Our Schools • Moanalua Middle School
Everyone teaches and learns at Moanalua
By Adrienne Ancheta
Advertiser Staff Writer
Don't expect to find any sixth-graders at Moanalua Middle School — and don't ask principal Caroline Wong where they are. She has heard the question one too many times.
Kyle Sackowski • The Honolulu Advertiser
"We'd have no room for them," Wong said.
Moanalua summer school students, from left, Markus Miyashiro, Cherese Manuel, and Jerrica Ching test a miniature traffic signal during summer robotics class. Moanalua Middle school is committed to providing a complete learning community.
The school is already filled to capacity with seventh- and eighth-grade students, but being named a "middle school" keeps alive assumptions that Moanalua has a sixth grade.
Middle school isn't just about demographics, according to Wong. It's also a philosophy of teaching and a way of learning that emphasizes concepts such as team planning, flexible time schedules and giving teachers an advisory role in students' lives.
To support this philosophy, Moanalua has implemented programs including keeping students and teachers together for the students' two years at Moanalua, using bells only at the beginning and end of the day and at lunch, and continuously teaching community service learning and character education.
• What are you most proud of? "Moanalua Middle School is truly a learning community," Wong said. "Everyone's a teacher and everyone's a learner, so whether it's the custodian or the cook in the cafeteria, they are all involved in meetings and they are part of learning."
For example, in an effort to empower students, the cafeteria workers restructured the lunch system to give students more choices.
• Best-kept secret: "We have this community of learners, but teacher leadership is also very important," Wong said. "They step up and provide incredible leadership. I don't think there's any school blessed with perfect teachers, but you have to cultivate them and grow them and give them opportunities to take risks."
• Our biggest challenge: "Like every school, it's to really make sure that every child knows success in learning and can reach the standard. It's not just for 80 percent of the children, but for every child every time to experience success," Wong said.
• What we need: More time, money and staff. To support the school's initiatives in teaching teachers and setting aside team planning time, the school has had to sacrifice money for a staff position.
• Projects: The school is constantly working on its comprehensive teaching units, which integrate aspects of different disciplines such as math and social sciences into single lessons. The school also receives federal money to integrate technology into the school's curriculum.
• Special events: Every year the students and community partners spend a Saturday in November or December together painting a mural on one of the school walls. The theme of the mural is "Our Island Heritage" and may connect contemporary events, such as the Olympics or the millennium, to Hawaiian heritage. Students submit concepts for the mural and artist consultant Jeff Pagay combines the best ideas into the final product. While groups of students paint sections of the mural, the remaining students participate in activities organized by community groups such as crafts with senior citizens and athletics with local Christian fellowships.
"We try to tap non-traditional leaders and at-promise (rather than 'at-risk') kids to get them involved and get them doing something positive and be recognized for it," Wong said.
| At a glance | |
| • | Where: 1289 Mahiole St. |
| • | Phone: 831-7850 |
| • | Web address: www.k12.hi.us/~moanalin/ |
| • | Principal: Caroline Wong, 10 years |
| • | School nickname: Mustangs |
| • | School colors: Blue and white |
| • | Enrollment: 850-900 students, with a capacity of 825. |
| • | SATs: Here's how Moanalua Middle students fared on the most recent Stanford Achievement Test. Listed is the combined percentage of students scoring average and above average, compared with the national combined average of 77 percent. Eighth grade, reading: 88 percent; math: 91 percent. |
| • | History: Established as Moanalua Intermediate School in 1968, Moanalua began as a school for students in grades 7 through 9 until the 1970s, when the ninth grade moved into the newly created Moanalua High School. The school officially changed its name to Moanalua Middle School three years ago when it implemented its middle school philosophy. |
| • | Special programs or classes: The school is committed to its fine arts program, which includes visual arts, orchestra and chorus classes. "The fine arts are a vehicle for kids to realize success and to build on their talents," Wong said. |
| • | Computers: The school has a computer lab as well as one computer in each classroom, although the goal is to install five computers in each classroom. |
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To get your school profiled, contact education editor Dan Woods by phone at 525-5441 or by e-mail, dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.
