Good Ideas Pay Off For Teachers Too
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Del.icio.usMaunawili Elementary third-grade teacher Joy Tamura is one of three educators receiving the Tom Adams Award this month for her outstanding Good Idea Grant project, “Half Century Celebration.”
“The idea I had was to put together a documentary video for Maunawili’s 50th birthday,” explained Tamura.
“This was last year, and I was teaching enrichment at that time. My students (grades 3-6) researched the history of school and area, and we put it together and showed it at the birthday celebration.”
The $3,000 grant from the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation helped Tamura and her students purchase the equipment needed for production - items she couldn’t buy herself.“One of the big things we purchased was Photoshop and video cameras,” she said.
Tamura and her students also compiled a book of their findings, and a copy of the book and film were given to special guests invited to the school’s anniversary celebration.
“The kids would come in on recess and they also wanted to do it,” she added. “They had fun and they actually took on a lot of it on their own.
“The Public School Foundation really allows us to try new things in the classroom by offering these grants,” she added.
“The foundation is very generous and really is about supporting teachers and schools.”
For this school year the foundation has dispersed $205,000 in Good Idea Grants. Teachers in Hawaii’s public schools compete for them based on how well their projects foster achieve-ment/literacy, safety and well-being, and civic responsibility.
The foundation’s May 12 awards banquet, Kulia I Ka Nu’u, raises funds for the Good Idea Grants and also honors outstanding public school alumni. This year’s honorees included Kailua High graduate Harry Saunders, who was recognized for his outstanding community leadership as president of Castle & Cooke.
Saunders shared a guiding principle from his days on the Surfrider football team: “It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
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