Jami Muranaka
Hawaii Teacher of the Year
Kaimuki High School, Honolulu
Grades 9-10, Biology

My teaching philosophy
Much of my teaching philosophy is based around the 3 Rs - Rigor, Relevance and Relationships.

In addition to the 3 Rs, I strongly believe that students should be active participants in their education. Student engagement is essential. My classroom is rarely quiet. I plan a lot of activities and labs that require active student participation and collaboration. Finally, I believe every teacher should collaborate with other teachers, and seek leadership opportunities within the school.

My philosophy in action
My approach to teaching is very personal. I first learn as much as I can about my students, build rapport, and treat them as I do my own children – with love and respect. I routinely conduct surveys with my students, and one trait they find important is that teachers CARE about them. My classroom doors are always open to my students during recess, lunch and after school. They know they can ask me for help at anytime, even in subjects other than science. In my experience, students prosper more in classrooms where they feel respected and cared for and have a positive relationship with their teacher.

I also make it a point to provide a rigorous curriculum while connecting what we are learning in class to real life through Project Based Learning. This facilitates deeper learning and retention of subject material. In my classroom, simply learning the science content is not enough. My students are forced to apply their knowledge to real life situations and use higher order inquiry skills to solve problems. When we study photosynthesis, we become farmers. When we study biotechnology, we become private investigators and interview adults to find out their opinions on controversial topics.

Within the last few years, I have collaborated with other teachers as a member of an interdisciplinary team of teachers, and I have taken on increased leadership roles, including becoming a part-time curriculum coordinator and training other teachers at both the school and state level.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
My greatest contributions to education have resulted from collaborating with other teachers about how students learn, what kinds of support systems they need, and researching best practices. I have belonged to an interdisciplinary team of teachers since 2001, and as a result, I have worked together with other teachers to boost student achievement in the core content areas. I have also collaborated with other teachers by passing on the invaluable insights I have learned from workshops, collaboration meetings, trainings, etc. I have done this formally through the in-servicing of other teachers, and informally through the mentoring of teacher candidates. This is where the exponential effect comes in to play. Not only are my students impacted, but so are the students of my student teachers and all of the other teachers I have shared my teaching practices with.

The most critical issues facing educators today
I feel the top issue in public education today is that many of our public school students are not prepared for post-high school education and careers. Although the intent of NCLB was to address this huge issue, I feel that each school is unique and other interventions are needed at the school level to ensure the success of every student. The reason this is such an important issue is because the world is advancing so quickly, and the percentage of careers requiring only a high school diploma is rapidly decreasing. Statistics now show that if you don’t graduate from high school, you are destined for a life of poverty, and without a college diploma, your career opportunities are extremely limited. Another reason this is such an important issue is that Hawaii is having a difficult time keeping its best and brightest students here in the islands, the so-called “brain drain.” Salaries are much higher and the cost of living much lower on the mainland.

Ways to resolve this issue
The bottom line is that more students first need to graduate from high school, be ready for college level coursework, and have support systems throughout college to ensure their success. In my experience, the students who do successfully graduate from high school and go on to graduate from college are those who have strong parental guidance and support. So what can be done for the students who don’t have strong parental support? That is where the school comes in. A school should be a place where students feel very strong and personalized connections with their teachers and counselors. What they are learning in class should be relevant to their own lives. Curriculum should be rigorous enough to prepare students for college, and those lacking in basic skills (like math and English) should be given extra support in shadow classes and tutorials. Teachers need to be personal advocates for their students. Smaller Learning Communities can provide all of that. At my school, we have just begun our journey into SLCs this past school year, with all 9th and 10th graders belonging to a “team” and everyone on the team sharing the same English, social studies and science teacher. This has provided a much more personalized learning environment for our students as we (the team teachers) spend a lot of time discussing the progress of individual students, calling parents, holding student conferences and giving extra support to those most in need of it. Our students receive a rigorous and relevant curriculum through interdisciplinary projects. We have found that as students feel more connected to school and their teachers, they are much more willing and able to tough it out and work hard because they know someone cares and will get after them if they don’t.

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

One lesson every student should learn
How to be PERSISTENT. Not to give up when things get tough. Seek help and you will find it. Keep on trying.

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