Kamehameha Schools Distance Learning (KSDL) Owau

I attended this HR session, led by the always-insightful Alt Kagesa, to learn a little bit more about different leadership styles in KS as an organization. Here are some highlights: -Leading effective teams require: a common cause, quality contributors, effective communication, and quality connections, and the difference between a group and a team is a common cause.       I think that, if people are able to unite through the common cause, then they are able to work together effectively and build a strong team. However, I think even more core is the idea of respect for someone's work. I know that I have worked in teams where one person doesn't carry their load, coupled with how much they claimed to be doing--to me, situations like that undermine work and team work more than any personal issues, because they then make the work a personal issue. -A good leader recognizes when elements of a team aren't working.       Alt recommends train, transfer, or ...

As a part of a presentation group, I was fortunate to be able to attend the World Indigenous People's Conference on Education (WiPC:E), May 19 - 23, 2014. The 'Aha Wahine was also held on May 23, and I attended that as well. In addition, I worked on KS' committee to support WiPC:E efforts, and coordinated and regularly stocked the free informational table WiPC:E coordinators gave to KS. WiPC:E is an international conference, and so it was a real treat to see indigenous efforts around the world. Here are a few thoughts: 1. So many of the other indigenous groups had not integrated technology into culture as fully as Hawaiians, and especially Kamehameha Schools denizens, have, both in the classroom (eg, only seeing the use of basic presentation and storytelling software) and in everyday life (eg, many participants only had use of clamshell-style, pay-as-you-go cell phones). For me, it really put in perspective both how blessed we are here, and how important it is for us to ...

For this week's staff sharing, I introduced Adobe Voice, a new iPad app from Adobe: http://getvoice.adobe.com/ This app is a quick and easy way to make slide presentations, which is helpful for us as we describe our programs, give instructions, and want to share places we go to and our team experiences. We paired off to make our own Voice presentations, based off the following assignment: discussing things they mutually liked or disliked. Here are our presentations: Tina and Ben:  http://voice.adobe.com/v/FUNHDin-RRf Kelly and Kim:  http://voice.adobe.com/v/Cbkz_fskYPF Robin and Meredith:  http://voice.adobe.com/v/PrdUvn4Jnnx Dorothy and Clinton:  http://voice.adobe.com/v/NNmCjfuq3aV Joan and Cookie:  http://voice.adobe.com/v/HjYTuEhmrgn Robin Worley: (I couldn't get it to link; e kala mai) Technical issues aside, these were all put together in less than 20 minutes. Although these are silly and fun, I think this app could also be used in a professio...

A couple of years ago, when I first started at KS, I attended an Administration Group Leadership retreat at Waikīkī, and as part of the retreat, the group offered a hula as ho‘okupu when we visited Helumoa (where Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center is located).  A group performing hula (Photo from Royal Hawaiian Center Website) I learned that our vice president, Sylvia, had requested for this hula (and I think the chant, too) to be composed for the Administration Group, and all AG staff used to perform this hula at AG-wide events.  The chant is titled "Hō Mai He Wa‘a," which translates to "Grant Me a Canoe." Often times, there is a literal meaning and kaona, a hidden/symbolic meaning to oli and mele. In this case, the literal translation of the words are about a canoe as it sails swiftly as a fish through storms.  The kaona is that we are the canoes, and we call upon our ‘aumakua and stand together to overcome any obstacle that stands in our way. As hula i...

This year’s conference theme is “believe” and it is quite a powerful statement. As educators, we believe we can make a difference shaping the next generation to empower them with the 21st century skills needed to succeed in life. This is my second KS Ed Tech Conference overall, but my first as a KS staff. Overall, the conference sessions were very diverse in topics through the 4 strands that were offered (Collaboration & Community, Creativity & Curiosity, Critical Thinking, and Culture & Compassion). For this conference, I wanted to focus on sessions in the Collaboration & Community strands but managed to attend sessions from almost all strands except Critical Thinking. The sessions provided wealth of information from presenters who delivered with knowledge, enthusiasm and passion. In this blogpost, I will briefly reflect on my top two sessions and my one takeaway for each of these sessions. Lomi Salmon, Isn’t it Amazing What Happens When You Combine Hawaiian...