Recipient Organization
MALAAI
67-1229 MAMALAHOA HWY
KAMUELA,HI 96743
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Ke Kumu Uluwehi: An Indigenous Garden Mentorship Program will train and equip K-12 teachers to conduct 'aina-based (cultural, place-based) educational experiences with academic rigor. The program will develop a cadre of 60 garden educators who can provide ongoing indigenous mentoring and support to their garden education peers across Hawai'i County. Through this nucleus of 60 educators, we expect to indirectly benefit at least 1,800 or about 8-10% of all county K-12 students, positively impacting their academic performance; social emotional learning; agricultural knowledge and skills; and sense of stewardship. The program will recruit teachers who are currently or aspire to become garden educators. Each participant will be mentored by an experienced garden educator. Since most garden education in Hawai'i is 'aina-based, a Native Hawaiian cultural approach will be used. This indigenous mentorship emphasizes kilo (observation), Ma ka hana ka 'ike (learning by doing), a'o aku a'o mai (reciprocal learning between mentor and mentee), and the building of pilina (relationships between people, land, culture, and food). Ke Kumu Uluwehi addresses the variability in expertise among garden educators, as well as the lack of a critical mass of garden educators. Largely due to teacher turnover, school gardens often fizzle out when schools lack the staff to take over garden duties when previous garden educators leave. The indigenous garden mentorship program aims to systematize mentorship and build communities of support so that more teachers can acquire garden education experience and know how, thus increasing the pool of qualified garden educators.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Ke Kumu Uluwehi: An Indigenous School Garden Mentorship Program is a garden educator mentorship program that will be open to K-12 educational professionals with an emphasis on K-8. The goal is to develop a network of highly qualified garden educators that grows exponentially as mentees move on to become mentors themselves within their moku (or district). There are two main objectives supporting this goal:Expand the network of garden educators from 12 to 60 garden educators in the three year project periodDevelop 75 portfolios with lesson plans to improve 'aina-based instruction across the network of garden educators
Project Methods
Efforts: Ke Kumu Uluwehi: An Indigenous School Garden Mentorship Program will be the first of its kind in that emphasis will be placed on indigenous, specifically Hawaiian, ways of mentoring. Hawaiian ways of mentoring make sense in the context of garden education since the majority of garden education programs in Hawai'i Island schools are 'aina-based in their approach. They typically integrate native Hawaiian cultural practices and concepts in their core curricula. Many schools follow the Hawai'i School Garden Curriculum Map (HSGCM), which was launched in 2016 after four years of development by a working group of 14 Ku 'Aina Pa(KAP) master teachers. KAP is Mala'ai's Professional Development Education certification training for Hawai'i Department of Education (HIDOE) teachers. The HSGCM supports elementary- and middle-school teachers in obtaining the knowledge and skills needed to develop integrated lesson plans and assessment tools that connect core curriculum in the classroom with opportunities for extending learning in the real world. The curriculum map is aligned with Common Core, NGSS, Hawaii Health Standards, and STEM, and intrinsically aligned with the Na Hopena 'Ao or HaNative Hawaiian framework that underpins educational approaches in Hawaii's public schools. Native Hawaiian culture is an integral part of the HSGCM. In the module "A Sense of Place", for example, Native Hawaiian concepts such as the traditional ahupua'a land division and integrated resource management system are explored along with the natural and cultural history of the place. Mo'olelo or traditional stories are also used to better understand the place, and one question asks: "Do you have connections to the elders (kupuna) in this place?" Learning from kupuna through both formal and informal mentorship is a key component of Native Hawaiian approaches to understanding the world around us. The Ke Kumu Uluwehi Indigenous Mentorship Program will leverage the rigorous academic curriculum provided by the HSGCM, to address core content standards (particularly Math and English Language Arts for the purposes of public school standardized testing).By applying a system of layered mentoring, the Ke Kumu Uluwehi Indigenous Mentorship Program will grow exponentially, creating more connections among teachers as well as between teachers and members of the larger community. This can help to leverage Mala'ai's/HISGN's limited resources of staff and budget as teachers (and communities) learn to help each other rather than rely solely on support from a central organization. Layered mentoring will take the form of more senior mentors who have completed the Ku 'Aina Pa(KAP) teacher training and who are from previous program cohorts mentoring newer program participants who may or may not have completed KAP. As participants complete the program, they will go on to mentor others in a large-scale peer-to-peer network.Evaluation:The following data collection instruments will be utilized:Interviews: Focus group interviews will be conducted for efficiency and in order to capitalize on group dynamics/discussion. There will be focus groups (about 12 people) of mentors and focus groups of mentees in order to get a representative picture of the larger cohorts of mentors and mentees. Interviews allow mentors and mentees to share qualitative insights into their experiences. This type of "talk story" approach (open, relatively informal discussion) is a culturally relevant practice in Hawai'i, but it will be steered by a facilitator. In Year 1, the focus group will consist of the entire set of mentors since the cohort is small. The goal is to receive feedback on the strengths of the mentorship training put on by the core team and to consider any potential weaknesses. Ideally, any areas for improvement can be addressed before the mentors take on mentees in the following school year.Pre/Post-Surveys: There will be several surveys administered throughout the 3-year project. Surveys will collect qualitative feedback and quantitative data that operationalizes mentor and mentee learning across the project period.Year 1 Mentor Survey: Pre- and post- mentor training surveys will be given to the mentor participants and will paint a picture of how mentors see themselves as garden educator leaders before and after the mentor training that they will undergo in year 1. We will be able to see their growth as a result of the mentor training that the core team plans and implements in the beginning of year 1.Year 2 Mentor and Mentee Surveys: These pre- and post- surveys will be administered to both mentors and mentees. The mentor and mentee surveys will be different since their roles are vastly different. The survey for mentors will be similar to year 1 in that they will assess themselves as a mentor before and after the actual mentorship. This survey will differ from the year 1 survey because there will be an added element of planning an experiential learning component for their mentee(s) as well as collaborating with their mentees to write a culture-based, garden lesson for students. The survey administered to mentees will allow us to understand how mentees see themselves as garden educators before and after the year-long mentorship program under the tutelage of the trained mentor. In addition, we will also gather information about how prepared mentees feel to become mentors in year 3.Year 3 Pre/Post Surveys: These surveys will be given to the mentors and mentees similar as in year 2. The survey for mentors will ask for self-assessment as a mentor at the start of the mentorship program and after the year-long mentorship. The survey for new mentees will allow us to understand how mentees see themselves as garden educators before and after the year-long mentorship program under the tutelage of the trained mentor. As this would be the end of the mentorship, the survey will also determine the likelihood of the mentors and mentees to continue mentoring their teacher peers into culturally relevant garden education since a larger goal of this project is to build capacity for teachers teaching teachers to incorporate garden education with a cultural lens into their normal teaching practices.Surveys regarding Immersive Field Trip Experience: Throughout the project (in each of the 3 years), mentors and mentees engage in an immersive cultural and agricultural experience with our partners or with partners they establish within their district. In Year 1, the core team will plan 6 immersive experiences for the 12 mentors. At the end of each immersive experience, a survey will be administered to show whether the goals of the experience were met (to enrich one's cultural understanding of the moku/district, to build one's relationship to place, to engage in a hands-on garden/ag experience that could be utilized in a classroom/school setting, to provide a place from which one can create a garden lesson plan, to provide a local community contact for future collaborations when the mentor has a mentee). In Year 2, each mentor is expected to plan an immersive experience with his/her 2 mentees. Surveys will be administered to mentors to gather data about their experience planning an immersive experience with their mentee, the actual experience itself as well as changes he/she would make in planning a future immersive experience. Surveys administered to mentees will assess how their immersive experience was and determine whether the same goals of the experience were met (to enrich one's cultural understanding of the moku/district, to build one's relationship to place, to engage in a hands-on garden/ag experience that could be utilized in a classroom/school setting, to provide a place from which one can create a garden lesson plan, to provide a local community contact for future collaborations when the mentor has a mentee).