Sheree Nolley (at right) of Springfield, a writing teacher and mentoring program coordinator at Kensington Avenue Elementary School, is in Honolulu, Hawaii this month leading a group of 13 student teachers, all seniors at Springfield College, in a project called the Hawaiian Educational Field Study based at Chaminade University. A major goal of the trip is to examine the richness of the "aloha spirit"—a local law establishing baseline respect—and how it might be brought back to our city, specifically into the schools.
In Hawaii, together with Dr. Mary Allen of Springfield College; Carol Fonseca, a curriculum alignment specialist with the Hawaii Department of Education; and Dr. Mary Smith, an assistant professor of education at Chaminade University; Nolley is guiding the students through "cultural responsiveness" training.
The students, from various states in the northeastern US, are all white, female, and with socio-economic backgrounds of privilege, Nolley said, underlining how impressed she is with them for essentially giving up their winter vacations for an intensive seminar. At Kensington, she said, some of the student teachers "were like fish out of water." They adapted to their cultural differences with the student body, she said, and largely emerged from the experience ready for more learning about how such adaptations can succeed.
Indigenous people comprise only nine percent of the islands’ population, Nolley said. How do they protect their culture? How did they adapt to a colonial culture entering their society, impacting everything from surfing to government? The students will look at tangible ways of how the indigenous Hawaiians share the "spirit of their island." The purpose is different from just visiting as tourists, she explained, but rather to absorb and learn, and then hopefully replicate some of the approaches in Springfield schools.
Nine of the 13 students worked at Kensington for their pre-practicum, or junior year of student teaching work. At the school, they were exposed to a culture of teaching that includes both Responsive Classroom techniques as well as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. "They could have opted to go to Longmeadow instead," Nolley said, for their pre-practicum. "Many do their pre-practicum at Kensington and opt to come back for their practicum [senior year], when they have a choice," she added. "They like the Responsive Classroom and IB strategies, and the cultural responsiveness training they receive here." They also seem to like Nolley, who engages the college students in a pattern of translating their background experiences into useful assets, exemplifying constructive, strength-based interactions with elementary school students.
The group left on January 2 and returns on January 15. The first week of their stay the group was to spend time inundated with "cultural field experiences," learning about the variety of cultures that co-exist on the island. The second week, they were to visit four specific schools for read-aloud activities, including Lanikai Elementary Charter School; a school working toward IB accreditation; and a Hawaiian K-12 language immersion school.
Eventually, Nolley said, she hopes to take some students from Kensington to Hawaii for "multi-level learning" experiences. IB includes travel experiences as part of the curriculum, and Nolley noted that students from the DeBerry Elementary School went to Africa funded by a grant. Some suburban schools, she said, are doing international field trips. The current missing piece is the funding, she said.
Nolley calls visiting Hawaii a life-changing experience. "I’m filled in Hawaii," she said. "I can feel it being sucked out of me when I come back to Springfield," she said. "I have to reach out and put it back."
"We have to believe in [the benefits of approaches like the aloha spirit] so strongly that we’re not swayed by thoughts of low test scores," she said.
Springfield College is an ideal partner in this type of work, Nolley said. The school’s humanics philosophy, which incorporates the education of the "whole person"—mind, body and spirit—gives students a vehicle to think about the reality of human connectedness. "We need to regard our differences as strengths," Nolley said, "rather than homogenizing or trying to assimilate students."
