Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 3, 1 March 2005 — Alternative teacher training programs concentrate on Hawaiian perspectives [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Alternative teacher training programs concentrate on Hawaiian perspectives

By Sterling Kini Wong For Native Hawaiian kumu (teacher) Mahinapoepoe Paishon, the 500-year-old He'eia fishpond on O'ahu is a multipurpose classroom, where Hawaiian language and culture, science, math and business ean all be taught. While mueh of her own personal experience influences how she uses the fishpond to teach, Paishon also studied at a program at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo to learn how to teach basic school subjects from a Hawaiian perspective. The program she graduated from, called Kahuawaiola, is one of three Hawaiian teacher education programs that aim to license teachers according to state standards, while ensuring that they understand how to incorporate Hawaiian culture and values into their curriculum. The programs serve as feeders for Hawaiian-focus charter schools, Hawaiian language immersion schools and traditional state Department of Education schools. This year, OHA introduced a bill into the state Legislature that would provide funding for students to attend such

alternative teacher licensing programs. As KWO went to print, the bill had passed its second reading in the House and was scheduled to be heard in the finance committee. Puanani Wilhelm, administrator of the state's Hawaiian studies and language program, said that one of the important aspects of the teacher licensing programs is that they decrease the state's dependency on recruiting mainland teachers, who she said generally don't relate to Hawaiian students as well. "If we want culturally appropriate curricula at our schools, we need to support loeal teachers, especially Hawaiians," Wilhelm said, pointing out the fact that while Native Hawaiians represent 27 percent of the students enrolled in the state's puhlie schools, they represent just 10 percent of the teachers. "There is a big difference between teaching students who are in the middle of the Pacific Oeean from, say, students living in Milwaukee," she said. Kahuawaiola, based within the University of Hawai'i at Hilo's College of Hawaiian Language, was the first of the three teacher licensing programs. The three-semester post-baccalaureate

program prepares students to teach in Hawaiian. Since its pilot program in 1998, the project has graduated more than 30 students who went on to teach at schools on four islands. The program's director, Keiki Kawai'ae'a, said that her program was started to not only to increase the number of educators who ean teach in immersion schools, but to also create new educational models that are grounded in Hawaiian thinking and are relevant to Hawaiian students. "The question has always been: how do we educate our children?" she said. While Kahuawaiola prepares Hawaiian language teachers, Kaho'iwai, a program within UH Mānoa's College of Education, is designed to develop teachers for both Hawaiian-focus charter schools and traditional puhlie schools. Kerri-Ann Hewett, the coordinator of Kaho'iwai, said that her program uses traditional Hawaiian stories and values to form the foundation for their teaching model, as opposed to Western educational philosophies. "We want to change the school experience for Native Hawaiians so that it's not so foreign to them," she said. The two-year program graduated its first class of 20 in December 2003.

Native Hawaiian educator Kū Kahakalau said she helped create the Holomua Teacher Education Cohort because a majority of the teachers at her charter school could not enroll into Kaho'iwai because they did not have college degrees. "Kaho'iwai is an outstanding program, but the university didn't allow us the flexibility in enrollment that our teachers needed," she said. Kahakalau said that when she first started Kanu o Ka 'Āina Charter School on Hawai'i island, she decided to hire people in her rural community who were teaching in non-traditional classrooms, for instance within a kūpuna program or at the loeal YMCA. "We could have See TEACHERS on page 19

Ho'ona'ahao miiiiihiim

Kumu Mahina Paishon talks to students from Hōlau Kū Mōna Charter School at He'eia fishpond. Photo: Sterling Kini Wong

TEACHERS from page 8 hired teachers from the continent, but we decided to grow our own teachers from within our community because we knew we'd be able to retain them," she said. She said Holomua focuses on licensing educators who are currently teaching in charter schools, but who don't have college degrees. She said teachers ean earn a temporary teaching license at Holomua, whieh will allow them to teach while providing them with a five-year window to earn their college degree. Kahakalau said that she is working with the Hawai'i Teacher Standards Board to get Holomua accredited. After the first class of 15 graduate in the summer, the board will evaluate the program and decide whether to give the it a provisional status. Kahakalau said she hopes that within two to three years Holomua will be permanently accredited. For information on the programs, contact them at: Kahuawaiola, 808-974-7339; Kaho'iwai, 956-8002; and Holomua, (808) 887-8144. V