Professional Documents
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Senior Project Proposal - Final Kuhaulua
Senior Project Proposal - Final Kuhaulua
Nehemiah Kuhaulua
Senior Project 2019
Kuhaulua 2
Preface
As a kid, I loved to learn about Hawaiian culture. I grew up listening to Hawaiian songs,
learning simple hulas from my aunt who runs a halau and watching May Day celebrations at my
cousins' elementary schools. I didn’t really get into the culture until middle school when I joined
Kihei Canoe Club, that’s when my love for it flourished. Every week I was learning something
new and gaining more experiences as a student. By the time I was in high school, I was teaching
the younger kids what I learned over the years. While following the footsteps of my kapuna, I
made it a mission to preserve our culture, our heritage. By continuing to share what I’ve gained
from my alaka’i, my mentors who are passing down the torch to me, I can find the next bearer
and keep the cycle of learning strong. I love teaching kids about the culture, walking them
through chants and listening to their small voices grow into one. I realized my passion is sharing
the culture, passing down what I know to the next generation in hopes they can find their love for
it as I did.
My senior project is to teach hulas and chants to the 8th graders in their Hawaiian history
class. We learn history from videos, textbooks, articles, and by sitting at a desk for an hour
taking notes. Well, that’s what I did. We didn’t learn about the cultural side of things as I hoped,
I had to go outside the classroom to learn about it. I want to showcase the things I learned to the
kids and help them understand why the culture is just as important as history. I want to find kids
who love it, who want to dive deeper and learn more about the culture than whats limited to the
classroom. I want to persuade students to join a local hula halau or paddling team so they can
Introduction
Driving Question:
How can I encourage the cultural side of Hawaiian history in the classroom?
Project Goal:
The goal of my project is to encourage students to learn more about Hawaiian culture
than the history they learn in class. I plan on teaching students hulas and chants that I’ve learned
over the years on days where they don’t go over history. Of course, I’ll go over teaching plans
with Kumu Kane and help out in the classroom when I’m not teaching, just to give the students
rest days. My first plan is to go over a simple chant called E Ho Mai and work our way up from
there. My final goal of this whole project is to showcase what the students learned and
incorporate them into Charter’s annual luau by having them join the high schoolers in dances or
have their own performance. Of course, I won’t force the ones who don’t want to perform, but
the ones who do will join Hawaiian club on Fridays and be apart of the planning. That will be the
My project will cover public speaking and educating. I will be using public speaking by
taking in front of students each day. I’m still not that great at giving presentations or speaking in
front of a class, even if the kids are younger than me, I’ll still be nervous. I want to overcome
that. I’ll be educating the students about Hawaiian culture through hulas and chants that I’ve
previously learned over the summer. There are some paddlers in middle school so I know they
won’t have any trouble learning them, but I need to break it down for the kids who don’t know
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any of it. I might have to find new ways of explaining certain concepts and be more patient with
some students because not all students learn the same way.
Mentor:
A mentor that I know will help me is Kumu Kane, who’s classes I’ll be teaching in. If I
ever need any backup to wrangle up the students or to make sure they’re paying attention, I can
ask him for help. If I get stuck then I can ask him to help me with lesson planning since I’m still
working on those. Another mentor who’s always a strong backbone for me is Mrs. Federoff.
★ Thinking and Problem Solving: This project uses this skill because I’ll have to come up
with different lesson plans and overcome any bumps in the road I may encounter.
★ Civic Literacy and Engagement: The community I’ll be helping the school by educating
the 8th graders about the culture. I’ll also be helping out with the annual luau by
★ Communication: There will be lots of communication between my mentor and I and the
students who want more help. I know there will be days where I won’t be in the classes
★ Financial and Business Literacy: I’ll throw the classes a pizza party after my project as a
thank you for helping me. I’ll buy two pizza boxes from Costco so I’ll spend about
$20.00 - $30.00.
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★ Global Awareness: The whole goal of my project is to get kids more interested in the
Hawaiian culture. I want kids to learn about the culture at a young age so they can grow
★ Interpersonal: Socializing, something I’m not that great at. Even if these are middle
schoolers, kids ranging from 12 to 14 years old, I still want to treat them as peers and not
as little kids. Of course, I have different relationships with the middle schoolers I know
personally, so our dynamic will differ compared to other students. Even if that’s the case,
I still want to treat the students as friends and have them see me as more like a friend than
a teacher.
★ Self-Direction: I need to have the motivation to complete this project and tons of
self-direction. Even if I have people to help me, I need to put in the work and effort to see
this project through. My mentors are there for support and to help me if I need it, but in
★ Information: I’ll use information skills to research and gather different components for
this project. As I stated earlier, I’m still learning about the culture myself. Even if I feel
like I have enough knowledge to teach a class, I’ll still need to double-check or elaborate
Limitations:
There might be some setbacks that I encounter while doing this project such as the kids
not being as enthusiastic about learning the culture and refusing to participate. I will never force
the kids to do something they don’t feel comfortable doing so I won’t push the subject. If only
four or five kids want to dance than I’m fine with that. Another obstacle is lesson planning. I
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don’t want to just teach them about the culture and not give context or explain the meanings. On
some days I want to plan something that will help the kids realize that learning about the culture
can be fun and exciting. I can ask Kumu Kane and Mrs. Federoff to help me if I find myself in a
slump. The last limitation is time spacing. I’ll assume the students will pick up the chants
quickly since Eh Hoi Mai and I Ku Mau Mau are easy and very repetitive. However, depending
on how well the kids pick up the hula, since dancing takes the most time despite this one being
simple, than time will be a tight subject. It takes longer to get the movements correctly, I won’t
be looking for perfection, but I do want them to dance by themselves without anyone to mirror
the movements for them. I know teaching the hula will take longer so I need to figure out how to
time the lessons without taking time away from their actual history class.
Deliverables:
I will be taking pictures and videos of the kids during our lessons . I’ll prop up my phone
while we dance and chant so I can be in the frame while I teach. Each class I’ll record them
chanting then compare the students to the previous class so they can see their progress and
improve in areas they’re lacking. I’ll turn all these videos in at the end and have the pictures
Resources/Materials Needed:
Material wise, I won’t need anything for the classrooms. However, if the students
participate in the luau, I’ll need to find extra dresses for the girls while boys can wear jeans and
Hawaiian print shirts. My resources are my mentors, Kumu Kane and Mrs. Federoff. When I’m
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in a slump and can’t think of ways to make learning fun, I’ll ask them for advice. I might also I
need help wrangling the kids to listen to me, that’s where Kumu Kane comes in to help.
Budget:
I won’t need to buy anything specific for this project except pizza. I want to throw the
students a pizza party as a thank you gift for helping me and food is always a good option. I’ll
buy the pizza from Costco, each box is about $10.00 so depending on the amount of classes I can
teach and how many kids want pizza, I’ll spend about $30.00.
Timeline:
September
● Have a meeting about the project and discuss the project - Week of 9th ~ 13th
October
● Documentation
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● Blog 2 - 25th
November
● Documentation
● Blog 3 - 15th
December
● Documentation
● Blog 4 - 6th
● Blog 5 - 13th
January
● Documentation
February
● Documentation
March
● Luau - 7th
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Annotated Bibliography
Frondeville, Tristan de. “How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class.” Edutopia, George Lucas
After reading this article, I can conclude that it’s beneficial for keeping kids engaged in
the classroom. The tips and tricks explain how running a classroom full of middle
schoolers can be hard, but with the right words and actions is easy. A tip that I’ll
definitely use is having a supportive classroom. Another tip is creating teamwork tactics
that emphasize accountability. I want the students to be able to help each other when I’m
with other kids, so by working as a team, things will run more smoothly.
Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts. “Preserving Culture and Heritage Through Generations.”
This article gives insight on why it’s important to preserve a culture. The appreciation of
cultural heritage should be communicated through education in this global society and it
should be encouraged. It’s a way to safeguard tangible and intangible heritage. To keep
the culture alive and to keep it relevant we must practice regularly and learn within
communities and between generations. We need to preserve what’s important because
cultural heritage could die out or disappear without any help, by safeguarding the culture
we’re transferring knowledge, skills and meaning to the next generation so they let it live.
This is what I want to accomplish by the end of my project, for the kids to know where
they come from and to know at least a bit more about their heritage so they can take
action and became an alaka’i.
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This article gives insights on why learning about culture is important and helps build a
community. Learning about one's own culture forms a bond to where a person comes
from, influences their views and values, and it also finds similarities in other people’s
cultures. Communities are easily built through cultures by finding common interests and
working together to overcome racial and ethinic conflicts. By learning about the culture
we live in or where we come from it gives us an appreciation for the communities form
around us.