A Day in the Life of: A School in Kona

Today was an exciting and amazing day. We were fortunate enough to visit two schools in Kona: Kealekehe and Kahakai Elememtary Schools. These schools were incredible! They were much larger than the schools we visited in Oahu. Kealekehe had 1,000 students and Kahakai had 750 students. The buildings themselves were also newer and in better condition than other schools we have visited. What was so interesting was the amount of space these schools had. We felt like we needed a map or else we would have gotten lost! Both schools set up excellent environments for their students to have the opportunities to excel.

Compared to the schools we visited on Oahu, and the charter school in Hilo, Kona is a wealthier area. The surrounding neighborhoods of these two schools are stunning. The houses are big and clean. As soon as we walked on to these campuses, we could sense that these schools had a lot more money, which meant bigger campus, more classrooms, more teachers, and better resources. At both schools today, we learned that they have mostly inclusion classrooms. At Kealekehe, 10% of the students need special services. At Kahakai, 30% of the students receice special services. The principal of Kealekehe said she was fortunate enough to have a general education teacher, and special education teacher, and an EA in her inclusion classrooms. These schools also have ELL students. At Kealekehe, 20% of students are ELL students. The principal informed us that she also had a classroom for ELL students, and two classrooms for deaf/hard of hearing students. Wow! So many schools in Hawaii are struggling to find general education teachers, and especially special education teachers, yet this school is lucky enough to have the teachers to give the students the best education possible. Do they still struggle to do that? Of course.

At Kealekehe, 75% of students are impoverished, and at Kahakai, 70% of students are impoverished. These students receive free and reduced lunch every day. So what does this mean for the classrooms? It means that these students may not come to school with their basic needs met. It means that these students may not have educational support at home. It means that these students may have difficult home lives, and act out in the classroom or not care about their school work. It means that the principal and the teachers need to work harder to ensure that these students learn and succeed.

The principal of Kealekehe spoke about her approach to the high percentage of students who come from low socioeconomic families. She said that instead of looking at the reading, writing, and math scores of each student, she wants to look at each individual child as a whole. She focuses on social-emotional learning for her students. All of her teachers conduct informal check-ins during the morning, and ask each student how they are feeling that day. If a student is not doing well, they talk about it with the teacher or the entire class and they try to make the student feel better. It also warns the teacher what kind of day the students will have, and if the students' basic needs of having breakfast are met. This was such a great approach to teaching; it reflects Maslow's theory of the Hierarchy of Needs. In order for the students to actually learn, the teacher must make sure the students feel safe and their social-emotional needs are being met. The focus of education should not be on lecturing the students and drilling math and reading, but about first attending to each child's individual needs. We will definitely use this idea of check-ins in our future classrooms.

Not only was Kealekehe an impressive school, but Kahakai was an admirable school as well. The best aspect of this school was their Hawaiian Studies class for their students. Even though they have a diverse student population, they make sure that they teach the Hawaiian culture. This class is given to Pre-K through fifth grade. We visited the Hawaiian Studies classroom and the teacher spoke to us. Oh my goodness, he was amazing! He was so passionate about the Hawaiian culture, and he really tried to immerse his students into the culture from the moment they walked into the classroom. He makes them take their shoes off (a Hawaiian tradition), and he has typical teacher posters, but he has the Hawaiian translation underneath. He teaches them songs, chants, letters, phrases, words, and history. He made it clear to us that he knows all of the students are not natives, however, his goal is to help students understand that everyone has a culture and every culture is important. This was such an important point that the teacher brought up. When asked what he does when there are students of other cultures, he said that they simply talk about it as a class. He acknowledges the differen cultures in his classroom, yet he also emphasizes the Hawaiian culture. His classroom was the highlight of the day and both schools were the epitome of this course.