Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

2-1-2012

Abstract

This qualitative, phenomenological study investigated teachers\u201f responses to participation in the Kahua Induction Program for new and new-to-district public school teachers in Hawaii. Nine teachers were interviewed who had participated in the program for at least one year in the West Hawaii Complex Area on the island of Hawaii. Long, in-depth interviews with open-ended questions focused on the central research question: how do teachers understand their experiences in the Kahua Induction Program and the impact of their participation on their teaching? Several themes emerged from the participant interviews. First, before entering the Kahua Program the participants felt a need for cultural understanding, for guidance in teaching effectively in the unfamiliar cultural context, and for supportive professional and personal relationships. Second, the teachers reported that the Kahua Program provided both significant knowledge of Native Hawaiian culture through field trips to locations of cultural vii significance and helpful instruction on ways to implement this knowledge in their teaching. Third, the participants\u201f experiences in the Kahua Program helped them to introduce culturally responsive teaching practices that increased their students\u201f engagement in learning and sense of personal empowerment while promoting collaborative teacher-student and student-student relationships. Fourth, the Kahua Induction Program provided teachers a foundation for more supportive relationships with students\u201f families, with colleagues, and with members of the community; it also articulated a pedagogical approach that is transferrable to other cultural environments and that increased the participants\u201f sense of satisfaction as teachers in Hawaii.

Keywords

First year teachers--Hawaii--Attitudes, Teacher orientation--Hawaii, Teachers--Training of--Hawaii, Hawaii--Cultural policy

Sponsors

University of New Mexico College of Education Helen and Wilson Ivins Scholarship

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Multicultural Teacher and Childhood Education

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Mitchell, Rosalita

Second Committee Member

Torres-Velasquez, Diane

Third Committee Member

Lee, Tiffany

Fourth Committee Member

Krebs, Marjori

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