KAILUA-KONA — Twenty-one teachers in one classroom? Yes! There are 21 teachers in Geri Ann Aoki-Davidson’s fifth-grade class at Kahakai Elementary School. Davidson and every student collectively serve as teachers to help all succeed and to ensure no one is left behind.
Strong and caring relationships are a big part of the classroom culture that supports the room full of budding instructors. Morning check-in circles, restorative circles and team assignments are just some of the practices that encourage collaboration and cooperation.
Student response to this collaborative structure has been well received. Davidson explains all subject matter, along with critical thinking and problem solving. At the end of the year, to feel she truly has succeeded as a teacher, she wants her students to be kind, compassionate, empathetic and able to work well with others.
“Students who can help others and take care of others will create a better place for all of us to live,” she said.
Collaboration, and not competition, is the norm for this classroom.
Has Davidson’s strategy for community building in the classroom worked?
It’s a bit early to tell for this new school year, but there’s positive evidence from past experiences. Last year, when a struggling student passed a very important exam, the entire class rallied around the student, cheered, jumping up and down with excitement. One student was so happy she shed tears of joy! Just recently a parent relayed a message from a past student who is currently in the sixth grade. He wanted Davidson to know he is still being kind!
Thank you, Davidson, for helping to raise up our next generation to be kind and compassionate.
Davidson graduated from Konawaena High School and began her teaching career in 1986 as a second-grade teacher at Kahakai Elementary School. She’s also served as an English Language Learner teacher, Title I coordinator, counselor, third-grade teacher and has been in her current grade level for two years.
When she’s not teaching, Davidson loves to watch movies, read and spend time with friends and family. She has a way of leaving a positive impression on her students and her own family. Her daughter Kayla is currently a third-grade teacher at Fern Hill in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Teacher Feature is a partnership between the Department of Education West Hawaii Complex Area, Hokupaa, and Delta Kappa Gamma Rho Chapter. They will appear monthly in West Hawaii Today’s Home section.