MPX 10: A modern take on Hawaiian history

On January 19, the MPX10 class attended a field trip to Iolani Palace. Having recently finished the novel Unfamiliar Fishes, a modern take on Hawaiian history, the students were beginning to research the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, as well as design their own projects on the topic.

The excellent palace tour the MPX students received from the Judiciary History Center's education specialist and docent Keahe Davis certainly supplemented their in-class education.

"The students were intrigued to stand in the room where Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned after the overthrow and were disappointed to learn of the auctioning off of most the palace's furniture by the provisional government in an attempt to erase the culture of the monarchy," said teacher Heather Calabro. "The lessons learned by the students through this field trip are immeasurable and will surely serve as inspiration in their self-designed projects."

Teen Issues, 8th Grade Project Based Learning Kickoff

Today was the kick-off for the 8th grade project, Teen Issues. The goal of this 3rd quarter project is to empower our 8th students to be able to make conscientious choices and decisions regarding adolescent issues. The 8th grade faculty team has worked over a year on this PBL (project based learning) and is excited to finally get it off the ground.

Teaching Colleagues and Aspiring Teachers Look to MPI

This is an especially busy semester at the elementary with aspiring college students majoring in education spending some time in our teachers' classrooms. For the past two years, students in the University of Hawaii's teacher education program have worked with their mentor teachers (our elementary faculty). Each semester of three semesters we have a new cohort of teaching candidates. In the fourth semester, another cohort settles into new roles as student teachers doing precisely what their title suggests -- students actually teaching classes over a period of time, always under the guidance of the mentor teacher and a university faculty supervisor. This spring we welcome eight University of Hawaii teacher candidates who are in our classes all day every Monday and Tuesday. We also have two UH student teachers who hope to receive their teacher certifications and teaching degrees in May. Another classroom teacher is mentoring a student teacher from the University of Reno, Nevada. Even the preschool faculty will have their share of teacher candidates from UH West O`ahu College this semester.