the island school
a tri-annual publication Spring 2013-2014
Navigator
What We Believe
our ever-growing culture Springing into Summer Sports Banquet
May 23
Memorial Day - school holiday
May 26
Academic Awards Assembly
June 5
Headmaster’s Senior Brunch
June 7
Trimester 3 Finals
June 6-12
Kamehameha Day - no school
June 11
Summer Beach Blast-Off
June 13
Graduation
June 14
Last Day For Teachers
June 20
Summer Programs Begin
June 23
HS & MS Registration
August 13
Circle of Friends
August 14
Trimester 1 Begins
August 18
peggy@ischool.org
(808) 246-0233
• Observations reveal the school culture … pg. 2 • 17 Postulates describe our beliefs … pg. 2 • The Class of 2004 celebrate their 10 Year Anniversay on August 9 … centerfold
www.ischool.org
• Your Gifts Make Things Possible … pg. 7 • Cindy Wortmann in the Spotlight … pg. 8 http://www.facebook.com/IslandSchoolVoyagersKauai
The cornerstone of culture Culture reveals itself by the way people behave towards each other. It is based on accepted ways of doing things, mostly by habit. In the case of Island School, our culture has developed over 37 years. Events that occur and people who play a part create the tone and atmosphere of Island School. Words that appear in Island School’s early documents reveal a lot about the school’s cultural origins. Our first published catalog described what the founders envisioned: a safe place for children between the ages of five and eighteen to grow and learn. The curriculum was designed to integrate the “mind, heart and body,” while following a college preparatory course of study. Classes would be small, with a maximum student/teacher ratio of 1:15. “Choice” was mentioned often, as was “respect” and “diversity.” Tuition was meant to be as modest as possible with tuition aid helping those in need. What observations can we make that describe Island School today? When you take a walk around campus, attend a function or chaperone a field trip, what do you hear and see and what do these things tell you?
The front page of Island School’s first catalog (circa 1976) set the tone for the new school.
A culture of community service
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Putting it into words A school is not static. Over time, families, faculty, administrators and staff are in continuous motion in and out of Island School. Like waves crashing on the shore, people and events are always shaping the culture of the school. It is useful for people to fully understand this culture in order to most effectively operate within the school. Developed over several years, our Head of School, Bob Springer, wrote a list of statements intended to describe the culture of Island School. - the 17 Postulates. “We need to be clear about what we represent, what our underlying themes are, and then to contrast these with other types of schools,” he said, explaining his reason for writing them. These statements were designed to address three questions: •
When parents send their children to Island School, what should their expectations about our operations be?
•
Why would a family sign up for Island School when they could have their children attend public schools for considerably less money?
•
Even among independent schools, what is special about Island School?
The answers to these questions can be found in part in the following statements. They describe the values and beliefs that drive our practices.
17 Postulates of Island School 1. We believe that what we are now is the result of contributions of many individuals over the three decades of Island School’s existence, from the founders to the present, and that these builders should be recognized and appreciated. 2. We believe that respect for Hawaiian culture is central to an “Island School.” 3. We believe that schools exist to develop human potential and that Howard Gardner (of Harvard University) has best defined what this means. 4. We believe that students should be placed in classes according to their achievement level and social maturity, not their age. In other words, we believe that not all individuals achieve at the same speed or level and that they are best served by our recognition of this. This is reflected in multi-age grouping. 5. We believe that as professional educators our responsibility is to assist each student in his or her efforts to develop to his or her highest potential, whatever the individual’s native ability or background.
A culture of achievement
6. We believe that schools are agents of change, that the point of education is to change people – i.e., to make them more knowledgeable, more skilled, and more open to new and increasingly complex experiences, all the while increasing their sensitivity to the needs and wants of others and their ability to function effectively as members of a community. This suggests that some ways of knowing, acting, and valuing are better than others. A function of education is to define these and to provide instruction that will allow others access to these ways, realizing their benefits. Schools do not want to leave people as they found them, rather schools exist to promote and foster growth and development. 7. We believe that what is learned can and ought to be known and quantified or otherwise described. We need to be aware of our progress and both the efficiency and effectiveness of our efforts. This information should be used to help us improve. Decisions should be based on evidence and data to whatever extent they can be. 8. We believe in the importance of theory to practice and practice to theory. Each should instruct the other. Our theory of human potential and development is based on Howard Gardner’s ideas of multiple intelligences. Our theory of learning comes from Leonid Vygotsky. Our theory of lesson design comes from Madeline Hunter and Bernice McCarthy. Our theory of management comes from Jim Collins, Peter Senge, Peter Drucker, and Jack Welch.
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Alumni
On Facebook? Join the Island School Alumni Group IslandSchoolVoyagersKauai
Centerfold
2012 - Garrett Beyer, a student at Pepperdine University, just completed a year in Switzerland in a study abroad program. Jasmine Libert, a student at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, is the Poverty Service Coordinator in the Community Engagement and Service Office. Her position focuses on hunger and homelessness and her duties include coordinating ongoing service opportunities at their soup kitchen. She has also been working on a project called Alternative Spring Break where students travel to a community for a week and do service work, “… kind of like what we did for our Birthday Celebration, but for all of spring break.” This March, she organized a group of six other volunteers to learn more about poverty On the right, Jasmine in the State Capitol. They Libert ‘12, is having a year participated in an event that of music and community served over 700 individuals, service at Linfield College. most of whom were homeless or at risk of being homeless. She’s also been active in the Linfield Concert Band. Here’s a link to an article describing her experience in Reno, Nevada, at the CBDNA Honor Band Conference, where she was placed as the principal bassoonist: http://www. linfield.edu/linfield-news/linfield-music-students-namedto-national-honor-band/. Rachel Ofner completed her sophomore year at the top of the class in the business school at Concordia! She is currently in Missouri working under the CFO as an intern with an international accounting firm at their headquarters, (paid with housing included!). Rachel was among thousands of applicants, going through almost six months of Sarah James ‘12, took a interviews and essay road trip from Colorado and visited Jesse Simpson ‘12, in writing. “This will definitely Southern California. help my career path and accounting knowledge,” she said. Sarah James is spending the summer in Boulder and taking summer classes at University of Colorado where she will be a junior. She was accepted to be a University of Colorado sports medicine intern beginning in August, working with the CU Football team. She will shadow physical therapists, athletic trainers, and work with the athletes. “It is my IDEAL internship, and resembles exactly the career I wish to have in the future,” she said, but hopes to work with runners and cyclists.
2011 - Megan Perius is finishing up her junior year as a science major with a chemistry minor at Oregon State University. This fall, in her senior year, she’ll be working as a Public Megan Perius ‘11, taking a Relations Ambassador at break in Portland from her studies the College of Science. at OSU.
2010 - Mike Chamberlain signed for a professional, USL soccer team in Bremerton Washington called the Kitsap Pumas. He will move there to play for the summer before returning to Concordia University in Portland for one last semester.
He will graduate with a business degree with a minor in psychology.
2008 Tayler James finished her first year as a medical student at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington DC. Trevor Bloom works as a Wildlife Safari Guide in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. He leads people into the national parks to find rare wildlife including wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, buffalo, elk, bighorn sheep, antelope, badgers, Tayler James coyotes, foxes and more. Next fall he ‘08, is a medical will be teaching classes and attending student at Western Washington University as Georgetown U. a Masters student in the biology department. - Congratulations to JoriAnne Jasper who is has earned her Masters in sociology from U.H., Manoa, with an emphasis in crime, law & deviance. She will pursue a combination JD/MBA degree in the fall at William S. Richardson School of Law at U.H. Jori played Division I softball for the Rainbow Wahine for five years! - Congratulations to Noah Randolph-Flagg for passing his qualifying exam in geology at University of California, Berkeley graduate school. This involved three hours of oral questioning ranging “from anything to anything.” After a well-deserved rest, Noah will continue on his path to earning a doctorate degree. “Three more years, then a postdoc, then a job!” Ron O’Brien graduates this month from UH, Hilo with a B.S. in Agriculture Forestry and Natural Resource Management, specializing in Tropical Horticulture and a certificate in Plant Tissue Culture. 2004 – RJ Jordan and his sister, Kelly ‘09, have received a grant to write a graphic novel. It’s about a family that travel north to witness the Kelly Jordan ‘09, is rooming with “last snowfall.” Cory brother RJ ‘04, in NYC Ann Hom-Weaver took a spring surf trip to Nicaragua. She is still working as a marine biologist in San Diego for Bio-Waves. This summer, she’ll be participating in a NOAA funded research project in the Gulf of Mexico tracking and tagging sperm whales. 2005 - Kasey (Alcott) Fernandes, husband Mike, and their three sons have moved Cory Ann Hom Weaver ‘04, ripped to Portland, it up in Nicaragua in April Oregon. Their plans include furthering their education and hopefully buying a house. Jenny Ray is spending the Alaska summer fishing season as a deck hand on a tender in the Prince William Sound. She spent the winter as a galley cook on a sailing training vessel in the Caribbean. Jenny has her Masterlevel 100GT Captains License! Her jobs will likely include running cranes and hydraulic lifts. 2002 – Mia Reiko Braverman has an art exhibit at the Hemingway Café in Kapa‘a. It is a project she has been working on for about seven years and has been exhibited several times while she was living in Japan. This
is her first showing in the U.S. It is an interactive piece.Visitors to the exhibit are asked the question: What is a reason you get up in the morning? They put their answer on a small card and hang it on the gallery wall. The Mia Braverman ‘02, at her art exhibit at Hemmingway Café collection has grown to about 600 cards now (half of which are in Japanese). The show will be up through June 15th.
ISAA News
Updates from the Island School Alumni Association A Message From Your ISAA Vice President, Dave Hubbard I am not only a proud alumnus of Island School, but also a proud member of the Alumni Association. One of the many things I’ve learned at Island School is that service is an important part of life, as well as life long learning. I began in kindergarten at the Kealia campus and eventually was part of the first graduating class of our new high school. As our school grows, I feel it’s important to also grow the services we can provide to the alumni. Maintaining connections we have made over the years, as well as making new ones can be a fun and vital part of our personal and business relationships. Wherever our journey takes us, being grounded in the foundation that Island School provided can allow us access to new experiences, and, of course, those nostalgic memories. By popular demand -
the Class of 2004 is having a
Ten Year Reunion August 9th, 2014
Place to be announced. All former I.S. students who graduated in 2004 and their guests are invited. Email our Office of Alumni Relations voyager@ischool.org to update your contact information. Or visit our Facebook Event. Search I.S. Class of 2004 Reunion for updates.
17 Postulates con’t 9. We believe that learning is social and constructed, emotional as well as intellectual. We learn from and with others.Yet what any individual knows is what he or she individually has internalized. In Piaget’s terms, knowledge is assimilated or accommodated, meaning that what is being learned takes its place among existing knowledge or it causes a reorganization of the mind’s categories and perceptions. What matters here is that learning is what happens with and in the student, not what the teacher knows or presumably has taught. 10. We believe that teaching is both a craft and an art, involving knowledge of content along with knowledge of human development. Some techniques of teaching are more effective than others, and these can be learned. At the same time, in many respects teaching is an art, the orchestration of numerous elements to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. What this suggests is that some teachers are better at teaching than others and that as teachers, we can improve.
A culture of respect elsewhere – at Punahou and Iolani and Kamehameha and at Kaua‘i High School, among others. Where another’s practice is better than ours, we need to adopt it, whatever its source. In business terms this is known as “best practices.” 12. We believe in growth, not perfection. Ours is a learning organization (to use Peter Senge’s term). Mistakes are going to be made not because we want to make them but because this is the price of growing. Another way of putting this is that schools should not be static. The world is changing, other institutions and agencies of necessity are changing with it, and schools cannot be left in the dust.
A culture where teaching is an art 11. Even as we believe that some teaching and teachers are more effective than others, we also believe that some practices are better than others. We need to be aware of what is happening
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13. We believe in a productivity model for teaching and learning. Time is our most important resource. In the same amount of time we should keep pressing to have students learn more, learn faster, retain the learning longer, apply it more readily, and enjoy the experience.
14. We believe that schools are not just for students, though, of course,
they are the focus of our efforts. Nevertheless, other publics are essential to the institution – the Board of Directors and donors, the administration and staff, including especially the faculty, and the families. The entire community is “the school” and each part needs recognition and attention. 15. We believe that schools are systems involving members of the Board of Directors, administrators, teachers, staff members, and students and their families. These groups come together in various arrangements, each important to the success of the whole. 16. We believe that today teachers and classrooms are open to scrutiny and that what we are teaching must be transparent and public. No longer can a teacher maintain that the classroom is his or her kingdom, as was the case in earlier decades. 17. We believe that Island School, while independent, is a resource for the larger community of Kaua‘i – i.e., we are part and parcel of a larger entity and have responsibilities to contribute to the well-being of that community.
Culture - a reflection of many things by Robert Springer Head of School In broad strokes, a school has three main instructional categories: (1) classroom lessons, (2) public activities/presentations, and (3) character building. The three intersect and form the culture of an institution, often referred to as the school climate. This may be seen in the interactions and conversations within and among the people of the institution. Classroom lessons should have seriousness of purpose and a healthy give-and-take between students and the teacher and among the students themselves. The tone should be comfortable yet focused. The learning should be challenging and progressive. In classes, new knowledge and skills are acquired, and a sense of curiosity and discovery should prevail. Public activities/presentations provide opportunities for students to showcase their skills, from athletics and various academic competitions to artistic performances, drama, and debates, such as Mock Trial. Preparation of the students should be thorough, and their performances should reflect poise, a sense of confidence, and a polish that comes from well organized practices and a desire for excellence. Character building includes the development of pride in the school and the standards it promotes. At Island School, students at all three divisions are elected to governing bodies through which they plan activities and carry them out. These include assemblies, pep rallies, dances and any number of coand extra-curricular events. In addition, middle and high-school classes go on retreats where students study the Student/Parent Handbooks and set goals for the year. Also, morning meetings are held at all three divisions where announcements are made and special activities promote school spirit.
Development Update Your Gifts Are Appreciated What do the Wilcox Gymnasium, the Singapore Math Curriculum, the Community Garden and the Noni Library have in common? They were all made possible through the generosity of philanthropic donors. As a non-profit organization, we rely on community support to meet our educational mission. Here’s a sampling of additional projects that donors have helped to support: • • • • • • • • • •
Keiki Playground Middle and High School Lockers Hawaiian Studies Professional Development for Teachers Alaka’i Chorus Tuition Aid Gymnasium sound system Middle School textbooks Native tree collection Art Program kiln
Every gift makes a difference in the lives of our students. For more information on giving to Island School, visit www.ischool.org/giving.html or call the Development Office at (808) 246-0233.
At Island School, the three major special events – Art Day, the Birthday Celebration, and May Day – are unique experiences through which the entire Island School community comes together in ways that foster cohesion and identity. This is by way of saying that a school’s culture is not dependent on a single factor. Rather it reflects many things. The degree of mutual support and communication among members of the school community certainly are key indicators. The collective awareness of values and of the teaching of these affects how people of a school see themselves and their place in it. Finally, the combination of all elements that are embedded in a school’s intentions and operations creates those feelings and energies that are known as the school’s culture.
A culture of ‘ohana Island School Navigator
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Up Close With Cindy Wortmann Take a walk past Mrs. Wortmann’s 5th grade classroom during break and you’re likely to see several high school students lounging on the couch having a snack. “I make sure they know they can ask me anything.” And they do. Cindy teaches her students so much more than reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. She teaches them to be the best human beings possible. “I find the light in every child and bring it out for them to see,” she said. “It’s so important for my students to believe in themselves and to be kind to all people.” Cindy is completing her 13th year teaching 5th grade at Island School. She’s taught all three of her children, watched
her oldest graduate (in 2011), and will see her middle child graduate on June 14th. Her youngest will be a junior next year. “Getting this job was a dream come true,” she said. Her teaching career began in Southern California in a private school, then at a Catholic school in Portland while her husband, Eric, was completing his residency in Emergency Medicine. She took a break while her children were young and the family moved to Kaua‘i. Admissions Director, Paige Talvi, gave them “the tour” of the school and she immediately knew she wanted to enroll her children and teach here. “What I saw on my first visit was a community of love, respect and nurturing,” Cindy remembers. “Teachers were passionate about teaching. Students and adults were friendly, the campus was beautiful – I felt I belonged here.” Fifth grade at Island School is an exciting year. Besides the Big Island trip, the 5th grade play and being Morning Circle leaders, 5th grade is a bridge to middle school. Cindy makes sure her students
Congratulations to the Class of 2014
Island School 3-1875 Kaumuali‘i Hwy Lihu‘e, HI 96766
are ready for the transition. “These kids are going through big changes, physically, emotionally and intellectually. I like to challenge them in all of these areas. When they say to me, ‘This is hard, Mrs. Wortmann,’ I tell them ‘Good! Hard is good!’” Cindy knows that being a parent is one of the most difficult things a person will ever do. By 5th grade, children need to try out their wings. “Letting go can be so painful, but really important. They need to know that you believe in them, that you know they can do things on their own.” She sees parents struggle with this, but knows first hand - as both a teacher and a parent - that children need to hear, “I know you can do it.” “I get more hugs in one day than you can imagine,” she said. “I am so fortunate. I look forward to going to work everyday. I feel appreciated and respected by students, colleagues and parents. What could be better than that?” Cindy was right - she definitely belongs at Island School!