By Mike Travis
“Life moves pretty fast.
If you donʻt stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
– Ferris Buellerʻs Day Off
Administrators are always seeking the perfect faculty meeting – one in which the time needed for professional development balances with the knowledge gained by faculty members. Founded over 100 years ago, Hanahauʻoli School is continually working on new ways to strengthen our professional community of learning and stimulate faculty’s thinking about progressive teaching and learning. This past school year was no different, and it resulted in a new initiative, E Kilo Kākou. Designed to provide faculty with the opportunity to visit and thoughtfully observe every classroom and specialist space in the school, it helped us achieve our goal of having increased time to observe and learn more about each other and our programs.
My previous blog post on Hele Aʻo, which translates to “to go and learn” in Hawaiian, shared about another initiative in which we sent every one of our teachers to visit progressive schools around the world – twenty unique schools in total – to bring back new ideas for our school as we embarked on our second century of teaching and learning. Before departure, we utilized faculty meetings to become better teacher-scientists and hone our observation skills. The program was incredibly impactful for our faculty and staff, generating terrific ideas for our own program. One of the key takeaways from the trips was that there is still so much we can learn at our own school, with faculty asking for structured opportunities to visit other grade levels and specialist classes.
The pandemic placed this goal on hold for a while, isolating us to our own spaces and separating classes, students, and teachers into their own “teaching islands.” However, in the 2021-2022 school year, as pandemic restrictions eased, the Kukunaokalā Teachers (Kindergarten/1st Grade) suggested we use two faculty meetings in the spring to have classes share about their programs with student work samples as a way to re-connect and reintegrate our programs. The teachers ran the sessions and it was amazing. Reflections after these meetings verified it was a huge success and the teachers wanted even more.
E Kilo Kākou Comes to Life
Last summer, the Head of School and I worked together to figure out how we could use more faculty meetings for this purpose. Our goal was to provide meeting time dedicated to learning about each classroom program. We wanted to kilo (Hawaiian for “watch or observe”) from within a learning environment and actively draw connections to support the ongoing development of the school’s eight-year spiraling curriculum. We believed that learning about each classroom throughout the school year would promote future discussion and collaboration as opposed to the program articulation that we traditionally facilitated at the end of each academic year.
Our librarian, Gabby Holt, helped us with understanding the power of kilo within a Hawaiian worldview and she made links to how this particular approach to observation might deepen our progressive education practices at Hanahau’oli School. We learned from Oliver, Wright, and Wilson-Hokowhitu about these important aspects of kilo:
Habitual & sustained observation – The meaning of kilo is not necessarily interchangeable with the words “look or see.” In Hawaiian history, kilo was a habitual practice utilized by students of navigation, metaphysics, and healing. This habitual and sustained observation continues to play an essential role in modern Polynesian/Pacific voyaging & wayfinding, the Hawaiian moon calendar (kaulana mahina), and fishing practices. In particular, the moon calendar is a great example of kilo as each phase of the moon has a specific name and with best farming practices identified for each phase.
Observation using five senses – By definition, kilo involves all five senses. Kilo does not simply involve looking or listening.
Reflection – Hawaiians value reflection as a vital practice as well. Kilo would not be this practice without the reflective work, as it was part of the practice to discuss and reflect on your observations with a mentor or a peer.
Much of what we learned aligns with John Dewey’s progressive philosophy. Dewey explains, “we must select the kind of present experiences that live fruitfully and creatively in subsequent experiences'' (p. 28). Dewey also reminds us of the importance of observing and improving upon the environment we teach in. He writes, “A primary responsibility of educators is that they not only be aware of the general principle of the shaping of actual experience by environing conditions, but that they also recognize in the concrete what surroundings are conducive to having experiences that lead to growth” (Experience & Education, 1938, p. 40). With all of this in mind, our hope was that after practicing kilo in our classrooms, teachers would feel inspired, informed, connected, and empowered to strengthen our JK to 6th Grade continuum of experience.
To productively E kilo kākou throughout the school year, we utilized 13 faculty meetings and followed a recurring protocol:
1:00 - 1:35 Faculty/Staff Announcements
1:35 - 1:45 Using kilo skills, everyone explores a featured classroom, observing the
walls, student work, classroom set up, etc., and adds wonderings to the
board in response to the prompt, What questions do you have about the
learning?1:45 - 1:55 The host teacher(s) share brief information about current learning - i.e.
“Our overarching theme is interdependence, and we are currently
studying the ocean and water cycle. Our ILOs are… you can
see them here. Children are learning about the parts of the cycle right
now and practicing their observation skills by…”1:55 - 2:05 The observers ask clarifying questions to the host teacher to begin a
dialogue and collaboration between faculty that will extend beyond this
brief experience.2:05 - 2:15 In small groups, teachers talk about the following questions and complete
a Google Doc addressing:What do you see that could connect to your work?
What do you see that connects to the Mission, Vision, and Schoolwide Learning Outcomes?
What examples do you see of student voice?
How do you see the social justice standards in action in the classroom/unit?
2:15 - 3:00 Other Faculty Meeting Agenda – In just over an hour, we have stimulated
thought, reflection, dialogue, and connection, and still have time reserved
for other faculty business.
Originally, we asked teachers to answer the four questions individually on a Google Form; however, having the teachers talk about them in small groups was more effective and created better learning and connection. The answers were shared with the host team so they could learn more and see the connections shared.
Results from the Year
Reflecting on the year, 100% of the faculty felt the experience helped them learn more and improve their practice as progressive educators.
Over 91% agreed or strongly agreed that E Kilo Kākou improved their kilo skills as teacher-scientists.
Here are a few quotes from the survey:
Did E Kilo Kākou inspire any more discussions with other teachers about future collaborations? (Please share an example or two.)
Yes! We collaborated with Kulāiwi [2nd/3rd grade class] to learn from them about the water cycle when we were learning about the weather [in Junior Kindergarten]. We also talked with Kukunaokalā [K/1 class] about language arts connections and sharing resources that they use so that the JK kids are familiar with the upcoming jump to Kukunaokalā.
Yes! After the JK Kilo session, we immediately started brainstorming how we could be more intentional about nurturing the relationships amongst children across JK and Kukunaokalā (such as having a combined 'Ohana time where we flow between the three classrooms).
Provide an example that illustrates how E Kilo Kākou learning prompted reflection and/or change for your program.
I feel like I do a lot of the things that observers are asked to pay attention to, but I don't always do it in a structured or visible way. E Kilo Kākou gave me a chance to make it much more tangible, put it on the walls, point out student voices, and really highlight the connections.
The program inspired me to create more visual scaffolding throughout the library, both to educate visitors at a glance and to have more student voice represented throughout the space.
E Kilo Kākou learning prompted a change in the JK program when we went to see Kukunaokalā. We went back to our classroom and thought about ways we could ensure our big space was still set up with intention and meaning, and that everything in our space had a purpose. Because their spaces are smaller than ours, they really do a great job of using their space with great purpose and that was inspiring.
After we would kilo it was great to engage in the group discussion over the questions. Sharing about similarities across programs and the connections they all had throughout the grade levels.
E Kilo Kākou has allowed me to reflect on our mission and beliefs as an entire school. This was especially meaningful and helpful this year as we embarked on our self-study. This time gave me an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of each classroom and to think about how our Kukunaokalā curriculum ties into other classrooms. Visiting each class for such a short period of time without the children in the classroom didn't allow me enough time to really take things that I saw and implement and change what I'm doing in my own room; however, I think it was a good start and I hope we get a phase two next year where we have more time to connect with at the grades above and below us.
Seeing how other teachers are approaching SJ [Social Justice] education was useful. I now understand that SJ education does not have to be explicit, rather it can be threaded into a classroom culture and implemented by practices. Also, getting a glimpse at where my students need to generally be at the end of the year has helped me understand what skills need to be strengthened in my class before kids make a transition up.
In looking to next year, what are your ideas for continuing to build cross-classroom conversations and collaboration around curriculum continuity?
How about we do something similar but focus on integrated units or experiences? Like a specialist AND a grade team together, sharing about an integrated learning experience, and maybe allowing faculty to experience that as a learner.
I think it would be nice to do some cross-classroom examinations of the teams' written curriculum--could we share unit write-ups and have people comment and engage in dialogue about what is written. I think this would help to continue articulation across teams and would help strengthen our curriculum write-ups and what we are able to share with others outside of our school.
Maybe just providing FREE time for informal conversations to happen. Or maybe multiple hours where the time is dedicated to "visiting" with other classes on some sort of rotating schedule, but without having the formalized "tour" portion of the process.
Please share any other thoughts for the future.
I think it would be neat to go into classrooms and observe teaching taking place. It is great to see student work, and look at curriculum maps but to observe the teaching and daily life is so beneficial.
I usually attend most of the Parent Nights/Class meetings so I initially thought it would be a similar content and format. However, some classes really highlighted their work based on the teacher's perspective and curriculum, which was really interesting and helpful for me as their colleague (versus a general overview).
I would like to continue to find time to go into classrooms to see different spaces, and to go at a time where I can see the kids at work. Watching teaching in action helps me better understand the curriculum and how we can better utilize their previous knowledge and build towards the concepts and skills they will explore in 6th grade. Thank you for giving us time to get to know each other better!
Going Forward
Based on the excellent feedback from faculty, we are considering these possibilities for the 2023-2024 school year:
Having teaching teams use part of a planning meeting to go and observe in classrooms together. By filling out a reflection form at the end, they could share the learning with the host teacher(s).
Hiring a roaming sub for a few days to allow time for teaching teams to visit other classrooms or attend specialist classes while students are present.
Having a second program articulation time at the end of the first semester as we currently only have program articulation once, at the end of the year. During this time, teachers share what the students learned with the teachers they will be joining the following year, but a second program articulation in the middle of the school year might lead to more collaboration and learning while the students are still in the class.
Having classroom and specialist teachers share integrated projects, and allow the faculty to participate in the project in some way.
While we didn’t require administrators to attend these sessions, in the future, we will, as it is an opportunity to learn more about the program they support.
Going back to my opening quote, life does move fast and, as administrators, we need to create opportunities for our faculty to leave their own classrooms and kilo others. The learning experience should benefit everyone. I hope these ideas help you as you think about ways that your own faculty can E Kilo Kākou.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Mike Travis is the Director of Faculty and Curriculum, Upper Elementary at Hanahauʻoli School, where he has supported teachers since 2019. A passionate, lifelong learner, Mike has been an educator for more than 20 years working with students from elementary to graduate levels. Mike believes, "Educators truly can make a difference in the lives of their students, so I always serve with a strong sense of responsibility for their success and an inner energy and enthusiasm that are contagious to all around me." Mike loves long-distance running, spending time with family, and writing books.
