II. Educational History and Professional Development Activities

A. Education: University of Hawaii

May, 1995: College of Education, Master of Education (M. Ed.), Major: Educational Technology.

May, 1993: College of Arts and Science, Graduate Certificate,

Major: Telecommunication Information Resource Management (TIRM).

May, 1986: Leeward Community College, Major: Accounting, Associate in Science (AS).

May, 1985: Leeward Community College, Major: Information and Computer Science, (AS).

December, 1983: College of Education, Professional Diploma (PD),

Major: Secondary Education - Mathematics.

May, 1982: College of Business Administration, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA),

Major: Business Economics & Quantitative Methods.

B. Employment History:

1998-Current: Nuuanu Elementary School: Technology Resource Teacher,

other activities: JPO Co-Advisor, Technology Committee, Technology Club, Math/Science Committee, School-to-Work Committee.

1993-Current: University of Hawaii, Outreach College: Technology and Math Instructor State/District Summer Institute.

1996-1998: Waialae Elementary School: Multimedia Learning Center Facilitator, other activities: Technology Committee Chair, School -to- Work Committee, Coordinating Committee.

1995-1996: Pohakea Elementary: Technology Resource Teacher.

1992-1995: Campbell Complex/Leeward District Office (11 Schools)

Technology Resource Teacher.

1991-1992: Waialua Intermediate & High School: Math Teacher.

1990-1992: Moanalua High School: Adult Education Computer Literacy Teacher.

1990-1991: General Education Branch, OIS: Computer Education Specialist II.

1987-1990: Pearl City High: Computer Science and Math Teacher (Computer Club Advisor).

1984-1987: Waianae High School: Math Teacher (Computer Club Advisor).

1984, and Summers from 1984-1986: Moanalua High School: Math Teacher.

C. Professional Memberships:

AECT - Association for Educational Communications and Technology

EDTECH - Educators for Technology and Computing in Hawaii

ISTE - International Society for Technology in Education

NCTM - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (and Hawaii: HCTM)

IBM - International Brotherhood of Magicians (National and Hawaii)

AKA - American Kite-fliers Association & Hawaii Kite-fliers Association

D. Staff Development Leadership Activity:

University of Hawaii, Outreach College: Technology and Math Instructor:

Summer, 1998-99: Nuuanu Elementary School: Technology Classes

Summer, 1996-1997: Waialae Elementary School: Technology and Math Classes

Summer, 1996: Aliamanu Intermediate School: Math Classes

Summer, 1993-1995: Ewa Beach Elementary School: Technology Classes

Department of Education, "B" Credit Classes: Technology Instructor:

Spring, 1997: Waialae Elementary School: Technology Classes

Summer, 1993: Ewa Beach Elementary School: Technology Classes

Conference Presentations

1999: E-School Conference: Technology Club at Nuuanu School

1997: HCTM (Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics) - Technology

1996: HERN Conference, Leeward District Conference - Technology

1995: Math Conference: Mathemagic; HSTA Conference - Technology

1994: EDTECH and Middle School Conference - Technology

1993: Leeward/Windward District Math Conference - Balloons & Kite

E. Recognition of Teaching:

1999: Honolulu District Teacher of the Year

1997-1999: Created concept of interactive, closed-circuit television broadcast and e-portfolios

1998-1999: High school directed studies students learning with teachers and elementary students

1996: Assisted in planning technology for Hawaii's second future school: Holomua Elementary

1994: Recipient of the Constance Dorothea Weinman Scholarship

1990: Nominated by PCHS's Math Department to apply for Math Presidential Award

1987-1990: Coached Pearl City High School's award winning computer team

1989: Featured on High Voltage and KITV News on kite-making; Internship:Project BEST (Business Encouraging Superior Teachers) at Chevron, USA; SFCA grant recipient

III. Professional Biography

A. Factors that influenced me to become a teacher:

At five years old, my first introduction to public school education was a nightmare. I remember an elementary teacher who would teach by fear and punish all the children in my class on a daily basis with constant negative reprimands for misbehavior. My curiosities were not stimulated but actually stifled; learning was through rote memory drills. From then many of my classes took on a similar format. In fact, in intermediate school, "the paddle" was the tool to punish students for misbehavior. This style of teaching was probably "old fashion" as it occurred in the 1960s. Despite the experiences that still haunt me today, it was my high school learning experiences that prepared me for my career choice as a teacher. I recalled my first high school computer class that introduced me to telecommunication by programming FORTRAN on a teletype terminal, which had no monitor, but is similar to a typewriter communicating with the University of Hawaii's main frame computer via modem. This high school was an innovative one. In fact, my computer and math classes provided elements of what is now called problem-based learning and the teacher was the facilitator who was the "guide on the side" and not the "sage on the stage." I was challenged and spent many hours trying to solve difficult problems. My math teacher was the first recipient of the Presidential Math Award in Hawaii. These classes prepared me for my future and not our past. With my math and computer background, I explored the fields of engineering, computer programming, and also economy by taking a variety of classes.

I graduated from the University of Hawaii with a BBA, and decided that I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to give back what I gained in my life's experiences. I continued college to get my secondary teaching degree in mathematics. After teaching secondary and elementary students for many years, it is gratifying to see the motivation of learning and to see my students leading successful productive lives in our community. My mission became to be a teacher that would stimulate a child's learning experiences and to prepare children to live in the 21st century. Learning should be fun, challenging and stimulating. I enjoy working with children daily!

My goal as an educator is to offer my students an education that will provide pathways to opportunities in the 21st century. Students' educational experience should provide familiarity with the most advanced technology available to them, along with the most feasible and efficient instructional methodology. My professional goal is to keep abreast of innovative curricula and technology.

To prepare myself for the challenges of the 21st century, I must consider the dynamics of my field, and the need to keep abreast of the latest curriculum and technological changes. Education is a life-long learning process. My background is diverse because I see the need to be open to a variety of media and instructional methodology. I am a life-long learner. I have continued my education by completing two Associate in Science degrees, the graduate-level certificate program called TIRM (Telecommunications and Information Resource Management), the Masters Degree in Educational Technology, and numerous curriculum and technology workshops offered by the Department of Education.

B. Greatest contributions and accomplishments in education:

My leadership and extracurricular activities have been involved with work, school, and the community. Currently, I am the technology resource teacher for Nuuanu Elementary School. I have experienced teaching mathematics and technology classes in eight elementary and secondary schools in three of Hawaii's seven districts. The students that I have taught were from a wide range of backgrounds, including special education and the gifted students. I have even taught adult education and teacher training classes. I was also the technology resource teacher for the Campbell elementary complex, in the Leeward District for Hawaii's Department of Education. I planned, designed, and developed the Campbell complex's technology education program for all students in grades K-12. I have also assessed the Campbell complex's present and future facility requirements to accommodate the implementation of computer and technological applications into each school's long range Improvement Plan (SIP), and have identified and provided pre-service and inservice training needs for teachers. I was also on the planning team for the second future school in Hawaii.

As the former Computer Educational Specialist for the state of Hawaii's Department of Education, I planned, designed, and developed the state computer education program for all students, from grades K-12. As a member of AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology), NCTM (National Council of Teacher of Mathematics), HCTM (Hawaii Council of Teachers of Mathematics), EDTECH (Educators for Technology and Computing in Hawaii), IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians (National and Hawaii), and AKA (American Kite fliers Association & Hawaii Kite-fliers Association), I happily keep abreast in the field by attending and presenting innovative sessions, workshops, and classes at local and national schools and conferences, reading newsletters, and subscribing to journals and magazines.

I have provided guidance to schools in the areas of mathematics and technology at the state, district and school levels. My most gratifying experience is to see change at the school level by developing innovative programs to support student learning. For example, at Waialae and Nuuanu School, I developed an interactive television broadcast for students to share weekly news and curriculum lessons learned in the classrooms. Students in the classes watch the broadcast and could send a voice message via their network computer in response to a question. Students also create their own electronic portfolios and access their portfolios through any computer in the school. Technology is truly integrated and used to support learning.

IV. Community Involvement

I have presented numerous inservice training courses, workshops, and demonstrations for the University of Hawaii, Department of Education (state, district and school level), conferences, and public library systems. The topics for all ages included technology, math and science, kite making and flying, balloons, and magic. Since 1993, I have developed a technology institute to train teachers on a variety of instructional design principles utilizing technology including robotics, graphics, CD ROM, video production, telecommunications, and multimedia. In the summer of 1997, I created a directed studies course for high school students to learn with teachers in the technology institute. The students did not have to pay for their training because they received credits at the end of the institute. This program will continue during the school year as part of the school-to-work concept. The students learn with elementary students and teachers. Local technology conferences I have presented at included the E-School, Leeward District Tech Wave, EDTECH (Educators for Technology and Computing in Hawaii), and HERN (Hawaii Education & Research Network).

I have incorporated my hobbies of magic, balloons and kites to develop a mathematics course for teachers. My skills in magic allowed me to donate numerous school and public library performances. My skills in balloon sculpturing allowed me to donate services to: 1) "Back to School" Project for needy children in Waianae sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division, and the Waianae District Office of the Honolulu Community Action Program; 2) Ciaomania! a birthday celebration to benefit Hawaii's Ronald McDonald House, 3) Leeward/Windward District Math and Science Conference, and 4) various elementary school science and fun fairs. My kite flying hobby allowed me to share the art of kite making to teachers and students of all ages at presentations: 1) Makemakika (Leeward District Math Project) and Central District (DOE), 2) various public libraries, 3) University Chinese Women Association, 4) KITV and High Voltage television programs, 5) Academy of Arts and 6) SPEPA (Summer Program for the Enhancement of Pacific Affairs).

Other activities I have been involved in include advising and coaching computer/technology clubs, math and soft-tennis teams. I focused computer/technology clubs to a community/school-wide service such as training other students on technology usage and technology maintenance. I have been the recipient of the State Cultural Arts and Foundations Apprenticeship Grant on kite making and flying, and the Dorothea Weinman Scholarship. I have also been an intern with Chevron, USA, through Project BEST (Business Encouraging Superior Teachers). These leadership and extracurricular activities in the schools and communities provide me with a wealth of experience to continue my endeavors to preparing students for the 21st century.

V. Philosophy of Teaching

A. Feelings and beliefs about teaching:

As a technology teacher, I believe that I am a facilitator to guide students to technology resources and not the "sage on the stage" to deliver information. Many times, I am the "guide on the side," training many student experts to train others. I believe in the "trainer of trainer" philosophy: once a student has attained a benchmark, other students can learn from this expert. I train students to be life-long learners. The knowledge that is attained by everyone is used to support classroom learning objectives. Students are not afraid of learning the usage and application of technology. Technology is in their environment. Why should I prevent students from utilizing what is already in their environment? There are teachers who prevent the usage of calculators in their classrooms. How many professionals would not allow such technology at their work place? Higher order thinking skills are taught with the usage of technology. The internet is popular and used at home and in school, but there are still many teachers who do not know what an internet address is or looks like!

"http://www.k12.hi.us/~kchun/" seems like a language that has appeared in just a matter of years. Many people are seeing internet addresses like these in advertisements on television, magazines, and computer screens. A new culture has arrived as I prepare students for their future and not the past. Multimedia, video and internet technology has exponentially increased in usage both at home and in the schools. The internet address listed above is my belief that students will be creating their own electronic portfolios and refining and reflecting on it as they progress through elementary and secondary education. At this site I have listed examples of portfolios created by former students in college and in the work force. It is a summary of experiences through school and work to be used when applying for future careers. Also listed are hypothetical elementary and secondary portfolio examples, my electronic portfolio, and a professional portfolio.

At Nuuanu School, students and teachers are saving their work on file servers which are accessed by any networked computer in the school. Students from grades K-6 log into the computer with their own account. They click on an application button of choice to launch a program. They easily save their work in their own folders. Sometimes folders are shared by students in the same class for collaborative projects. Students could also "hand-in" their paper/projects electronically to their teacher. Teachers are communicating through e-mail and electronic bulletins daily. All these are elements of preparing students and teachers for the next millennium. One of my beliefs is that benchmarks should be attained at each grade level. As these benchmarks are accomplished, students can apply what has been learned to more challenging tasks. Basic literacy is important. At the earlier grades, students learn the basics of technology and integrate real-life applications into their curriculum. The older students are more flexible and use technology to create multimedia, video, and internet projects from research. Collaboration is attained by teaming technology with the library and classroom resources.

Throughout my teaching career, I have taught students at all age and ability levels. The reward I find in teaching is watching how students have advanced in learning the curriculum with technology. Many concepts students are learning in elementary school are equivalent to what high school students learned ten years ago. With constant changes in the environment, students need to be life-long learners. Their environment is filled with technology, yet many schools restrict the use of technology to only the gifted. At Nuuanu School, all students including special education students have an opportunity to use technology to support their learning. Opportunities to learn technology also extend to secondary students. Next year, secondary students will be commuting to Nuuanu School to take a directed studies technology course to learn with elementary students and teachers.

B. Personal teaching style:

Every child is given an opportunity to learn technology. Some may take longer than others to learn, but I am patient and understand their needs. The lower grade students from K-3 are guided at a slower pace than the upper grades. When doing research, collaborative teaming is a solution to assist in learning. A teaming of school resources should support students' learning. The librarian, technology teacher and classroom teachers are resources to guide students in finding supporting information for their research. As a guide for students, a research internet page is created to assist students in finding appropriate resources. Students are taught to find the research page from Nuuanu School's home page (http://www.nuuanu.k12.hi.us). The school home page acts as a guide to desirable sites. The research page consists of user friendly search engines and electronic data bases. The home page has pictures of school activities that are meaningful to the students. They are able to copy and paste these pictures into their personal portfolio projects.

Commitment and communication are important tools in education. Every effort is made to keep the technological resources available for students to utilize. I spend many personal days during the vacation and arrive early in the morning to set-up the technology for the students to use. Successful communication is the key to all positive relationships and involves both effective verbal and listening skills. Success in the classroom begins by speaking at the students' level. Communication through computers is the main link to the world and throughout the school. Students are taught to communicate appropriately over the internet. Through the internet, students access a wealth of information and communicate with others through e-mail. Another way students communicate is with one of Hawaii's first interactive television broadcast using networked computers. Students communicate to the video studio by sending voice/text messages.

VI. Education Issues and Trends

A. Major public education issues:

One of the major issues in education is assessment. Low test scores by students across the nation triggers a public reaction on the quality of education. In the past, teachers were guided by text books. Everything from curriculum to testing materials were provided. Teachers were mostly concerned about finishing the textbooks by the end of the year. Publishers are more concerned about the sales of their textbook rather than what's best for students. Teachers are the curriculum experts and know their students best. They could choose from a variety of resources on what is appropriate for their students. Many teachers feel that low test scores may be attributed by not enough time to teach the benchmarks.

Based on research previously conducted, Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) determined that K-12 education has about 9,042 hours of time available for instruction. Using the standards and benchmarks in its standards database as a reference point, McREL determined that over 15,000 hours of instruction would be required to adequately address the content identified in the national-and state-level standards documents. This means that the grade level needs to be extended to K-22, or the amount of standards and benchmarks must be decreased. If the standards are decreased, then each state must decide their priorities.

In other words, a state, school or district wishing to establish standards based on the national documents must first identify what they mean by a standard and the format their standards will take. Next, they must systematically analyze all the national documents translating them into a format and conceptual base compatible with their own. This can be time consuming and may require input from many stake-holders.

Testing students on the benchmarks are based mostly on standardized tests. A popular alternative is portfolio assessment that requires students to collect and reflect on examples of their work, providing both an instructional component to the curriculum and offering the opportunity for authentic assessments. If carefully assembled, portfolios become an intersection of instruction and assessment: they are not just instruction or just

assessment. Portfolios capture growth over time so that students can become informed and thoughtful assessors of their own histories as learners. The process of selecting, refining, and evaluating their own work samples provides powerful learning opportunities for students. The teacher plays a role in supporting student responsibility for building the portfolio as well as for ensuring that the portfolio provides the strongest possible evidence

of accomplishment for each student.

I had an opportunity to work with a school that abandoned the standardized test and based their assessment on portfolios. Storage and retrieval of information in portfolios can be troublesome because of the volume of material assembled. The majority of student work was stored in 3-ring binders. Most of the collections were focused on reading, writing, and math. Imagine if other bulky items such as audio/videotapes, posters, and crafts projects need to be stored and retrieved. Technology can be used to ease the physical burden of storing massive amounts of information. Electronic portfolio assessment programs are evolving.

Electronic portfolios allow the teacher to efficiently manage textual, sound, image, and video information produced, refined, and collected by each student. An electronic portfolio uses multimedia technology to allow students/teachers to collect and organize portfolio artifacts in many media types (audio, video, graphics, text)

with hypermedia links connecting that evidence to the appropriate standards. Students and teachers can publish their electronic portfolios on CD-Recordable discs, video tape or the Internet. Dr. Helen Barrett, from the University of Alaska Anchorage, shares her study of electronic portfolios at her website (http://transition.alaska.edu/www/portfolios/site99.html).

Storage of these electronic portfolios depends on the amount of information accumulated. The lower grades (K-3) might require less storage space and may utilize mediums such as floppy disks, video tape, and the hard drive of the file server. The upper grades(4-6) might need bigger storage mediums such as the zip/jazz drive, video tape, CD-ROM, or the internet/intranet. With the popularity of the internet, web-based portfolios may have advantages over the other mediums because of its easy access through all types of computers. Most of the electronic portfolios developed are collections of "bells and whistles" of technology. The grading of portfolios must be through rubrics. There must be a link to standards for which students demonstrate achievement.

VII. The Teaching Profession

A. Improving the teaching profession:

To improve the teaching profession, I must model what it is to be a representative of a professional teacher. I believe in life-long learning. Throughout my educational career, I have always been interested in professional development and learning while keeping up with educational issues and trends. I pursued many degrees after obtaining a teaching certificate. Each degree has contributed to the goals of my profession. I started as a math teacher but studied a variety of curriculums and topics including business education, elementary education, multimedia, video, telecommunication, magic and balloons. As a professional, I keep current with the current trends and inform educators about these trends by attending and presenting valuable sessions at local and national conferences. These sessions lead to demands of workshops which I offered through the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii.

I have also invested many years teaching students from a variety of backgrounds. The many schools I have taught at had a variety of demographics ranging from students living in low to above average income families, to local, foreign and military families. Every school had different needs. I gained valuable experiences by articulating with teachers on the school improvement plan which provides ways to attain standards. Communicating and being active with students, teachers and administrators from the different schools provided valuable information on how to improve the quality of teaching. I have planted the seeds to strengthen the math and technology program at every school I have been to.

As a teacher, I believe that knowledge of course content, while important, is only the first step toward good teaching. A mastery of knowledge in a particular subject area is not of much use if it cannot be communicated effectively. Consequently, while I make every effort to keep current within my discipline, I am also continually looking for ways to become a more effective communicator of what I have learned. I view teaching as "identifying ways to help students to learn" as opposed to "covering the content."

There are teachers who are always concerned with covering every chapter in the book. Some teachers accuse the grade-level or course that feeds into them for not properly preparing their students for the next level. The teaching profession can be improved through articulation of benchmarks and state and national standards among elementary, secondary and university levels. I try to be a part of many planning committees that link these different levels such as school-to-work, technology, and curriculum integration projects. At these meetings, everyone needs to communicate the benchmarks so that the standards are met.

B. Accountability in the teaching profession:

The basis for accountability in the teaching profession has to do with the attainment of standards and student performance. All children can learn, but they learn at different rates and have different learning styles. Many teachers teach the way they were taught. In the past, teachers were expected to teach and students were expected to learn. The fault on learning was based on students. The school system must now accommodate the students. There needs to be a link between the needs of schools for teachers with specific skills and the programs in most teacher training institutions. There is a mismatch between the skills of new workers entering the teacher labor market and most school reform movements.

Teachers should be interested in each individual student's ability to achieve at the highest level possible; to reach clearly defined, integrated outcomes; to complete an individual learning plan designed by student, parent and teachers. All students, with support from parents, teachers and community members, are ultimately responsible for attaining standards.

VIII. The National Teacher of the Year Message

Look at our environment and note the changes in the past 20 years. First of all, look at your home. What has changed? What are the new technologies that you can't live without? Next, look at a business. What are the requirements to work in business? Finally, look inside a classroom and note the changes. Has there been changes? Are we still teaching students the same way as in the past? Are we preparing them for the 21st century or are we preparing them for the jobs of 20 or more years ago? Are these children the same in terms of the kinds of family they are coming from? Look at all the "talk shows" on television. Look at the kinds of problems shared. It seems like people who don't plan for their families have many children that they can't take care of. The welfare population is expanding exponentially while the rest of the population is not. What kind of world will we create? Children from dysfunctional families will follow the trend if we don't tend to their needs. We need to educate them. We can't ignore them. All children are special and can learn. Education will need to be personalized for all children and students will be monitored for progress and will get the emotional attention they deserve. Special needs children will be fully integrated into the system.

Society is changing in leaps and bounds. Businesses are customer driven. In the business of education, our customers are children. They come from families that have important implications for the educational system. There is a predominance of single-parent families and dual-income intact families. Many children are latch-key and come from dysfunctional families. There are lots of mental, physical, and chemical/drug abuse. The educational system must become a caring environment. Currently, our systems have been the opposite. Teachers see students in large groups in different periods of the day, minimizing personal interaction. Schools are large and impersonal. There needs to be a look at smaller class sizes and schools to offer this caring environment.

Schools need to focus on the whole child preparing them for the future including Gardner's eight intelligences and more-mental, physical, emotional, creative, social, psychological, and ethical. Schools need to have an information age system based on the changing families. There needs to be a teacher responsible for educating the whole child for a number of years during the developmental stage of education.

Currently, our school system presents a fixed amount of content for a fixed amount time. To emphasize learning, achievement of standards must be constant while time varies. Different students learn at different rates and have different needs. The teacher is a facilitator to learning resources that could be gotten from technology and primary resources. Students need to be active and collaborative learners where meaning is constructed and students seek to solve real-world challenges. As the new millennium approaches, we educators must face change and provide every child an opportunity to be successful. Learning is a process, going from crayons to computers.

XI. Letters of Support from administrator, teacher and student:

The letters of support attached are from:

Administrator: Mrs. Eleanor Fujioka, Principal, Nuuanu Elementary School, Honolulu District

Teacher: Mrs. Julie Shimonishi, 2nd Grade Teacher, Nuuanu Elementary School, Honolulu District

Former student: Ryan Noguchi, Pearl City High School graduate