EduCatered: Ululani Shiraishi, Kamehameha Schools Maui

Hey, come on in. Welcome to Educator, a podcast that’s catered to educators. I’m your host, Shani, and getting smart food, education, and innovation are at the heart of our recipe. This podcast mixes it all together to get to know teachers that are doing the work and making a difference. We start with the appetizer. What makes these educators unique? Then to the main course, stories and experiences that have helped to shape their practice. Finally, dessert, some

tips for what you can do next, creating a future of learning that works for everyone. Let’s dig in. Thank you for joining us today. I’m thrilled to be joined by Ulu Sheera Ishii, a middle school language arts teacher at Kamehameha Schools Maui. She’s also a mother of three and a self-proclaimed latter. Ulu, thanks so much for joining us for the first ever episode of Educator. How are you? I am so excited to be able to hang out with you and in Hawaii we call it kukau kukau, which is just

top story back and forth. And to be able to do that with you around something I am passionate about and love and ready to jump in. So, I’m speaking of passions. We, again, are smart. We adore food. It may or may not be our most used slack channel. To start, we always ask the same question. If you were to contribute a recipe to a cookbook, what would it be and why? That food would not necessarily have to come with a recipe per se, but it would be some kind of salad goulash. And the reason for that

is just because I love salad and it can taste even better when there’s all different kinds of things in it and random things. And what I do also about that is that when you invite people over to come and share it with you, because a meal is never as good as when you’re sharing it with people, is that people could bring whatever they want to the salad and it could be as simple as rushing to the store and getting just cranberries or it could be making homemade croutons and bringing

part of yourself to this meal and then enjoying it together and being able to hodgepodge and grab whatever you want and it can, everyone’s contributing and consuming and engaging together in a goulash fashion. Oh, I love that. You know, there’s so many metaphors that are in there about just the table being the gathering place or just as we think about education or just diversity and what we’re all bringing to the table and how everything is better when everyone contributes

and brings a piece of themselves. I just love all of that. And to add to that, as I was like pondering it, even as it was coming out of my mouth, I was thinking that you can bring something that you are able to bring. Just like I said, you could run to the store and grab something quick or you can put more time and effort in it because I feel like our lives can be so full and so crazy that sometimes I’m a cranberry in the bag bringer and sometimes I’m a homemade crouton with rosemary

olive oil bringer and realizing that as we connect as people in whatever spaces we’re in that sometimes people are cranberries and sometimes people are the homemade croutons and caring about people right where they’re at and who they are right in that moment and giving them space to bring what they can and love them right where they are. Oh, I love that and it’s something that just we need to hear in the world today. Just bring what you can and we’ll accept it all and

speaking of accepting everything and everyone. What’s your diversity? My diversity today I’ve grown into this is listening to people and listening below, well trying to because it’s still, I mean, it’s a growing skill and ability, trying to listen below the words of people to the heart of people and inquiring of people, helping people in the process of listening to feel seen and heard and known in the midst of really quick interactions or more lengthy interactions that people that when

I’m in an interaction or conversation quicker or long that people would leave, whether they can articulate it or not, people would leave just feeling seen. Yeah, everyone wants to be seen, heard, everyone wants to feel like they belong. So how do you do that when you say that you know, you want to be a good listener, you want to listen below, like what are the some of the things that you do to make sure you’re actively living that? Just intentionally this year one of

the commitments I made to myself was that when kids walk in the classroom, I will look up and I will make eye contact with them and I will acknowledge them as they come in. Things as simple as that. And it is the act is simple, but to do it regularly is challenging because there’s so many things going on, especially at the beginning of the day. And I don’t want busy to hinder connection. And right now, especially with kids coming back after almost a whole year of in and out of school

here on Maui, I want them to know that this place cares about them and this place is safe for them. Yeah, no, I love that. I love when kids feel like they have a place and it’s safe and they feel like they belong. And like you said, in our scene, I remember when I was in the classroom, we didn’t matter if students were in my class at night or just in the hallways, I too made it a point to make sure that I at least say good morning or hello because sometimes kids don’t even get that from

anyone. So I love that you do that. And since you transition to that, why education? Growing up, I didn’t really love school. I love learning. And I loved reading devoured books and loved loved living in foreign places through literature, loved having friends through literature and just experienced experiencing different through literature. And I loved taking it in, pondering it, talking about it, and realized that this was a venue going to school, helped to foster that

college going to school. When I realized that that’s something that I was really passionate about and then being able to have conversations around it and then pass that on and be in environments and spaces where that was nurtured and encouraged was what drew me to education. And what is something that, you know, as you’ve been in education, what is something that you wish every teacher knew or something that wasn’t taught? I think it’s communication. We didn’t spend a lot of

time in class specifically talking about the simple things that help people to be seen and known just like making eye contact, responding, simple, nonverbal, head nodding gestures that help people to engage and say, like I’m in this conversation with you, pausing, paraphrasing, asking thought provoking questions based on conversation. Those skills are not just infused sometimes. It helps when they’re actually taught intentionally. And I think that those are important things in any

relationship as a spouse, as a parent, as a friend, professionally, personally, to be able to just nurture an environment that can more readily take in and enhance learning. And how do you teach kids to build those kind of relationships or have those kind of skills? I will break it down for them. We will actually rubrics where eye contact and voice volume, nonverbal skills, slouching the way they’re sitting, like all of that smiling, nodding,

all of those things, they will assess themselves. Other people will assess them. In addition to just incorporating it, every single day, we are talking to each other. Even just the skills of pausing, paraphrasing, like I’ll pose a question and then the kids have to respond and their partner has to pause and paraphrase back what they heard. And then we’ll move on to pause, paraphrase, and ask a thought-provoking question. Pause, paraphrase, and ask a

clarifying question. So very intentional and it’s awkward at the beginning, but as we move on and do it every day, it gets easier and easier. And then these kids are having really deep, intellectual, thought-provoking conversation. And that’s truly the best. And it seems like you’re doing a really great job leading. It sounds like you’re modeling a lot of the behavior you want to see, but just in general, how do you lead? And I feel like a lot of this is coming back to

listening is I try to listen well to again hear what people, especially now in this environment, I feel like there’s a lot of underlying fears and urgency. Like everything is so urgent right now because it’s moving so quick. And we’ve had several positive COVID cases in our school and things have to happen fast, like pulling kids out of class and quarantining and all of these different things. And how are we going to teach those kids we’re at home and have kids in class?

And there’s an urgency to so much of what’s happening. And in the midst of urgency, there it’s filled with fear and unknown and pressure. And those add to tones of voices and emails and responses that can be curt and rough and people can get offended. So this whole environment that we’re in, I feel like leading by listening and hearing people, pausing and being present in an engagement and working together to make wise informed decisions

is how I like to lead. Yeah. And I mean, as you said, there’s just been, it’s been an uncommon year or an uncommon, I guess, couple of years and we’re still not out of it and having the pivot. I know, you know, this hasn’t been easy for teachers or students. It’s probably cost you to change your mind about some things made about the way education is taught or where it’s going. So just what is something that you’ve changed your mind about recently?

We’re at a college prep school in the process of redesigning our school. And that whole process has just opened my eyes and perspective to different ways of doing learning. And luckily, I teach at a school that highly encourages and supports professional development. And so we were able to do a lot of R&D research and design and travel to a lot of different schools to see what they’re doing that has reaped positive results in our 21st century world. And so something that

I’ve been rethinking is academics and I teach English. So it is vital that they learn how to read and write. And in that process, how do I teach them how to read and write in a way that is infused with social emotional learning opportunities in getting outside and engaging in and I live on Maui and the school that I work at is a Hawaiian school. And so we are culture-based and place-based. And so everything that we do revolves around Christian and Hawaiian values.

And so with that said, how do I teach those language skills infusing culture, Christianity, biblical beliefs, and social emotional learnings, which they all overlap and just really wanting to rethink that and ground and root all that we do and all the lessons that we teach, those learning experiences to be rooted from that place versus a textbook that goes and we haven’t used textbooks in a while, but some canned curriculum. I don’t want to do it. I want us to be able to

organically move through learning in an authentic way. And what do you feel like that’ll do for students when you rethink your curriculum or the way you do school in that way? Both from a Christian and Hawaiian perspective, it roots and grounds them in who they are as Hawaiian children, because also in our school, all of the children here are of Hawaiian blood. And so their ancestors are from here, their people are from here. They are from this place and are grown from this place.

And so and even from a Christian perspective, as God is our Creator, they’re grown from that place too. And so infusing all of that so that they have a strong foundation in who they are and where they have come from to go out into the world and take all of that with them to wherever they go. And we hope that they go far and broad and take the Eloh Spirit and all of these Christian and Hawaiian values with them to be able to positively impact the places that they will be.

Yeah, no, I just love the notion when you just kept saying from this place, it just really resonated with the things that you’ve already shared about the importance of listening and the importance of students being feeling seen and that they belong from this place. Is that something that also resonates with you and just how you approach everything? Foundationally, it does. And so much so that I feel like I could get a little emotional.

I was born and raised in California and my mom and dad are from very, very remote small towns here on Maui, Hana and Kippuhubu. And when we were growing up, my parents would ship my siblings and I back to Hana and really small, small town. And we would spend the summers there. And I would go back to California and it just felt, it felt like this was my place and I felt connected and rooted to this place yet I was actually born and spent most of my time

in California. And so I knew once I graduated from college that I would move back to Maui. And when I did, it felt right. Like it felt like this is my place and this is my people. And in Hawaii, when in the Hawaiian culture, when you greet someone, oftentimes you greet someone with where are you from? And oftentimes the response is not necessarily like where do you live, but it’s what place has grown you. And so like people could ask me where are you from? Like

here in Hawaii, if someone were to ask me where are you from? And if it was like an older Hawaiian person, I would say Hana because that’s the place that grew me. I wouldn’t say California. And so the more that I learn and engage in the Hawaiian culture, the more I realize how it feeds us. And I want the kids to move through each day and grow in this place that feeds them. I love that. Every student wants to be fed and every student wants to feel like they belong in a

place that grows them and continues to water them so that they continue to grow. So thank you for sharing that piece of wisdom with us. When you think about the voices in education or the ones that you know made you listen to to help grow your practice, who is one voice you would recommend educators check out? This question is challenging because there are so many powerful influential inspiring voices in the community that I that I live, serve, work in. And one that

quickly comes to my mind in the school that I teach at that also resonates into my personal life also is a woman named Akela Kanaiopio Crozier. And she is generally on our campus at Kamehameha, cultural specialist. And she was one of the first professors at the University of Hawaii to teach Hawaiian language. And she is part of a huge movement for indigenous people globally, but also here in Hawaii more so to revitalize the Hawaiian language and the Hawaiian culture.

And she has just made such an impact on our Hawaiian people as she works tirelessly to revitalize and normalize the Hawaiian language and the Hawaiian culture. And she does it in a way that is so engaging and draws you in her storytelling skills are magical. And in Hawaiian, we call it Ma’olelo or stories. And so her Ma’olelo skills just draw people into the stories of this place and of who the Hawaiian people are and where and the strength from which we have been grown from

because of the resilience and the strength of a group of people who currently are challenged by a lot of the things that are going on in this world. Stories are powerful, especially when they’re so rooted in who the students are, what their community is and can be. It’s just really a great way to learn. Ulu’s just been a joy having you on today. Thank you for being on the Educator Podcast and sharing your story and wisdom. Thank you, Shawnee. Thanks for tuning in today. We hope you found this

conversation inspiring, illuminating, and actionable. We love getting to talk with our wide range of guests about what makes us unique, alike, and connected. Know someone who will make a great guest on the podcast? Email mason at gettingsmart.com and don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps get more people around the table. Bon appetit.