Rubric Design

            The wordle created as a class using 15 word phrases that we each associated with STEMS2 brought forth various words.  Like the differences and similarities in our perspectives of STEMS2, as educators we must be certain that our stem unit plans not only assess our student’s understandings but also assess the way in which we deliver lessons to students. 

            In essence, the formative assessment is a self-check for an educator to figure our where to guide the flow of the lesson as different things may come up or the approach for student comprehension might not be happening.  A summative assessment would be a way to evaluate student understanding at the end of the unit and hopefully with formative assessments along the way, the unit was a success for increasing student knowledge.  These are just some aspects of things to be aware of when trying to approach education with a multiple lens.

            In designing a rubric for a STEMS unit plan via the "wordle" the key concepts that would be important to get across in a STEMS unit is the development of multiple lenses as well as collaboration/multiple connections amongst student perspectives and social circles.  Community engagement and place based history comprehension/sense of place is another group of concepts that would be objectives for student comprehension.  The rubric will also guide students as to where within each objective should a student be performing in order to meet the minimum of the lesson and what is considered quality work.

Criteria	Acceptable	Target	Beyond
Multiple lenses	Student is able to identify two different disciplines of education within a lesson and explain the interconnectivity.	Student is able to identify 3-4 disciplines of education within a lesson and explain the interconnectivity.	Student is able to identify 5+ disciplines of education within a lesson and explain the interconnectivity.
Collaboration /Multiple connections with others	Student is able to follow directions and work together in a group comfortably, expressing respect and openness to complete a task.	Student takes the initiative to begin work together in a group and comfortably applies others perspectives to complete the task.	Student shows ability to lead group work that honors all perspectives and creates increased unity amongst peers.
Community Engagement	Student has set up interviews with family members and community stakeholders to understand community need and wants.	Student has conducted interviews and has followed up by putting together an event or completed a project to help with the needs and wants of community.	Student has taken lessons and has presented findings at a community event/meeting.
Place Base History/Sense of place	Student is familiar with the place-based information of his/her educational site, example: names of land divisions, mountains, streams, rain and wind etc. Respect towards environment is expressed.	Student is familiar with the place in which they call home. They can identify names and characteristics unique to educational site and their home base. Respect and increased land stewardship is expressed.	Student is familiar with multiple areas within their community and can perform cultural practices unique to the area and environmental methods to best support a sustainable and healthy environment and community.

STEMS2 Unit Planning

I personally feel that what makes a STEMS^2 Unit is bridging together various frameworks of education that honors all types of perspectives creating a more relevant, culturally appropriate and worldly approach to education.  The core of the unit being the innovative effort of educators in conjunction with community and families to involve every student into the circle of learning no matter the topic.  

    The particular design my STEMS^2 unit will follow should definitely help me to achieve an outline of what my curriculum should look like to successful increase cultural identity amongst youth within my community.  I realized that as I studied various frameworks and theories of education, I found myself veering away from my initial goal to work on a soil curriculum.  I found myself more and more out of sorts with developing curriculum on one singular topic as soil.  I knew I could incorporate all types of other topics increasing the diversity of my unit with my slow but steady clear understanding of STEMS^2 educational approach.  However, I still felt like the way I was thinking before, majorly changed in that as much as I wanted students to understand soil, which in my mind I could create a sense of cultural rediscovery with it, I knew coming from that specific topic first, would have certain amount of students drop off from the initial sounding of specific chemistry terms etc.  Therefore, now I feel that designing my unit through a social construct such as identity particularly cultural identity, I can bring students and community together first and then eventually incorporate soils education later.  I realize that as much as soil education is not widespread, the bigger problem I observe in Hawaiʻi is not infertile and forgotten soils and farmlands but more so forgotten souls which were once possibly former DOE students but failed to rise because they maybe didn't have the proper opportunities.  Perhaps the education systems shut them off versus turned them on to possibilities that they can achieve outside of their day-to-day reality that might not support higher education and positivity.

   Therefore, I’m grateful for the fruitful talks I’ve had with colleagues and teachers on the ideas about educating youth.  It really has helped me to understand the process in which I’m trying to follow to create valuable curriculum that can enact positive change in the viability, strength and sustainability of the mental, social, physical, economical and environmental aspects of society. This type of community strength through innovative approaches to education I think will increase educational success amongst students and the sustainability of individual families through support of collective action.  It’s a great way to think that as we go forward more talk about incorporation of others and the concept of thinking of others will become more widespread.  This is a strong aspect of Hawaiian culture and I wish it was apart of mainstream education in Hawaiʻi along with many other Hawaiian perspectives, because I truly believe it provides a strong foundation for youth in Hawaiʻi to be successful and be contributing members to Hawaiʻiʻs society. 

Multicultural Education Frameworks and Standards Implementation

 The role of multicultural education frameworks is to incorporate a sense of equality within teaching that takes into account all students backgrounds.  It does not simply mean education about a specific culture for a specific day.  It means properly teaching topics that incorporate interactions amongst students that dispel racism and prejudice in topics such as race, religion, gender, class, sexual orientation etc. In the critical race theory view of cultural capital, communities of color are looked at normally with a deficit lens but CRT chooses to view them from the wealth standpoint that exists within these culturally diverse groups of people.  CRT is expressed as a type of social justice project in that it represents a theoretical and analytical framework that challenges the impacts race and racism have on educational structures and pedagogy.  It identifies the imbalance amongst educational systems for the various cultures they serve and the need to incorporate their cultural capital into frameworks of education.

         In looking at both these frameworks it definitely opened my eyes up to the amount of imbalance that exists in the educational systems nationwide.  I feel that it really has to do with the lack of focus in education systems on individual cultural identity and value.  Its almost like people of color can be proud on the designated days or months of their culture festivities but its like a "cultural vacation" for them. The reality being that the world we really live in is one that was set up to particularly support one specific type or class of people hence the efforts to bring in a teaching framework that honors all backgrounds shall be strongly supported a school-wide reform and not just curriculum reform. 

         I know these frameworks will impact my learning spaces and STEMS2 goals because I feel strongly about this type of perspective prevalent in my curriculum. It definitely marries well with my STEMS2 goals in that we are constantly striving to incorporate all student perspectives in teaching, being sure to provide safe spaces for learning and being ones true self.  The reason why they are important to consider too is because Hawaiʻi is a diverse place and we are known to be a melting pot of cultures.  With that said there’s a lot of confusion that can occur.  This place also has a heavy history that directly relates to the current educational constructs in Hawaiʻi.  These types of racism and race lessons are important to identify, discuss and educate students about Hawaiʻi.  It also must be done without instilling barriers amongst Non-Hawaiian and Hawaiian students but allowing the two lens to be shared and discussed to bring more clarity and understanding of viewpoints.   When we begin to understand ones origins and one another’s true intentions, values and goals in life, healing and openness is created.  I feel there is a better chance of making a change that will benefit a large population when there is mutual respect and understanding amongst all peoples despite any differences. This is my hope, so it is important that everyone’s background is implemented thoughtfully while educating and teaching about situations.  Furthermore, sharing about accounts of racism in the classroom can be viewed as a tool to bring about awareness, understanding, healing and change amongst contrasting groups.

My thoughts on Na Hopena Aʻo

I really enjoyed learning about Na Hopena Aʻo and the efforts that were made by pioneers of the program to have this type of education medium placed in the mainstream DOE system.  I feel their efforts are something to be applauded as we know throughout the history of education in Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian concepts, thoughts and language have not always been something welcomed into the teaching curricula.  Itʻs a crazy concept to comprehend when we know the value indigenous culture and the practices of this place can play in the providing individuals (not just kanaka maoli, natives) a sense of identify and connection.

As I was reading through Na Hopena Aʻo, I couldn't stop thinking about how similar this program is to what my friends and I have talked about in the sense of what students today lack and what they need.  I personally feel that the programʻs efforts to highlight cultural concepts and values can be a real game changer for youth in our Hawaiʻi education systems if and only if this program is fully honored for what it is and applied consistently.

In my observations and in some instances in my own path, Hawaiian youth and non Hawaiian youth lack so much after high school in relation to the real world and what it truly means to be from Hawaiʻi and to brough up in this special place.  They are so caught up in the happenings of adolescence with all its extra-curricular activities that a lot of times the aspect of connection to place and also responsibility to community and family is overlooked and not stressed at all. It can happen at home for sure, but when majority of a studentʻs day is taken up at school, this type of education needs to be happening in the school system as well.  Too often I see students graduate from a high school in Hawaiʻi and leave and represent nothing that is Hawaiʻi.  They don't carry with them any true example that can make one identify them as coming from Hawaiʻi besides the stereotypical/generalizations of people from Hawaiʻi. Example, a shaka, talk pidgin, eat spam, love pineapples.  Its a shame that our youth can graduate from an education in Hawaiʻi and carry no true concepts of Hawaiian culture, the beautiful ʻaina that surrounds them and feeds them while in school.

If our students could be given a strong foundation in Hawaiian cultural concepts of caring for one another, leaving places better than we found them, respecting places for what they are and understanding that people do as they do where they are and that we must adapt to those ways when we are guests our students would come out much more worldly and be better able to adapt to any environment.  It also provides Hawaiʻi a plethora of citizens that are actually attuned to one another and the responsibility each of us have to eachother if we want a strong, capable and functioning society. Not only does this program have the ability to instill and highlight the human aspect of connection but also the value of environment and most importantly create a firm foundation for our youth to stand up on and not feel alone.  They can feel apart of something big and know they have a an actual role in the vitality of their community and peers. Aloha kekahi i kekahi!

STEMS2 Goals REVISITED:)

After my first blog post on my goals for this semester and in STEMS2 Iʻve realized that in setting out what I intend to do, I often tend to carry a heavier load on myself. What I mean by that is I tend to do the groundwork on my own initially and then start to wrangle in others to the dream. I also shy away from pinpointing out my struggles in the process and just keep trekking on optimistically despite it being difficult, definitely both a good and bad thing.  Therefore, tasks can be somewhat overwhelming at periods of time in the process and thatʻs never fun.

I realize that I tend to do the groundwork on my own initially because I am still figuring out what I want things to look like or follow a certain way.  I also tend to not want to bother someone with my goals and thoughts when everyone has things going on too.  More often than not, once I am pretty clear on my direction and I got components of the project set properly then i feel more comfortable bringing people in to the wild ideas I have.

However, in the past two weeks Iʻve been networking with various people about upcoming projects within the non-profit but also for a bunch of my extracurricular activities and even something as simple as getting my yard landscaped.  In these moments of exchange, Ive come to believe that even if I get everything figured out on what I want it to look like and how I want something to flow, as my old boss used to always mention, "everything falls to shit." He is definitely not a pessimistic person at all, but it was more his way of reminding us to always have a plan B because plan A can and possibly will fall to shit and we best be prepared.  Therefore, I like to think that if things can and possibly will fall to shit at some point, then maybe having a bunch of ideas from all facets of life and various minds early on isnʻt such a disadvantage.  In fact I think as Ive always believed two minds are better than one, so having input early on before I even know the exact route and destination to my goals may be more of an advantage than a disadvantage.  Furthermore, it could even mean more ideas I didn't even think to incorporate or challenge myself to believe was possible.  Outside thoughts definitely can give fuel to the partial ideas we have, making them complete and capable of even greater things than we initially fathomed.

In conclusion, my goals mentioned in my first blog post still stand, but it now most certainly includes me being mindful to not be caught up on figuring it all out beforehand by myself.  But allowing for input at the early stages of accomplishing the goal so I have the opportunity to be inspired by others and incorporate their ideas together with mine to truly crush goals in the future. I also personally feel that working with others and sharing my ideas early on when trying to tackle a big goal makes for light work emotionally, physically and mentally.  I definitely get to experience that in this program as Ive never been a part of a cohort before and experience this level of peer support. I have always been in programs within UH (minus Hawaiian Studies) where Im the minority or Im somewhat alone.  Therefore, Iʻve come somewhat accustomed in academia to only work in groups if assigned or just work with one person to study but not necessarily develop programs and complete projects that I hope to better people and places with.  I look forward to implementing this mindfulness more often and truly open myself up to all kinds of things both old, new, out of my normal and maybe even at times uncomfortable and vulnerable feeling.