Outreach

Writing with a Purpose

My articles on education have been published in many publications, including Civil Beat, OESIS Magazine, and Ka Punahou.

Along with my advocacy journey, I learned the importance of engaging with the broader community to increase participation. Using writing to influence and welcome more people into the conversation was my next goal.

I began this process by writing an article about how the Covid-19 pandemic affected education and the way teachers taught their curriculum. Many topic areas and assignments that educators considered "unimportant" were omitted, which exposes a real and present problem in our current educational methods: some material are kept for busy work. Furthermore, many privileged schools such as Punahou converted to online learning and teachers adapted their testing methods as well. I wanted to discuss how project and competency-based education fits into this change.

One important moment for me was when OESIS Quarterly Network reached out to me to ask if they can publish my thoughts on education in their magazine. OESIS Network is a leading group of educators focused on innovative pedagogies and transforming K-12 curricula to fit the needs of all students. I did an interview with them, and explained why I am passionate about changing our education system. The directors of the network later published my article and featured me in their OESIS Magazine. I had the privilege of working with their team on pedagogical understanding, and am incredibly grateful to see my writing reach a larger audience.

Panels

However, my outreach plan extended beyond writing articles. I wanted to directly speak to parents and students who were curious about these new pedagogies. I was invited by Dr. Emily McCarren and Dr. Sally Mingarelli to speak to the PFA on multiple occasions about my experience with GSD and how it affected my "life-long learning" goals. I believe that it is important to engage with people who do not always agree with you, and having these discussions helped me advocate for my cause while demystifying the "scary" parts of alternative learning. In addition to speaking at PFA panels, I also spoke with members of the math department to understand how the changes are affecting STEM education, and how we can convert more classes to include better, more inclusive curricula. While my discussions with them were unsuccessful, I was able to learn a lot about why there is so much resistance from teachers, and how to tackle these problems.

While engaging with the Punahou community was important, I also recognized that I needed to speak to a diverse group of educators in Hawai'i. I was invited to the 24 Hours for Change in Education panel hosted by Dr. Susannah Johnson which invited educators from around the world to talk about their new methods of teaching and how to implement it into people's classes. Through speaking on this panel, I was able to reach people in all part of the world, including Colombia, Romania, Argentina, Mexico, and the UK.

Page updated

Report abuse