Top Teachers
Saturday, August 8, 1997
Name: Keolani Lindsey Correa Noa
Age: 43
Position: Community-school liaison
Education: University of Phoenix
Pastimes: Picking limu, Hawaiian chanting
Keolani Noa has been an advocate for the Hawaiian culture all her adult life. Her first project, started more than 20 years ago, was to lobby the city to add diacritical marks to its street signs for proper pronunciation. Sharing Hawaiian culture
The Honolulu-raised mother of eight spreads Hawaiiana through special classes at local schools.
"It is important for a Hawaiian to share because we're a sharing culture and because a lot of it has been misunderstood through the years," Noa said.
Noa received the National Education Association's Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial award for leadership in resolving social problems.
The independent teacher goes into classrooms to teach aloha, or respect; laulima, or working together; and kokua, or help. She starts with teaching children the importance of acknowledging each other by saying "good morning" in Hawaiian.
Noa said that she uses Hawaiian teaching practices and metaphors, but she stresses to students that all cultures are beautiful and have the same foundation of respect, caring and cooperation.
Another important aspect to her classes is making crafts and working in a garden she and her husband planted.
"Our kids need to touch dirt," Noa said. "A lot of them have never done it. It's amazing.
"I like being in a classroom," Noa said. "But my classroom isn't the institutionalized setting. I think that's why it's worked so well."
Candace Meierdiercks, Star-Bulletin
