Highlands Intermediate School is a Middle School with about 900 students in Pearl City, Hawaii. It's the only middle school in Pearl City, and it's also where I teach! It's an amazing place to work. I have a supportive principal, all the technology I need, a thriving aquaponic garden, and the freedom to experiment with current strategies on best practices in science teaching. Plus, I can stare out at the Waianae mountains across Pearl Harbor from my classroom. That makes it even better!
Our current focuses are strengthening our strategies on teaming, literacy, and numeracy, and transitioning to the Next Generation Science Standards. We're an AVID school, have incorporated those strategies throughout our school. STEM is also a major focus on my school: we have three after-school robotics programs (LEGO, VEX, and MATE) and thriving Math and Science Olympiad teams, as well as classes on robotics, aquaponics, and engineering/science research.
Below, you'll find information about my school and community.
Our current focuses are strengthening our strategies on teaming, literacy, and numeracy, and transitioning to the Next Generation Science Standards. We're an AVID school, have incorporated those strategies throughout our school. STEM is also a major focus on my school: we have three after-school robotics programs (LEGO, VEX, and MATE) and thriving Math and Science Olympiad teams, as well as classes on robotics, aquaponics, and engineering/science research.
Below, you'll find information about my school and community.
Digital Learning Survey
I took a little survey the state of digital learning and technology integration at my school to prepare for my fellowship. I used ThingLink to report my findings in an annotated image. ThingLink is an amazing app that allows users to annotate images. It can even be used collaboratively for groups to annotate the same image. Hover over the black icons to reveal the annotations.
Historical Land Divisions of Hawaii |
My Pearl City |
This is a great website that explains a bit about the Hawaiian perspective and some of their traditional cultural practices. It especially answers the question: how do you have a bunch of people living on one of the most isolated locations in the world with vastly limited resources without. The ahupua'a system was remarkably self-sustaining and successful, and I think we could learn a lot from it to solve many of current environmental problems.
So Proud of My Island!Free $40+ trees!? Natives, fruit, and spice trees!? Sign me up! What an awesome way to honor arbor day! I think I'm going to encourage my students to do the same the next years.
Hiking on OahuOahu has some pretty neat hikes, all within easy access of... everything. There're even petroglyphs on some of the shore benches and rock faces throughout the islands. My favorite hikes are Kuli'ou'ou Ridge and 'Aiea Loop. Many of them would be perfect to take a class on a science field trip
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This website is dedicated to sharing the events and experiences of living and working in Pearl City, Hawai'i. It's filled with information about my school's community, and can provide a bit of perspective about my students.
Oahu, My Home!This is a website put out by the University of Hawaii. It explains some of the geology and environment of Oahu, as well as challenges the island currently faces.
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