learned, not just about the process but about myself. 

I was often asked when I would write a second book. I had not given it any thought, but when COVID-19 forced us to stay at home, I found myself worrying about what would happen within our educational system. How would schools provide teachers with the tools and the support to ensure that students would be engaged and empowered via distance learning? I realized that I wanted to write another book. I had a foundation - this blog - which I started back in 2012. 

When I began writing this blog, I had no idea how long I could or would continue, but today, I am still writing and sharing my thoughts, my opinions, my hopes, and my experiences as someone who will always be an educator even if I am retired. It is not my intention to tell others how to lead or how to teach. Rather, I hope that my blog and my books will encourage conversations and reflections within our communities amongst those who are passionate about improving education to be more relevant in today’s society. These discussions should include educational leaders, teachers, students, parents, and community and business leaders. 

 Experienced principals have shared with me that school year 2020-2021 was their most challenging year ever, and they are proud of their school communities for persevering through all the changes and the challenges that were necessitated by COVID-19. I am hopeful that the lessons they learned will lead to changes in how schools view education. 

My new book, Educating with Aloha: Reflections from the Heart on Teaching and Learning, is now at the printer and will hopefully be ready for purchase later this summer. I am grateful to those who read my earlier manuscripts and provided me with feedback because my book changed a lot from beginning to end. Writers benefit from feedback and questions. The sometimes-frank and honest comments and questions helped me to reflect and to make the necessary changes to address those concerns, and I am proud of the final copy. The book is divided into chapters:

1. A Culture of Aloha
2. Positive Relationships with Our Students
3. Explore, Discover, Create, and Share
4. Build Teacher Capacity
5. Partnering with Families and the Community
6. What Does the Future Hold for Education?

Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office was a reflection of my life and how my early life experiences impacted how I led our school. Educating with Aloha is about my experiences as an educator. I hope it can serve as a tool for discussions about how we can work together to make the changes in our schools to prepare our students for their futures. 

W.B. Yeats once said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” We should not be filling students with information that they may forget soon after leaving school. Now is the time to reimagine education so that students and teachers are truly engaged and empowered to be innovative, lifelong learners. 

I love this cover! I am not an artist so I depended on my publisher to assist me by providing choices. 

Ted Dintersmith, Peter DeWitt, Cris Waldfogel, Josh Reppun, Chad Keone Farias, and Derek Minakami read my manuscript and wrote such wonderful testimonials. I am grateful to them. 

Teacher Leaders

 Recently, I followed a conversation on social media on why anyone would want to leave the classroom to become a teacher leader. Some of the comments were what I considered “brutal.” The implications were that teacher leaders were “bossy” and were there to tell a colleague what to do or how to teach. Another comment was that principals put teachers in those positions to get them out of the classroom, implying that these teacher leaders were ineffective. Other tweets accused  teacher leaders of being “above” classroom teachers because they were considered part of administration and even helped with evaluations.  As a retired principal who viewed our teacher leaders as essential to teaching and learning at our school, many of those comments surprised and saddened me. 

In a school where relationships matter, teacher leaders follow the lead of administrators. If there is a culture of trust, respect, teamwork, and continuous improvement at the school, teacher leaders can play a key role in partnering with the administration to provide support and guidance. 

As a principal, I believed in helping all of our teachers gain skills and strategies that would help them to be even better. Sometimes that meant taking a teacher out of the classroom to gain a different perspective. Our  teacher leaders were more like coaches or mentors, helping their colleagues to reflect and to improve their craft through guided discussions, informal conversations, classroom observations, and reflective questions. When a teacher was feeling overwhelmed, it was often easier to speak confidentially with a teacher leader rather than with an administrator who also happens to be the evaluator. 

Selecting the right person for a teacher leader position can be tough. Good teachers love being with their students, but they are not always confident that they can work effectively with adults. As a principal, I sometimes needed to convince teachers that they could do the job and that I thought they would not only be effective, they would also enjoy the new experience. And they did! 

These coaches/mentors guided grade level curricular discussions, helped to analyze student work, shared resources and strategies, and helped to plan grade level activities. They co-planned lessons with new teachers and co-taught lessons with them, reflecting afterwards about what worked and what didn’t. They observed new teachers using the Department’s evaluative tool, shared their evidences from the observation, and helped these teachers to reflect on what they could do to improve their lessons. They realized that new teachers needed opportunities to be part of a professional learning community, and they asked for release time so these teachers could get together during the school day to receive training or to share with each other. These coaches/mentors were able to take new teachers to visit other classrooms and debrief afterwards to set goals or to commit to trying a new idea. In short, these teacher leaders were able to provide the support, training, and guidance that was so crucial to keep our school moving forward.

I recently had a conversation with Sandy Cameli, facilitator of  Na Kumu Alaka`i - Hawaii Teacher Leader Academy. Sandy and her team continue to train teachers from every island and every complex area in the Hawaii Department of Education. Some of these teachers may eventually go into administration, but many just want to be better leaders at their school or in their complex area or district. I feel there should be some way of compensating these teacher leaders. National Board Certified teachers receive annual bonuses; perhaps those teachers who complete training with the Hawaii Teacher Leader Academy and who commit to serving in a leadership capacity in the Department of Education could receive compensation as well. Another idea would be for the Department to negotiate with the teacher’s union to create a separate category for teacher leaders who would then receive a slight bump in their salary. That may encourage more teachers to agree to take on leadership roles. 

Teacher leaders are important, and I believe that in that role, they gain skills that help them to be more confident and contributing members of their school communities. They experience teaching and learning from a different perspective, and if they decide to return to the classroom, they do so with new skills and strategies under their belt. 

As a principal, I appreciated our teacher leaders; they provided crucial support for their colleagues and were important members of our Leadership Team. We ensured that they were not quasi-administrators; their roles were strictly as support for our teachers. As such, they were essential to improving teaching and learning at our school. 

Appreciation for Teachers

 This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I know that educators everywhere are being honored and thanked for all that they do for their students and school communities. This year, more than ever, teachers need to feel appreciated as they have navigated many obstacles in their never ending quest to make teaching and learning meaningful for their students. 

I read all the posts on social media with joyful photos of snacks, breakfast or lunches, signs, cards, and other treats for teachers, and I decided to read about “The History Behind Teacher Appreciation Week.” I was surprised to read that former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took the lead in convincing Congress to designate a National Teacher Appreciation Day back in 1953.  I think back to my school years, and I don’t think we knew there was such a day. However, I remember my classmates and I proudly gifting our elementary school teachers with flowers from our yard. I don’t think there was ever a day when someone didn’t bring flowers for their teacher, and our classrooms were filled with a variety of vibrant colors and heavenly scents. 

I know that most teachers go over and above what is required for the sake of their students. I also know that they would love to be appreciated throughout the year, not just during Teacher Appreciation Week. It doesn’t have to cost anything, and it doesn’t have to take up much time. A picture or a note from a student can bring a smile and the incentive to go on when things are tough. An email or a note of thanks from a parent can be particularly meaningful at the end of a challenging day. A compliment from a colleague or administrator can give the teacher confidence that what she/he is doing is worthy and acknowledged by others.

Recently, renowned American journalist and author Dan Rather wrote a post, “Did a Teacher Change Your Life?”, and one of his paragraphs summed up the value of our teachers:

“Teachers provide so much more than a curriculum. Teachers can be a mentor, cheerleader, resource, refuge, advisor, even a literal life saver. They come in early, stay late, and prepare in all hours in between - often for not enough pay, with not enough resources, and for not enough appreciation. But teachers are an indelible part of our communities and our society. To borrow a phrase, if “children are the future” then teachers are the bridge connecting the present moment to that eventuality. Educators are a type of magic makers who turn potential into reality.”

I couldn’t agree more. In these challenging times especially after this tumultuous year for educators, many are choosing to leave the profession. Our communities and our society need dedicated teachers who care about our children. So if you remember, please thank a teacher, not just during Teacher Appreciation Week, but throughout the year. That one small act of kindness could be just what a teacher needs that day!

"The Reason I Jump"

Recently, I watched a documentary titled,  "What You Taught Me about My Son" about how a young Japanese boy with autism, Naoki Higashida, helped a British writer, David Mitchell, better understand his son who also had autism. I was so captivated by the documentary that I bought the book,  "The Reason I Jump." I wish I had viewed this film and read the book when I was still working as an educator. 

My experience with autism didn't begin until 1989 when I taught a preschool special education class. Until then, my knowledge of autism was limited and generally involved people like the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie, "Rain Man." I had a lot to learn.

One of the twelve students in that preschool class was a beautiful 3-year-old boy, J, who didn't speak. He had a diagnosis of autism. When J was upset, he screamed and ran out of the classroom, flapping his arms. We were able to eventually calm him, and we observed carefully to try and figure out what was bothering J, but most of the time, it was a guessing game. J did make progress, though, and after a few months of school, he was able to sit with the group and with assistance from an adult, he was able to follow along when we sang or played musical instruments. He was quiet and listened to stories, and he played appropriately with toys though he rarely played with other students. 

When I taught that preschool special education class, we communicated with each family via a composition book. We shared what the student did that day as well as any successes or concerns. (Remember, this was 1989 before we had email or any of the other communication apps that teachers today use to stay in touch with families.) Parents read and responded with comments like "T had a rough night; she couldn't sleep so she may be grouchy today" or "L is very sad because his Dad is out in the field and won't be home for a few days" or "S is really excited because Grandma is coming to visit this weekend!" One Monday, J's mom wrote, "J has a book in his bag. He wants to read it to you." 

So at the first opportunity, I asked J to get his bag and bring the book to me. I thought that I would be reading it to him. It was a book about a boy who was being potty-trained, something we were working on with J. Well, you could imagine my surprise when J sat with me, pointed to the words on the book cover, and read the title clearly. He proceeded to read every page, pointing out the words as he read them and even corrected himself when he made a mistake. He got to a page about the little boy saying he had to go: "He sat and he sat and he sat and he sat . . .  and he sat!" J pointed to and read each word and when he was done with that page, he looked at me, and we both laughed! I can still hear his joyful laughter and see the smile on his face! That one experience made me realize that even with a diagnosis of autism, J was able to understand much more than we had thought.  He still wouldn't answer questions like, "What is your name?" but here he was, reading a book and understanding the humor in those pages. 

I don't know what J is doing today. His family moved after that school year, but I am hopeful that he received the kind of support and services he needed to help him to overcome the challenges he faced as a person with autism. 

As an administrator, I sat in on many Individualized Education Program meetings for students with autism. I reflect on those students and know I learned so much from them. They taught me patience and to not give up on anyone, that every step forward was progress. I saw the value in working as a team to provide a safety net for those who needed the most support. These students taught me to look at their strengths and to focus on what they could do, not just what they couldn't do. As an educator, I believe in early interventions, and for these students with autism, providing additional services up-front could make a difference down the road. And I learned to trust the parents of the child with autism. If we were having challenges at school, these students were often having even more challenges at home. 

We have learned so much about autism since I first came into the profession way back in 1973 and since I had my first student with a diagnosis of autism in my class. When I read Naoki Higashida's responses to questions like, "Why don't you make eye contact when you're talking?" or "Why do you make a huge fuss over tiny mistakes?" or "What's the reason you jump?" or "Why do you like spinning?" I think of some of our students with autism; it would have helped us to understand them better. 

Every so often, a book or a film comes along that could make a huge difference in educators' attitudes and perceptions. I encourage educators to watch the documentary and if possible, to read the book. I think it can open your mind as well as your heart. 

Leveling the Playing Field

 When I was growing up, there was an expectation that my siblings and I would study hard, go to college and get a job. I followed that dream and became a teacher. My husband went to college, took a year off, and decided he needed to go back to school. After graduating from college, he went on to law school and came back to Hawaii to work. Our two older sons followed a similar pathway though their eventual professions were not in the field they majored in. Our youngest son took a different path. He went to college after high school but dropped out. Although he graduated from high school with honors, he did not adjust to the expectations of college. He took a different path and enlisted in the Air Force. After serving honorably for six years including a deployment to Afghanistan, he came home, enrolled in an on-line university, and is on-track to graduate this semester. Thankfully, he has no student loans; his GI bill paid for everything. 

Because of our youngest son’s experiences, I’ve been thinking a lot about high schools. There are high schools where students take courses at the college level and earn dual credits. Other schools have academies where students do real work in their area of interest, experiences that could give them a heads-up in the field when they graduate. 

I am surprised that more high schools don’t offer internships though, and that is why I was excited to read about an internship program between students at a charter school here in Hawaii, the State Department of Transportation, and Oceanit (Time to Flip the Internship Upside Down: Education, Imagination, and Industry) When I think of a company here in Hawaii that has been very instrumental in supporting our schools, Oceanit immediately comes to mind. They have trained hundreds (or maybe thousands) of our educators and students on Design Thinking as well as coding using Altino cars. I was able to participate in these trainings, and it made me realize what an important partner Oceanit was with our schools in Hawaii. Internships can be a great way for students to gain valuable experience and work habits that they will need when they graduate from high school.  When students can work on projects that impact our communities, they may be more invested to work collaboratively to seek meaningful solutions. 

Recently, I read a book titled Making It: What Today’s Kids Need for Tomorrow’s World by Stephanie Malia Krauss. As she states, the pathway we went through that helped define success - graduate high school, go to college, get a job, get a promotion or a better job, make money and manage responsibilities, retire and live off savings or investments - will no longer be true in the future. Ms. Krause shares that very possibly, today’s kids could be living longer - maybe to 100 - and they may be working for much longer - maybe for 80 years. Therefore, they will need currencies - competencies, connections, credentials, and cash - in order to be successful in their lives. Below is an explanation of the 4 currencies students will need in the future. 

We are living in a world that is far from equitable, and students from disadvantaged families will find it more challenging to build up their currencies. High schools can level the playing field by providing opportunities for all students through academies, early college classes, apprenticeships, internships, and other types of innovative programs. Elementary and middle schools can ensure that all students have access to enrichment classes, after-school activities, tutoring, summer programs, etc. Communities or businesses can partner with schools to provide assistance, materials, mentors, or other support. We can all be part of the solution to level the playing field, to ensure that our youth are prepared to make it in tomorrow’s world.