Nehemiah Kuhaulua

Senior Seminar

Ms. Terry and Ms. Marsh

2/19/2020

Final Reflection

My driving question was “How can I encourage the cultural side of Hawaiian history in

the classroom?” I wanted to expose younger kids to the side of Hawaiian culture that isn’t

encouraged as much as the founding kings and overthrows are. So, in order to do that, I partnered

with KCS middle schoolers to teach them a simple chant and song. I introduced my project to

Kumu Kane, the middle school Hawaiian studies teacher, and he loved the idea. I met with him

in September, conducted the Expert Interview, then by the third week of the month I introduced

myself to the 8th grade classes. I was originally going to teach a single class, but then I realized

that teaching one wouldn’t be fair to the other classes, so I decided to take on all three. It was

difficult because I’ve never taught more than 15 kids, so teaching 50 kids was a bit mind

boggling. All the classes were extremely encouraging whenever I got nervous and they were

patient with me when I had to take a second and think over what we’d do next. I grew close to a

handful of them and I can happily call all of them my friends.

I knew my project was successful because the kids started off without putting in much

effort into their singing and chanting, but by January they were giving it their all. Some kids

didn’t find it necessary to learn E Ho Mai or Hawai’i Aloha even if they were going to perform it

at their graduation. They said they weren’t going to use these in the future, but a lot of them

found it really fun and began to ask questions regarding the origins of other similar chants and

wanted to know if they could learn more. There were even a few kids who talked to me about
joining the KCS luau. The students who put forth effort are the kids who enjoyed it the most. Of

course there were some who rode off the coattails of others, but when it came down to it, they

did participate just as much as the rest.

This project stretched my patience because handling over 50 kids when I’m so used to

small classes was nerve racking. Being able to bring their attention back to the subject and

making them quiet down was a real challenge. I had to constantly remind them that even if we’re

having fun, we’re also here to work and get better at our crafts. I also needed to speak to them

like young adults. I’m used to speaking to elementary schoolers, kids from seven to 12 years old

who don’t back talk, so changing my tone and attitude when things weren’t going smoothly was

a bit hard. The mood constantly changed in the classroom from goofing around to suddenly

serious, so I had to adapt to the students and classroom quickly. No matter how frustrating it was,

I enjoyed it, these kids were the highlight of my entire week.

From gaining hands on teaching experience in a real classroom, this project helped me

realize I want to become a teacher after college. I loved working with the kids and building

relationships that go beyond teacher and student or upperclassmen and lowerclassmen. Helping

them learn something I’m passionate about and watching them improve from barely coherent

mumbles to actual singing is something I want to continue doing no matter the subject. Within

the five months I taught them, these kids grew just as much as I did. I don’t know if any students

will pursue Hawaiian studies in high school or college, some of them seemed really interested

while others not so much. However, I do know that they had fun learning about the culture, so, to

me, that’s all that matters in the end.