Growing up in Thailand and teaching in Bangkok, Ka’u High School Language Arts teacher Chayanee Brooks, a Hawaii State Fellow and Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellow, hopes to inspire her students to fall in love with what they learn.
The role for her as a teacher, she states, is to trust the intrinsic abilities of students to recognize their strengths as they interact with new texts throughout the year.
“Ideally, my role as a teacher is to know when to step away and when to intervene,” Brooks told the Big Island Times. “Even though grading is part of the teaching job, I see my role as an active learning participant, open to my own growth that is inspired by my students’ participation in the learning process.”
Brooks grew up in a family of educators, and sees teaching as a way to keep learning while also being part of student learning and growth. As an acknowledgement of her passion for education, she was awarded the Hawaii State Fellows and Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellows this year.
“I used to think that effective teachers are smart people who know their content really well, but now I know effective teachers are not only passionate or experts in their field, but they have the ability to inspire even the most reluctant learners to fall in love with it as well,” Brooks said.
One common barrier to academic progress, she said, is a traditional focus on grading where task completion takes reign over learning. According to Brooks, school has a real impact on students when learning becomes more than a grade, but rather drives their identities and thoughts.
“Technology has become a liberating tool for collaboration, research, and creation, and many teachers, myself included, see opportunities to connect with other educators across the state and country to reimagine and redesign education for our students,”Brooks said. “This redesign is having impacts at Ka’u High with changes in how students are assessed and how some grade levels are grouped to be in a school-wide academy that focuses on their skill development and out of school community.”
Ka’u High and Pahala Elementary School is located in the southern district of Ka’u in the town of Pahala, primarily serving Pahala, Na`alehu-Waiohinu and Hawaiian Ocean View Estates/Ocean View Ranchos.
Brooks said the school is responsible for creating the “What I Need” (WIN) block to provide both academic and extracurricular support.
Moving forward, Brooks hopes parents can become more involved with the school and collaborate to make the best possible experience. Little things, like parents asking their child to share and teach them something they learned and focusing on their child's happiness can go a long way, Brooks said.