Doubly blessed. I’ll be working at two campuses this year. Along with Kapālama Campus, I’ll be traveling to the Kea`au Campus on the Big Island each week.
Hawai’i Campus is a great place with amazing people. It will be exciting to share and to learn here.
Specifically, I’ll be servicing the middle school with the awesome @elliemellie. We’ll be providing support, PD, and “everything else.”
I’ll be commuting every week and earning a bunch of HawaiianMiles. No traffic….
Here’s my “home away from home,” the Hilo Hawaiian.
The views are great. I’ll be relaxing at the Liliʻuokalani Gardens and sampling all the local restaurants in Hilo with my per diem.
Breakfast will be early, so Ken’s and Kuhio Grille will be my go-to places.
Our high school EdTech team, a.k.a. the “Bishop Boys,” are housed in Bishop 200. It is the most secluded place on campus. In fact, I refer to our office as “the place where they hide all the ugly people.”
It is also sterile and uninspiring. It looks like a storage room, but with student portraits on the walls. We decided to fix up our office in preparation for the upcoming school year. We called this one-day makeover, “Reimagine | Redesign | Reinspire.” I found a few resource links and shared a YouTube video of “Casey Neistat’s Wildly Functional Studio” for inspiration. Here are a few of the elements that we wanted to incorporate into our workspace:
• declutter
• natural light (no, not the cheap beer.)
• a new floor plan / flow
• flexibility
• a collaboration space
• a PLAY area
• writable surfaces
• music
Before….
#BishopBoys
After….
We painted the closet doors with chalkboard paint. We painted them green on the inside to do green screen filming. We also mounted a large dry erase board.
We created a collaboration space by rearranging existing furniture, and making it the focal point of the room.
We added adjustable gymnastic rings for exercise.
We hope that our redesigned workspace will inspire creativity. Grand opening of the Bishop Innovation Center coming soon! Chee-hoo!
Feeling much more inspired now.
Our next phase will be to remodel the kitchen area. Crock-pot Wednesdays will never be the same….
Took a vacation day today for some “me time.” Went out to Lanikai early this morning. Actually took a wrong beach access path and stumbled upon this photo op by “mistake.” (Click to enlarge.)
Had a devotional time, then kicked back to relax and unwind. Brought a beach towel and a carton of coconut water.
Made friends with two Japanese tourists who asked me to take a video of them. I complimented them for finding this beach so far off from Waikiki.
Walked barefoot up and down the beach. Really nice.
I drove back into town for brunch at Koko Head Café. The place was packed.
Had the loco moco. It was awesome! The hot cast-iron skillet began to toast the garlic rice underneath the patty & mushroom gravy. Winnahs.
Because it was still early, I headed back out to the Makapu’u Pier.
There’s actually a nice picnic spot underneath.
There were a lot of fishermen on the pier today. Quite the crowd….
Stopped by my “old stomping grounds” on the way home. Ran into a few KS students at the Waiola Shave Ice Store.
Had a great vacay day today. Gonna take a nap and get ready for Bible study tonight. Thinking of making this an annual tradition every July 9th….
Had an absolute blast at ISTE 2014! More info about the conference on my school blog.
Took the MARTA from the airport to our hotel. Cost $2.50 to ride. Transportation is really efficient in Atlanta.
Stayed at the Hilton Atlanta. Being a last-minute add-on, my intention was to crash with Tim & Lance. Fortunately, we ran into Yasin from IT in the lobby who didn’t have a roommate.
For dinner, we went to Pittypat’s Porch for some southern food. The ambiance was awesome.
And the food was amazing! Had the fried chicken & ribs combo.
Here’s the peach cobbler with cinnamon ice cream. So good….
Had some time to enjoy the sights on Saturday. It was extremely hot at the Centennial Olympic Park.
Met up with the gang at the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest. The lobby looked like a multiplex theater.
What was most impressive were the large tanks with the whale sharks and the Beluga whales. The workers there complimented me on my shoes, “Man, I love your NYKES….”
The conference itself was great. There were 15,000 educators in attendance.
Whenever there was a free moment, we would try to get to the Taco Mac across the street to catch up on the World Cup. Fútbol Fever and amazing buffalo wings!
For dinner on Saturday, Kimble took us to his hometown of Decatur. It was great! The town was charming with a church, courthouse, sycamore trees, and cafés. We had a late dinner at an awesome place called the Brick Store Pub. Had a meatloaf sandwich and delicious appetizers. It was special visiting Kimble’s hometown.
Spent much of Sunday in poster sessions and vendor workshops. I preferred the interactivity of this format over traditional breakout presentations.
On Sunday night, we had dinner at Legal Sea Foods. It was great. Only thing is that I worry about a seafood restaurant being so close to an aquarium.
On Monday, our KSEdTech team rocked the Coaches Playground. It was a great time of learning, sharing, and connecting with educators from all over the country. Mahalo to Lynne for coordinating this movement.
We celebrated with lunch at the Hudson Grille. I ate a whole lotta fried chicken on this trip.
That evening, we caught a Braves vs. Mets game at Turner Field. It was hot. Enjoyed a Georgia Dog and a SweetWater 420.
Here are the screaming faithful doing the “tomahawk.” We left in the 8th inning (to beat the traffic) and missed an amazing come-from-behind victory.
At the conclusion of the conference, our entire KS contingent (nearly 80 of us) gathered at historic Paschal’s Restaurant. A few of us got there early to catch the USA World Cup match.
The highlight was listening to a gentleman tell stories about this special place. (Notice “Hawai’i” on the banner in the background.)
Met up with friends later in the evening at the Juke Joint. The absolute best fried chicken….
Ended this great experience by riding the SkyView Atlanta with Lynne. What a treat!
Had a great time of learning, sharing, and team building. Mahalo e Ke Ali’i Pauahi.
Alan Tamayose 