Kumu (teacher) Kiani Yasak is the Hawaiian Language Immersion Teacher at Kalama Intermediate School on Maui, Hawaii. She asked herself: “How do I promote nationhood while leveraging my connected tablets?” This is brilliant because as a country, it’s critical that we do what we can to preserve the qualities of life that make us different. We are a nation of varieties and this classroom really demonstrated how we can leverage the tools available to us today to preserve culture and promote nationhood for underrepresented groups. It’s a powerful thing to have the right technology to support very clear learning goals like the one in this middle school.
Having access to a native Hawaiian dictionary, being able to use video and audio tools to capture a very visual and oral history and culture, having a variety of stages to showcase–this new face of what learning looks like is now at the fingertips of teachers like Kumu Yasak. How can we engineer a process to preserve culture and promote nationhood? This hour and a half spent with these beautiful students and their amazing teacher made it simple for me to visualize the possibility.
We captured the story in such a small period of time. Let’s think about how families are using these types of technology to help them preserve their culture and celebrate and share it with the world!
https://player.vimeo.com/video/160965028
Reflection and video by Marco Torres, Director of Story at Digital Promise
- Topics: Core Content , Evidence-Based EdTech , Pathways and Economic Mobility , Systems and Leadership
- Learning Environments: K-12
- Audiences: Educators
- Offerings: Practice and Professional Learning
- Programs: Verizon Innovative Learning Schools