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Mr. Otsubo’s Classroom Edit display name

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Kēia wahi means "this place" in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. This place we call home, no matter your ethnic culture is Hawaiʻi, and it is unique and special: kuʻu home makamae - my prized home. These are the sentiments and the pride that I want my students to have for their community. It will not only benefit them in the now by providing them a connection - he pili - to the environment around them, but it will also provide them with a heading, a purpose: to foster and protect this prized land. My theory on successful education is simple: if you give your students a reason to come to school every day and a reason to learn, every student will leave your class better than when they first entered. Giving students this purpose though takes time. It takes creativity. Last school year I tapped into my reservoir of creativity to design materials used in my culturally centered curriculum. With the use of an iPad I borrowed from a co-teacher, I animated and narrated moʻolelo (Hawaiian stories) giving my students context to the place they call home (as well as having them hone their vocabulary strategies through defining unknown ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi words dispersed throughout the moʻolelo). With the help of my colleagues, I also used the GarageBand app on the iPad to direct, record, edit, and produce a culturally relevant, full length play that served as the primary text for the final unit in my class. No data can quantify exactly what a student has learned or how much they've grown as a person; this information can only be gathered through watching them in class; listening to their discussions. At the end of the year I knew I impacted my students' views on not just education but ultimately Hawaiʻi and their place.

About my class

Kēia wahi means "this place" in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. This place we call home, no matter your ethnic culture is Hawaiʻi, and it is unique and special: kuʻu home makamae - my prized home. These are the sentiments and the pride that I want my students to have for their community. It will not only benefit them in the now by providing them a connection - he pili - to the environment around them, but it will also provide them with a heading, a purpose: to foster and protect this prized land. My theory on successful education is simple: if you give your students a reason to come to school every day and a reason to learn, every student will leave your class better than when they first entered. Giving students this purpose though takes time. It takes creativity. Last school year I tapped into my reservoir of creativity to design materials used in my culturally centered curriculum. With the use of an iPad I borrowed from a co-teacher, I animated and narrated moʻolelo (Hawaiian stories) giving my students context to the place they call home (as well as having them hone their vocabulary strategies through defining unknown ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi words dispersed throughout the moʻolelo). With the help of my colleagues, I also used the GarageBand app on the iPad to direct, record, edit, and produce a culturally relevant, full length play that served as the primary text for the final unit in my class. No data can quantify exactly what a student has learned or how much they've grown as a person; this information can only be gathered through watching them in class; listening to their discussions. At the end of the year I knew I impacted my students' views on not just education but ultimately Hawaiʻi and their place.

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About my class

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