For Our Children

It’s time to re-visit a blog I had written on September 8 about private schools with a public purpose:

Independent schools should have a public purpose, and at our Mid-Pacific preschool and elementary, this purpose is to help prepare new teachers for Hawaiʻi. For nearly 20 years, we have had a partnership with the University of Hawaiʻi College of Education (and some years with UH West Oʻahu and Chaminade University) to provide mentor teachers for their teacher candidates. UH-Mānoa College of Educationʻs teacher training program is two intensive years of coursework and practice teaching.

The elementary campus is benefitting from the presence of seven student teachers, three in their last semester of teacher preparation. We also have a student teacher from Minnesota State University. Itʻs an honor to be regarded as a school where aspiring teachers learn first-hand about the craft of teaching from our own Mid-Pacific faculty.

Half of the student teachers are continuing in their second semester of the UH-Mānoa teacher preparation program at Mid-Pacific. Last semester they observed teachers’ interactions with students — how teachers phrase questions, how teachers “read” their students and whether they are understanding directions, the intentional pauses and waiting for students to think and respond, how teachers attend to off-task behaviors, the specific activities and why these activities are designed. Oh, so many things to observe!

Student teachers in their fourth or last semester of the two-year teacher preparation program will be “solo” teaching a few days. This means the student teachers will develop lesson plans that complement the mentor teacherʻs instructional design, with guidance from the mentor teacher and the university supervisor. The supervisor visits classrooms frequently to assess the student teacher’s progress. Sometimes you may be reading a blog written by the student teacher, just as our Mid-Pacific faculty also author blogs for the website and myPueo newsletter. Student teachers may sometimes attend faculty meetings or student-parent conferences, with parent permission.

Our students develop positive relationships with the student teachers and benefit from the additional support theyʻre receiving from them. The children are respectful of the student teachers, regarding them as they do all Mid-Pacific faculty. The faculty and student-teacher relationships are mutually beneficial. Our teachers have commented on learning some technology short-cuts and tips and the initiatives undertaken by DOE colleagues.

It’s truly an honor and privilege to be considered a teaching and learning site for the universityʻs teacher preparation program. We join the community of other independent and public schools to support aspiring teachers who commit to this noble profession. We hope this collegial relationship continues between Mid-Pacific and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. When I sign “for our children,” understand that in this context I am intending for all children in Hawaiʻi.

E Kūlia Kākou! Letʻs strive and aspire together!

For our children,

Edna L. Hussey, Ed.D.
Principal