Teaching with Aloha

In her book, Managing with Aloha, my friend, Rosa Say teaches businesses and managers the power of doing business the Aloha way. She writes about applying Hawaiian principles and values in today's challenging business environments.

Rosa has taught me that our values drive our behavior. Whether we are doing our leading and teaching in the boardroom or in the classroom, these values make our work worthwhile.

As I reflect on these past two weeks of work with teachers in Hawaii, this is what Teaching with Aloha has meant to me:

We began our week's Literacy Institute with ‘Imi ola-meaning mission and vision. By defining clearly what our work as educators was about. We do not teach to cover curriculum, for the standards, to do well on the test. We teach for understanding. Our mission encapsulated in three simple words: TO ENHANCE UNDERSTANDING

The classroom was a buzz each day as teachers grew closer, shared more generously, and took more risks knowing that our goals were unified. Lōkahi -harmony, unity and collaboration filled our days.

With Ho‘omau- meaning perseverance and persistence, we worked hard and while demonstrating Kuleana-personal responsibility and accountability. I never once heard, we can't or yes, but. We worked in the spirit of "how can we", and "when do we start"

The ‘Ike loa or knowledge, wisdom, and learning was deep and immense, and for that I close with Mahalo for living in thankfulness of this experience is what I feel.

As I bring back, a few pineapples and lei's, I also bring the spirit of Aloha to the mainland where I live and teach. These Hawaiian words may seem foreign to my teachers at first, but, like me they will soon discover that these are new words for universal values.

Teaching with Aloha is in every dedicated educator. As our new school year approaches, I can not think of a better way to begin the teaching and learning conversation than with the heart of Aloha.

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