The Polynesian Cultural Center

Yesterday, George & I took a little adventure to the Polynesian Cultural Center ("PCC") in La'ie, Hawaii. Although the place has been on the list for both of us, the visit was prompted as one of my students from Kahuku performs regularly in the evening show at the center. As a native Samoan, he performs with heart and enthusiasm with the group from his home country.

Having lived in Polynesia for about 8 months now, I am starting to think it is the best place on earth. Of course I have a lot more places to visit before I can say that definitively, but its pretty awesome here. Visiting the PCC enhanced my appreciation of indigenous Polynesian cultures. In these cultures - some of which have changed very little from centuries past, people eat a healthy diet of fish and tropical fruits. People build and make almost everything they need from the coconut tree. Houses and boats are built from the wood. The fronds are used to make roofing, bowls, and hats. and clothing. The shell of the coconuts is used to make bowls, small tools, and decorations and the meat is eaten or used to make coconut milk. The people spend their days fishing, boating, and cooking and their nights are spent singing, playing games, and dancing. The joy of Polynesian lifestyle is expressed plainly in many of the dances and songs/chants. Of course there are some more sombre and ritualistic songs and dances, but the majority are lively, playful, or just plain fun. What more does anyone need in life?

If you come to Hawaii, I recommend a trip to the PCC. It is a bit pricey, but your ticket includes entrance to the island exhibits, a luau with authentic Hawaiian food, and the evening show. When you think of how much you get for the price of a ticket, it is actually quite reasonable. The highlight of the PCC is the evening show in which groups from each of the Polynesian island nations perform their own dance and music in indigenous dress. It is a wonderful experience.

For more pictures and a few video clips, go here.

North Shore Waves

A few weeks back, the North Shore of Oahu saw some of the winter season's biggest waves. I took a lot of pictures, but they don't capture the scale of these waves. In the picture below, taken at "Sharks' Cove", the spray coming off the rocks is roughly 60-70 feet high. The waves themselves are roughly 25 feet. Try and picture a teeny person standing on the long rock out beyond the cove . If I had Photoshop I could put something out there to give a better idea of the scale, but you'll have to use your imagination. More pictures from a couple different days out on the North Shore are here. Oh - did I mention there were surfers out there? They were far away from the rocks of course, but they are still crazy! Oh - and one last thing - the only time I've seen a real traffic jam on the North Shore of Oahu was on the day I took this picture. People were lined up along all the beaches and the coastal road to watch the waves and the nutty surfers and traffic was essentially stopped. You gotta love a place where the only thing that causes traffic is people stopping in awe at mother nature.

Update on the 2007-2008 Job Situation

As predicted, my principal had to hire a tenured teacher to fill my position for next school year. Her email felt like a gut-punch to me, but I'm recovering from the initial disappointment and trying to move forward. On the positive side, she said she is keeping another position open for me for next year. The trouble is, it wouldn't be exclusively ELL (English Language Learning). I need more details, but it sounds like I would be a reading specialist who works with ELL students. I'm not sure how I feel about this because it is really not my specialty. There is, however, a lot of overlap between ELL and reading. I may just look for another full-time ELL job. On the flip side, since George and I will likely only be in Hawaii until 2009, I'm not sure I want to uproot again with the possibility of being bumped again the following year. Luckily, next school year is still far off, so I don't have to rush these decisions. I would love any and all thoughts on my situation. Sigh...

"Professional Educators are the Cornerstone of our Mission" - Hawaii Dep't of Ed. Website

I don't usually use my blog to write about "issues." However, I cannot let the absurdity of Hawaii's teacher-hiring system go untold.

Let me begin this story with some background on the school where I work school and the students in my classes. Three short weeks ago, I began working with the ELL classes (English Language Learner) at Kahuku High & Intermediate School, grades 7-12. Kahuku, Hawaii is a close-knit rural community on Oahu's North Shore. It has a mixed immigrant population with familes from, among others, Tonga, Samoa, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Laos. Across the U.S., ELLs are an oft-forgotten and neglected group of students. The approximately forty ELL students enrolled in ELL language arts classes at Kahuku have almost slipped through the cracks.

(Note: The following part of the story is a history that I have pieced together from conversations with various coworkers at Kahuku. I have done my best to be accurate, but of course I didn't experience any of the previous changes first hand.)

At the end of the 2005-2006 school year, Kahuku's ELL teacher of 10 years moved on to a position at the district level. I have spoken with her some and from what I can tell and have heard she was - and is - passionate about the education of ELL students. After she left Kahuku, however, things started falling apart. At the beginning of the new school-year, a former social studies teacher assumed the helm of the ELL program and the teaching of its 40 or so students. It is unclear whether this teacher lacked the training or motivation to work with this very high-need group of students. Perhaps he did not get the support needed to perform this new job, but by November, 2006 the ELL program had completely fallen into disarray. The teacher called in sick for two consecutive weeks and it became apparent that he was never coming back. The students have described feelings of hurt and abandonment due to this situation. An assortment of substitute teachers led the class for the remainder of the fall semester.

In January 2007, the school placed a long-term substitute teacher at the head of the ELL classes. This teacher, however, offered little instruction to the students. At last, in early February 2007, principal at Kahuku was able to draft the help of an experienced ELL teacher from a nearby high school to help undo the damage of the previous six months. This teacher remained in the classroom for a week and then another substitute teacher stayed with the students until I became the students' permanent full-time teacher on February 20, 2007.

While I have only been in my position for three weeks, I believe I have restored the order that was absent during the students' period of teacher turnover. Once again, the students are working on learning English. They have returned to the challenging task of becoming competent readers in their new language and learning to express themselves orally and in writing. They are developing listening skills while simultaneously trying to grasp the difficult nuances of English grammar.

Still, the chaos they have been through has left a mark on them. The students have had at least five different teachers since the beginning of the school year. It is no surprise that I have had students ask me questions such as, "Ms. Rodvien, are you going to stay with us?" or "Ms. Rodvien, will you at least stay until I graduate from high school in 2009?"

Until last week, the answer I gave was a resounding "Yes!" In three short weeks, I have grown so attached to my wonderful students. I spring out of bed at 5:30am ready to start the day, ready to challenge and serve them. I have worked hard on improving the physical environment of the classroom: repainting, cleaning, scrounging around for classroom furniture that wasn't broken and actually matches, and ordering very basic supplies that were missing. Students have begun to help. With only a little guidance, they have painted the words for "hello" in their first languages on the walls of the classroom alongside hibiscus flowers, all in bright Kahuku-red. At last, the students are starting to feel some stability again.

Unfortunately, thanks to the brilliant teacher-hiring system these lovely students may have yet another teacher come next fall. I am crushed to learn that I may have to tell these students that I indeed cannot stay with them until they graduate. You see, I am recently-licensed ELL teacher. For that reason, my position at Kahuku must be listed as vacant for next school year. More senior teachers from other schools have priority in filling this "vacancy." Basically, because I am new to the system, my job can be poached by more senior teachers.

Honestly, I am not that worried what will happen to me, although I do have a few concerns. As a new teacher, having to pick up and move to a different school only a few months into my professional teaching career is a heavy burden. Every school does things differently: schools have different materials and different program structures. There are no official state-wide curriculum or standards for ELL. ELL teachers must design curriculum on their own, from scratch, based on the needs of their students and the design of their school's chosen ELL program model. Most importantly, I will have another steep learning curve to face in getting to know the individual needs and abilities of the students I serve.

At this point, however, my bigger concern is the students. After a year of being tossed about like unwanted foster children, the last thing that will benefit these students is yet another teacher come fall. They need continuity. They need the stability of a teacher who has begun to learn about each of them as individuals. They need the stability of a teacher who is not in fear of her job security, even if she were the most successful teacher in history!

My question is: who does this absurd job-poaching system benefit? If yet another teacher comes to teach the ELL class, it will certainly not benefit the students. Once again, they will have lost any continuity and stability they regained in their classroom. It will certainly not benefit me as a new teacher. I will essentially have to start over in a new school. Did I mention that any job I get can be "poached" for the first two years of my teaching career? Even at a new school, I will have to live with the knowledge that I will have to start all over yet again in 2008-2009. The system does not benefit the students who will be losing their teacher to my school. Basically, everyone loses. Yet this is the system in place in Hawaii's schools.

Oh wait - maybe there is one person who benefits: the more senior teacher who now has a shorter commute to her new job than she did to her former school. Yes, it is a great system after all.

My New Job at Kahuku

At long, long last, I have begun my new professional life as a full-time ELL (English Language Learning) teacher at Kahuku High & Intermediate School. As far as schools go, Kahuku is a one-of-a-kind. Of course no two schools are exactly alike, but a place like Kahuku is rare. It is known as the "Pride of the North Shore." Kahuku is the sole secondary school for several rural communities lining Oahu's surf-famous North Shore. Besides being home to great surfers, the North Shore is home to Brigham Young University's Hawaii campus and a large mormon community. It is also home to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is the preeminent place in the Pacific for all things Polynesian. Finally, Turtle Bay Resort and Golf Course takes a section of the coastline as well as the private vacation homes of many celebrities.

Adding to its unusual mix of residents, Kahuku High & Intermediate School (HIS) includes many immigrant students from across the Pacific and the Pacific rim. For that reason, it has been a fascinating place to begin a career teaching English. My students, grades 7-12, hail from Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, and Kiribati as well as China, Taiwan, Laos, and the Philippines. Kahuku's rural location make it an unlikely location for such cultural mixing, yet there it is. By the way, Kahuku is also home of the high-school state-champion football team. In Kahuku, they "bleed red" for Kahuku Red Raiders. Kahuku HIS has more alumni in the NFL than any other school in the ENTIRE U.S. I think I may have a future NFL-er in my grade 12 class.

All that said, the beginnings of my new career have been wonderful. I have felt eager and excited every day to wake up and get to work. George provided immense help in getting my classroom looking more like, well, a classroom! When I took my first steps there, it was instantly obvious how much work needed to be done. There were layers of dust and dirt and rust that needed to be scraped away from various parts of the classroom. There were student files from the early 1990s. We gave my desk and a file cabinet a fresh coat of paint. Since our initial effort, I've done more cleaning, painting, file-purging, and furniture-rearranging. I've ordered basic supplies that were absent (thank goodness there were funds in the budget!) and enlisted the help of many delighted students to make improvements here and there.

Aside from the physical environment, I've done my best to inform my wonderful students that ESL will no longer be an "easy A", but I've also let them know that I care immensely about their success and their general well-being. They are responding positively so far and I am thrilled to have encountered so many wonderful young people in my new position.

Well, I am sure I could find another hundred things to say about my experiences so far, but I will save more for another time. I have no doubt that Kahuku will offer many, many wonderful and fascinating experiences. I look forward to them all. Please look at my lovely new home away from home (away from home) over here.

Carrie and Paul Come to Hawaii

During a week in early February, we had the pleasure of visitors from back East. Carrie and Paul brought us in-person reminders of our fond friendships with DC-area pals. They also came ready to relax and take in the island. While both George and I had to work during their vacation week, we managed to have some nice free time with our visitors, including a trip up to the North Shore, the Dole Plantation in central Oahu, Chinatown in downtown Honolulu, and a windy hike up Kolekole Pass complete with a wild peacock sighting. Carrie and Paul took a lot more pictures than I did, but I captured a few that you can see here. We had a great time with our lovely and kind guests and we hope that many more will follow in their footsteps.

Great Times with Ladies from Pusan

At last, I have enough time to sit down and write about some of the wonderful experiences I am having here in Hawaii. In early February, I had a very special experience teaching a two-week intensive English class at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu. My students were 8 women from a university in Pusan, Korea. With a small class size, we got to know each other very quickly. Its amazing how quickly the bonds between us grew. Despite language barrier, we managed to communicate very well, in thanks mostly to the ladies' outstanding English language efforts. (I know only two phrases in Korean: "ahn yeon ha say yo" (hello) and "soju" (a korean liquor!). At any rate, by the end of the two weeks, we were all very sad to say goodbye. We'd laughed and danced hula together and got to know each other very well.

Take a look the pictures that both and I the students took and you will get an idea of the wonderful time we had together. And oh - did I mention that Kapiolani Community College has one of the most beautiful views of any campus I've ever seen? Well, it is in Hawaii after all. A hui hou! (See ya later!)