Teachers Teaching Teachers is a monthly series of free professional development workshops for Hawai‘i Island’s K-12 teachers. The goal of this program is to bring teachers together to share knowledge and practices connecting school learning gardens with core curriculum, assessment and evaluation, and to deepen connections to student learning and outcomes. If you would like to RSVP for a workshop or have any questions, please contact Donna Mitts at dmitts@kohalacenter.org.
‘Ai Pono Workshop: Traditional Cordage Making
Facilitated by Gary Eoff
Saturday, November 8, 2014
12:30–3 p.m.
Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Captain Cook
Gary Eoff will share his knowledge of local plants and traditional methods of preparation and weaving. We will also be harvesting and prepping cordage material. Student and teacher cordage will be included in the makana (offerings) that the Hōkūle‘a gives at her ports of call. Eoff is an artist and craftsman with a strong passion for communicating cultural knowledge with teachers and students.
The Pumpkin Primer: Key Ways to Grow Edible Heirloom Squash
Facilitated by Anna Peach
Saturday, November 22, 2014
9 a.m.–12 noon
Hōnaunau Elementary School Garden, Hōnaunau
This workshop will offer tips for successful squash growing in a school garden. Additional topics to be covered will include nutrient recycling, soil building practices of creating fish emulsion and bokashi, natural pest control, seed selection, melon fly traps, water conservation, variety selection, companion planting and pollinators. Anna has created an interesting squash growing strategy that creates a perennial plant from an annual by using pruning and mulching technique.
Three Sisters Garden
Facilitated by Hayley Blondin
Saturday, January 24, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Parker School Garden, Waimea
Augment your toolkit for making connections between the classroom and the garden in this interactive, resource-rich workshop. Hayley will share curriculum plans and resources to develop a unit around the planting, cultivation, and harvest of the traditional Native American Three Sisters Garden. Resources include grade-level appropriate readers, writing prompts, recipes, craft ideas, planting materials and tips, sample student work, and much more. While originally designed for third grade, this unit can be modified to meet the needs of any K-5 elementary classroom. This workshop will focus on the Three Sisters Garden, but will cultivate techniques and ideas about how to develop unit plans for other gardens such as salsa gardens, canoe-plant gardens, and pollinator gardens.
Plants and Us: Nutritive Cycles and Natural Farming in the Garden
Facilitated by Kalu Oyama
Saturday, February 7, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Nā‘ālehu Elementary School, Nā‘ālehu
FoodCorps Service Member Kalu Oyama will share her knowledge on balancing our garden soil and improving plant vigor using natural farming methods. The presentation will include a discussion on the similarities between plants and people and the four nutritive stages. Participants will make fermented plant and fruit juices and take home materials on natural farming.
Systems Thinking in School Gardens and Beyond
Facilitated by Dr. Koh Ming Wei
Saturday, March 7, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Kalaniana‘ole School, Pāpa‘ikou
Participants will learn and practice “systems thinking” skills and acquire tools that will be applied to learning gardens and other curriculum designs. We will practice making the implicit connections within and between systems in the garden explicit, for authentic assessment and exciting learner outcomes.
The Secret Life of Soil
Facilitated by Krista Donaldson & Megan Dehning Learned
Saturday, March 28, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Innovations Public Charter School Garden, Kailua-Kona
This workshop will provide teachers with three simple, hands-on, soil studies that can be replicated in their classrooms. We will learn to model successful science and garden teacher collaboration, demonstrate scientific investigations in the garden, and engage and interest teachers in composting and soil science.
Designing and Developing a School Garden Program
Facilitated by Debbie Follett
Saturday, March 28, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Hilo Union Elementary School, Hilo
Learn how to design and develop a school garden to not only grow healthy veggies, but also engage students with math, language arts, science, nutrition, and general learner outcomes. By showing children how to grow their own vegetables they will develop an awareness and appreciation of place—a place where they can create, nurture and expand. The workshop will include a tour of the Hilo Union Elementary School garden, a hydroponics demonstration and a discussion that will focus on sourcing funds and sponsors for your school garden program. Each participant will receive a free hydroponic kit.
Seeds! Pollination, Diversity and Basic Seed Saving
Facilitated by Ilana Stout
Saturday, April 11, 2014
9 a.m.–12 noon
East Hawai‘i, TBD
This workshop will teach pollination biology, the value (and decline) of seed diversity, and basic seed saving skills. Although the target audience of this workshop is for students in grades 6-12, this workshop is open to all teachers K-12.
Native Plants and Place-Based Education
Facilitated by Kamuela Naihe
Saturday, April 25, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Captain Cook
Discover how we can deepen our relationships to place, using the ahupua‘a of Kealakekua and the gardens as the foundation. We will expand our understanding and appreciation of native plants through mo‘olelo, variety names, characteristics and uses. Kamuela will lead us on a walking tour of the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden through different growing zones and share how to incorporate native plants into school gardens. We will harvest from the garden and prepare a lunch together.
Composting and Food Safety for the School Garden
Facilitated by Mary Lynn Garner
Saturday, May 9, 2015
9 a.m.–12 noon
Konawaena High School Garden, Kealakekua
This workshop will give school garden teachers direct knowledge of how to prepare compost with students in a school garden setting. Information about food safety protocols will be included. It will be held at the site of the Salad Bar Garden in the agriculture department at Konawaena High School in Kealakekua.