By Amber Strong Makaiau and Lia Woo
After a presentation at the 2019 Progressive Education Network Conference about Hanahau‘oli School’s Entering Teacher Cooperative, Lia Woo, Maia LeeLoy Dosland, Amber Strong Makaiau, and Chad Miller gather with teachers from the Francis Parker School in Chicago. Over 100 years ago, teachers from the Francis Parker school worked with Sophie and George Cooke to found Hanahau’oli School.
Founded in 1918, Hanahau‘oli School is a one hundred year old testament to the American progressive education movement. Originally conceptualized by Sophie Judd Cooke and Gudrun Thorne Thompson from the Francis Parker School in Chicago, Hanahau‘oli—which means joyful work school—started out as an experiment in John Dewey’s “controversial new philosophy of education” (Palmer, 1968, p. 1) and represented a radical departure from more traditional approaches to schooling. In her memoir Cooke explains,
Our school was ‘progressive’ in every sense of the word. We tried new methods and broke with the stilted formal type of instruction which was common at that time…we persisted, and I note that many of the methods—of correlating the work and ‘learning by doing’—have [now] been widely adopted in the public schools. Our crowning event was when Dr. John Dewey, who had advocated this theory of teaching, and Mrs. Dewey, came to visit our school and gave us the ‘green light.’ (Cooke, 1964, pp. 78 – 79)!
True to its origins (Dewey, 1916; 1938; Mayhew & Edwards, 1965), the school and its many traditions have grown and evolved over the years, and in many ways, remain the same (Palmer, 1968; Peters, 2015; Makaiau, 2015). This is the nature of progressive education. It is a living work in progress, a continually changing “mode of associated living” (Dewey, 1916, p. 87) that must be reflected on, evaluated, and modified to keep up with and more importantly stay ahead of the times to achieve its mission of creating “a better future society” (p. 20). Central to this task are the school’s faculty and staff, who must work together to both maintain equilibrium and foster innovation.
Using Systems-Based Progressive Education Thinking to Address the Gifts and Challenges of Teacher Longevity in Hanahau‘oli School’s Centennial Year
In 2018, the school’s centennial year, striking features of the Hanahau‘oli school faculty and staff included: experience, dedication, and above all longevity.To the school’s benefit, over the years, the low teacher turnover rate helped to preserve institutional knowledge and maintained consistency in philosophy, curriculum, programing, and overall school culture. However, as many veteran teachers transitioned into retirement, their well-deserved departure also presented the school with challenges. What would happen to the school culture when they left? How could the school preserve their institutional memory, history, foundational knowledge, and pedagogical wisdom? Vital to Hanahau‘oli’s ongoing success, how might school leaders share the retirees expertise and experience with new faculty and staff?
Reflected on and recorded in the school’s Self-Study, faculty and staff thought through the strengths and challenges of teacher longevity at Hanahau‘oli. They engaged in the important work of identifying key areas where the school would need to preserve history, pass it on to a new generation of teachers, and stay connected in some way to those who may leave but still have much to offer, perhaps in a different capacity. As a result, the following plan was developed:
Attract and retain the best-qualified teachers.
Explore and develop structures for capturing, preserving, and sharing the unique nature of the school’s culture, the “Hanahau‘oli way”.
Find opportunities to maintain retired teachers’ presence in our community such as a teachers-teaching-teachers model to pass along institutional knowledge.
Develop and refine a structured mentoring program that focuses on the school’s progressive philosophy, multiage teaming approach, thematic curriculum and overall school culture.
In the school’s one hundredth year, the centennial marked an important and timely milestone. Hanahau‘oli bid aloha to treasured colleagues, welcomed new faces, and used systems-based progressive education thinking to step into the school’s future.
The Entering Teacher Cooperative
Designed for the purpose of on-boarding and orienting new teachers to the Hanahau‘oli School community—the Entering Teacher Cooperative (ETC) is grounded in many of the guiding principles that framed Dewey’s Laboratory School at the University of Chicago (1896 – 1903). This includes “continual experimentation to discover the conditions under which educative growth actually occurs” (Mayhew & Edwards, 1965,p. 6) and the overall idea that “education could prepare the young for future social life only when the school itself was a cooperative society on a small scale” (Dewey in Mayhew & Edwards, 1965, p. 5). Aimed at fostering a school culture that “celebrates creativity, welcomes innovation, and accepts setbacks as a part of progress” (Dintersmith, 2018, p. 192), the ETC was designed to provide the physical, intellectual, and emotional space where all faculty and staff can come together and seek “to discover in administration, selection of subject matter, methods of learning, teaching, and discipline,” and work collectively on “how the school [can be] a cooperative community while [at the same time] develop in individuals their own capacities to satisfy their own needs” (Mayhew & Edwards, 1965, p. xiv).
To accomplish these goals, the ETC is not carried out like a traditional orientation program, in which the school’s philosophy and curriculum are simply transmitted to new teachers during a series of stand-and-deliver presentations of information. Instead, the ETC takes on the characteristics of a “community of inquiry” (Lipman, 1988), in which seasoned faculty and staff teach and learn alongside those that are new. Just as the cooperative and collaborative Hanahau‘oli School classroom is made up of “entering” and “continuing” students, the ETC is made up of entering and continuing faculty and staff. Together—the enterings and continuings—work side-by-side to make careful observations, reflect, and improve upon their own professional practice and the school’s overall collective progressive education mission and tradition. This professional community of inquiry is guided by: a flexible curriculum and framework; teacher needs and interests; facilitators who provide a learning environment in which participants learn in large part through discovery; a variety of materials and activities; individual and research groups; and the utilization of community resources (Hayes, 2007, p. xiii).
ETC Framework and Activities
To provide a framework for teaching and learning, the ETC is organized around the following series of activities:
Educative Experiences – entering faculty and staff are introduced to new content (e.g. information about the school’s history, philosophy, day-to-day operations, etc.) by continuing faculty and staff during large group meetings and school-wide professional development opportunities.
Community of Inquiry Meetings – entering faculty and staff participate in monthly “community of inquiry” meetings where they have the opportunity to raise questions, dialogue, reflect upon, and think together about practice. These small group meetings are facilitated by the Head of School, Professional Development Center Director, and Director of Curriculum & Technology Innovation. Retired faculty and staff are invited to attend the community of inquiry meetings and share their wisdom, knowledge and experiences with the newcomers.
Questions generated by ETC members to drive the discussion in a community of inquiry meeting.
Classroom and School Community Observations – entering faculty and staff engage in two structured observations of school culture and classroom practice, one per each school semester.
Observation One: Entering faculty and staff will follow students from their own class and observe them as they engage in learning with Hanahau‘oli School specialists in the following areas: Language, PE, Music, and Library. Other areas are observed if scheduling permits.
Observation Two: Entering faculty and staff observe Hanahau‘oli School students across the JK-6 school continuum.
Observation protocols and guided reflection questions are provided. At the end of each semester, entering faculty and staff present their observations and reflections to all faculty and staff at the school. At these presentations continuing faculty and staff have the opportunity to reflect and learn from the enterings’ new eyes and fresh perspectives.
Three-Part Professional Growth Reflection – entering faculty and staff engage in Freese’s (2006) three-part reflection model to support professional growth at some point during the school year. “The three-part reflections include anticipatory, contemporaneous, and retrospective reflection (Baird, 1990; Loughran, 1996; vanManen, 1991). Anticipatory reflection consists of the problems and solutions a teacher foresees before they teach a lesson. Contemporaneous reflection concerns the thinking in the moment, on the spot changes, and the reasons for the changes made during the lesson. In retrospective reflection, the teacher reviews the videotape by writing and reflecting upon what they found successful about the lesson, and what they need to do to improve” (Freese, 2006, p. 103).
1:1 Conversations with Head of School – Every other week, each entering faculty member meet one-on-one with the Head of School. The purpose of these meetings is to check in with one another, share reflections, raise questions, and be supported. The Head of School meets with individual enterings to schedule these meetings.
ETC Content and Curriculum
The following is a list of key topics that make up the content and curriculum of the ETC. They are broken into four main areas:
Human Resources, Operations, and ETC Year Overview: review of faculty handbook, parking, keys, crisis team, work orders, school-wide policies and procedures, computer, email, drive, server, accounts, phone, printing, policies, intranet, advancement, parent hui and an overview of the ETC philosophy, structure, content, and calendar.
Progressive Education Philosophy & Progressive Education at Hanahau‘oli: general review of progressive education theory, research and practice, along with more specific details regarding what is meant by progressive education theory, research, and practice at Hanahau‘oli School. This includes an overview of the school’s mission, vision, values, and student learning expectations.
Hanahau‘oli School History and Culture: history of the school’s founding, changes over time, traditions, perspectives from veteran and retired teachers, teacher roles during school events, rituals, structures, and an introduction to the school archives.
Hanahau‘oli School Curriculum: an overview of the Junior Kindergarten (JK, Kukunaokalā (K/1), Kulāiwi (2/3), Po‘e Ka‘ahele (4/5), and Sixth grade curriculum; an introduction to specialist curriculum; structures of the school day (e.g. courtesy squad, flag, lunch, bell & handshake, etc.); recess and outdoor play; and overall philosophy and practices for creating a positive school culture and community, including social-emotional strategies and beliefs.
Current Reflections on the Initiative
Since 2018, three cohorts have made their way through the Hanahau‘oli School ETC. This has included twelve new faculty and staff during the 2018-19 SY, seven in the 2019-20 SY, and five new participants in the current program. In addition to gaining foundational knowledge about the school’s philosophy, pedagogy, curriculum, traditional, and institutional structures and systems--past participants have expressed deep gratitude for the relationship building experienced in the ETC. Here is a reflection from one of the members of the first cohort:
The connections I have made through the ETC have been the most significant “take away” for me. I appreciate the time getting to know other colleagues from different disciplines who all bring invaluable perspectives of progressive education. When thinking of the bigger picture, these are the people who I will continue my journey with at Hanahauoli. The ETC was successful in cultivating these relationships in a meaningful way.
The process of finding and making meaning with others, and learning through social engagement is central to a progressive philosophy and pedagogy. This is not only true for students, but for progressive educators as well. Clearly articulated by The Human Restoration Project--the creation of radically human-centered classrooms and schools is critical to the mission of the progressive education movement, and therefore, the professional development and onboarding of new educators at progressive schools must adopt the philosophical stance of humanism and center collective human flourishing at their core. It was the early progressive education leader “Colonel Parker’s genius that he was able to reveal to his [teachers] the vast potentialities of education in the evolution of humanity; to spur them forward through their own daily experiences toward an understanding of what teaching means--its privileges and joys, its responsibilities and toil, its challenging difficulties and its compensating satisfactions and happiness--the sure rewards of the artist teacher” (Cooke, 1937). By designing a humanistic approach to teacher orientation at our beloved progressive schools--rather than the technocratic stand-and-deliver programs found at more traditional institutions--together we can reclaim the art of teaching.
Works Cited:
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. New York Macmillan Company.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. The Free Press.
Cooke, S. J. (1964). Sincerely Sophie. Honolulu, HI. Tong Publishing Co., LTD.
Cooke, F. J. (1937). In Francis W. Parker Talks on Pedagogies: An Outline of the Theory of Concentration.
Lipman, M. (1988). Philosophy goes to school. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Mayhew, K. C. & Edwards, A. C. (2007). The Dewey school: The laboratory school of the university of chicago 1896 - 1903. AldineTransaction.
Palmer, Louisa F. Memories of Hanahauoli: The First Fifty Years. Honolulu: Unknown, 1968. Print.
Peters, R. G. (2015). Hanahau‘oli School: Theory meets practice. Educational Perspectives, 47(1 & 2), 34–43.
Makaiau, A. S. (2015). From school-culture-to-family-culture: Reflections on four generations of a Deweyian education in Hawai‘i. Educational Perspectives, 47(1 & 2), 43–48.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau is a Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Director of Curriculum and Research at the Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education, Director of the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, and Co-Director of the Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy MEd Interdisciplinary Education, Curriculum Studies program. A former Hawai‘i State Department of Education high school social studies teacher, her work in education is focused around promoting a more just and equitable democracy for today’s children. Dr. Makaiau lives in Honolulu where she enjoys spending time in the ocean with her husband and two children.
Lia Woo draws upon her 15+ years of experience in education, specializing in curriculum and educational technology, to lead Hanahau‘oli School. A lifelong learner, Ms. Woo views learning as a source of inspiration and a means to intentional positive change. Ms. Woo’s association with Hanahau‘oli school dates back to 1980 as an entering student in Junior Kindergarten. After graduating from Hanahau‘oli and Punahou School, Ms. Woo received a B.A. in Communications from Boston College in 1998, a M.A. in Learning, Design & Technology from Stanford University in 2002, and a M.Ed. in Private School Leadership from the University of Hawaii in 2016. After curriculum leadership roles at Kamehameha Schools, It’s All About Kids LLC, and Hawaii Pacific University, she returned to Hanahau‘oli in 2012 to teach for four years in Kulāiwi (2nd and 3rd Grades). Thereafter, Ms. Woo served for two years as the School’s first Director of Curriculum & Innovative Technology. Since June 2018, she has served as Head of School. Click here to learn more about Lia’s work at Hanahau‘oli School.
