By Mike Travis

‘Imi ‘Ike in Hawaiian means “to explore, discover,” or “to seek knowledge.” In February 2023, Hanahau‘oli School piloted a week-long initiative that wove enrichment or “‘imi ‘ike” time throughout the students’ schedules. Teachers and staff offered a variety of activities, based on student choices, allowing children of all different ages to learn or explore something together. When asked to reflect on ‘Imi ‘Ike, students shared: “Can we do ‘Imi ‘Ike every week?” “This was the best day ever this school year!” “We got to choose what we wanted most.” “We got to work with other grades and it didn’t have to be our same classmates.” 

While student-driven learning, exploration, choice, and free play are commonplace in progressive education and at Hanahau‘oli School, this concept of designating time to allow students of all ages to interact across grade levels with faculty and staff to explore new hobbies and interests was relatively new. Previously, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Hanahau‘oli students engaged in “Special Weeks,” with unique themes of study, such as science, problem-solving, communication, and harmony. Then more recently, for Hanahau‘oli School’s centennial celebrations in 2018, an entire school day, Centennial Friday, was dedicated to allowing children to select unique classes offered by different faculty and staff. Centennial Friday activities included decorating flower pots, fort building, painting while dancing, and puppetry. These special enrichment initiatives were met with much enthusiasm from students as they offered opportunities for joy, exploration, and discovery through novel and unconventional learning experiences. Adults likewise loved these experiences to connect with students they might not work with during that particular school year, and allowed a space for sharing personal passions and interests with students. 

Hele A‘o – The Spark for ‘Imi ‘Ike

In 2018, at the finish of the school’s centennial year, Lia Woo, then, the new Head of School, challenged faculty and staff to look outward for new ideas, opportunities, and innovations to bring back to Hanahau‘oli as we embarked on a new century of joyous learning. Having just been hired as the Director of Curriculum and Innovative Technology, I was excited to be managing this new initiative. The initiative was called Hele A‘o, which means “to go and learn,” and it involved sending teachers to other progressive schools near and far to seek out new ideas, connections, and opportunities for collaboration. For the 2019-2020 school year,  Hanahau‘oli teachers visited over 20 progressive schools from Hawai‘i, California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, New York, and even Japan. View my recent article in this Progressive Philosophy & Pedagogy blog to learn more about Hele A‘o.

Gathering to reflect on all our learning in February 2020, just prior to the pandemic, our entire faculty and staff shared their new inspirations and ideas, grouped those concepts into central themes, and voted for the initiatives they hoped to pursue at our own school. The top three initiatives were: examining class sizes, enhancing our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work, and creating enrichment/elective time for students. 

While the pandemic attempted to throw roadblocks our way, we made great progress toward each of these initiatives in the three years since Hele A‘o. A new Social Justice Committee was formed by faculty and staff to explore DEI issues and bring changes to the curriculum and physical campus. We examined the effects of smaller class sizes during the pandemic and new class configurations are being implemented to provide our youngest learners with smaller class sizes. To create more opportunities for enrichment/elective time, our Physical World Lab class (more commonly referred to as Shop elsewhere) created an opportunity for some students to engage in Open Studio time, where students initiated a number of self-directed projects including a vase holder, a wooden boat, and little rope animals. While this was a great hit and started our initiative to provide students with more time for enrichment and electives, we continued to seek additional ways to integrate more choice time into student schedules.

‘Imi ‘Ike Emerges

In the summer of 2022, I fortuitously attended The Hanahau'oli Teacher Collaborative: 

An Institute for Interdisciplinary Curriculum Design, which is a two-week long intensive dive into the theory and foundations of interdisciplinary curriculum design. The institute's goal was to design a progressive education curriculum, go back to your school, and make it happen! I knew from the first day that I was going to use this time to develop an enrichment opportunity for faculty, staff, and students at Hanahau‘oli. My original plan was to have the exploratory time occur on Wednesdays for six weeks in the fall. However, with the pandemic waning in 2022, class sizes returned to normal and so did all of the learning trips and special events that were re-imagined during the past few years. Teachers were feeling overwhelmed in the fall, and a new initiative seemed too much to add. 

So, I held on to my goal and looked to the second semester. I surveyed the faculty, and they decided that it would be easier to try the new initiative for a week instead of each Wednesday, so we worked to find a week that wasn’t filled with learning trips, or other big events like band or orchestra concerts. A week in February 2023 was chosen. With a complicated school schedule incorporating many important specialist times, recesses, and lunches, it required much effort and flexibility to determine the best times each day, but we worked it out so that this enrichment time would span four days and a little over an hour each day. ‘Imi ‘Ike was born!

Now, we just needed to decide on activities. Working with the faculty and staff, we brainstormed personal hobbies or interests that students would enjoy. Next, I asked students what they were interested in to add to the list of ideas. Based on the teacher and student combined interests, teachers and faculty formed teaching teams and created 15 unique classes for students to choose from: 

Sweet Tooth Adventure with Ms. Fryxell (K/1), Ms. Matsui (K/1), and Ms. Yamamoto (K/1) – A week of baking exploration to ease the cravings of the stomach and heart. Everyone will build their own edible terrariums from the week’s creations.

Stretch, Run, Repeat with Ms. Wood (6th) and Ms. Johnson-Moore (4th/5th) – Be inspired, gain confidence, and find strength in connections with others through running!

Adventures in Sewing with Ms. Eldredge (Collaborative Studio) and Ms. Allison (Admissions) – Sew to your heart’s content, by hand or on the machine.  Do you have a project in mind? If not, we have ideas! Don’t know how to sew yet, come and learn.

Scope it Out with Ms. Delaunay (K/1st) and Dr. Travis (Admin) – Using microscopes, we will observe a whole different world that you can’t see with just your eyes.  You will see the tiny cells that make up a leaf and even tiny living creatures that move around in pond water. Using observation skills, we will sketch what we see in the microscopic world.

Joyful Stepping - An Introduction to Dance Basics with Mr. John (Counselor) and Ms. Stierli (4th/5th) – Each journey begins with a single step, and your path to being a joyful movement artist starts here! This class will introduce you to the basics of preparing your body to dance through space with both grace and strength.

Intro to Basketball with Ms. Salas (2nd/3rd) – This class is for friends wanting to learn the game of basketball! We are welcoming those who are new to this sport and want to build up confidence and courage to join a game.

Art Bento with Ms. Okano (Art) and Ms. Sugiyama (Learning Support) – Put your chef cap and art beret on, and get ready to create together! In this class, you will dive into a world of food through art exercises and simple bento making.

Off-The-Chain Reactions: Engineering Design Challenge with Ms. Fortuno (2nd/3rd) and Ms. Lee (2nd/3rd) – If only I had a machine to do that! Use your creativity and critical thinking skills to design a contraption based on a Rube Goldberg design.

Friendship Bracelets with Ms. Abbe (Music) and Lǎoshī Chang (Mandarin) – Learn how to braid, tie different kinds of knots, and create friendship bracelets of your own design, to keep or share!

E Haku Lei with Ms. Porter (4th/5th) and Ms. Gabby (Library) – Learn how to make your own haku lei or lei po‘o! We will gather and prepare our lei together and spend the week creating a full lei po‘o (head lei) from start to finish.

Iron Chef Hanahauʻoli: Battle Musubi with Nurse Ruth and Mr. Yee (Admin) – Whose musubi cuisine will reign supreme? Student chefs will team up and create EPIC musubi dishes to be judged on taste, creativity, and teamwork. Special guest judges!

Molecular Gastronomy / Kitchen Science with Ms. Varney (6th) – How are marshmallows made? How about gummy worms? Learn the science behind delectable dishes and crazy concoctions!  How are physics and chemistry related to some of the foods we eat?  Experiment, cook, then eat and enjoy!

Fun with Fimo: Polymer PLAY with Polymer CLAY with Mr. Miyamoto (PWL) and Ms. Kimi (Admin) – Learn how to make fun objects using a kind of polymer clay you bake to harden in your regular home oven. Using simple tools, we will build and sculpt small keepsakes and gifts that will be treasured for years to come.

Old Fashioned Games - Make It & Take It with Ms. Toyama (PE) and Ms. Mead (IT) – Come and play some games your grandparents may have played when they were kids. Jacks, POGs, cards, and string games are a few. You will have a chance to make your own checkers/backgammon game to take with you.

Photography Posse with Ms. Mollie (JK) and Mr. Gillespie (Physical Plant) – Take Pictures with Pizazz! With these Personable People!  Perfect the Perfect Portrait. Become a Proficient Photographer. Post and Provide feedback to your Peers. Join the Photography Posse. 

Some classes were only for certain age levels, while others like, “Stretch, Run, Repeat,” were open to all students from Junior Kindergarten through 6th grade. Students loved making their own class selections, engaging more deeply with familiar faces from across campus, and exploring their chosen topics for an entire week. At our daily whole school gathering in the courtyard, ‘Imi ‘Ike classes excitedly presented some of their work and onlookers whispered in enthusiasm, “Cool, I want to take that class!” Upon reflection with teachers, the majority felt the time was valuable and the hope is to continue ‘Imi ‘Ike again in the 2023-2024 school year. The challenge, of course, is finding the time that works best and causes the least amount of stress and disruption to the program, teachers, and students.

In Conclusion

‘Imi ‘Ike was an idea that originated from the teachers' observations at other progressive schools and was brought to fruition through the collaboration of our entire faculty and staff. Planning was challenging and stressful at times, but seeing the smiles on the faces of students and faculty made it all worthwhile. Many teachers worried about the loss in instructional time, but ultimately, ‘Imi ‘Ike totaled less than five hours.

As a progressive school where learning happens in so many ways, giving students the opportunity to see a paramecium for the first time under a microscope or learn how to work together to make the most creative spam musubi was right in line with all we believe about learning by doing. Finally, stepping back from our current schedules to explore new things, giving students a chance to work with other teachers/staff and students from other grade levels, and experiencing the joy of doing new things is an invaluable learning experience.

I hope this blog inspired you to consider creating your own enrichment time at your school. If you would like help with logistics or just to talk story about your own enrichment programs, please contact me anytime.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Mike Travis is the Director of Curriculum and Innovative Technology at Hanahauʻoli School, where he has supported teachers since 2019. A passionate, lifelong learner, Mike has been an educator for more than 20 years, working with students from elementary to graduate levels. Mike shares, "educators truly can make a difference in the lives of their students, so I always serve with a strong sense of responsibility for their success and an inner energy and enthusiasm that are contagious to all around me." Mike loves long distance running, spending time with family, and writing books.