Extreme Learning
There are some learning experiences that stay with you more than others. There are the classes that seem to drag on forever; the ones where you sit quietly while the teacher lectures, take down the facts, and learn very little.
Then there are the classes that are more interesting and livelier than others; the ones with a teacher and subject that challenge you, where you learn rather than know things and that learning is so fun that you forget you’re learning. These are the kind of classes Lisa Van Kirk teaches.
While some teachers look for ways to move beyond lectures and engage students in more “active learning” experiences, Van Kirk engages students in what you might call more “extreme learning” experiences—classes you need a helmet for.
She is the type of teacher who not only challenges her students, but also challenges herself. She will put on her running shoes and keep pace with the cross-country runners, hang from a zip line over Haleakala during her Theme Week excursion, and strap on a helmet and tuck a skateboard under her arm for her skateboarding elective class.
“I’m still learning myself,” Van Kirk said of skateboarding. “It’s really a positive sport. There’s balance involved. And then there’s overcoming that fear factor. The energy in that class is so great. Everyone tells you that it’s what makes their day.
“It’s another way to get to know the kids and talk about things you never get in the classroom. You have to build a level of trust with the kids when doing something like that. The trust is key.
Van Kirk grew up in New Jersey in a “family of teachers,” with her sister, aunts, and uncles all in the profession. But Van Kirk wasn’t interested at first in joining the family business.
“There was one career in my family, but I wanted to be a career woman,” Van Kirk said. “I wanted to travel and make money. And I did all those things. It was great. I loved it. “
She lived with her husband, Brett Smith, in Florida for 19 years and spent 15 of those years climbing the corporate ladder in sales and marketing for a medical supply company.
“It was totally different from what I do now,” Van Kirk said. “And then I had my son, Tyler, and that changed everything. I wanted to be with my kids. It all keeps coming back to my kids. I didn’t choose teaching as a career. I chose it for my kids. “
“Van Kirk left the office to be with Tyler, now in Upper School at HPA. It was around this time that the family relocated to the Big Island when her husband took a job with the W.M. Keck Observatory. The family stayed on the Big Island for a year before moving to Maui when Brett accepted another position there. Her two younger children were born on Maui and Van Kirk also chose to remain at home with them.”
On Maui, Van Kirk began volunteering at Tyler’s school and was encouraged by other teachers to start substituting. She eventually decided to go back to school and pursue her master’s degree in education, yet she still couldn’t picture herself outside of the corporate environment and in the classroom full-time.
“Coming from my work background, my idea of a career is what you see on TV,” Van Kirk said. “It wasn’t until I started my student teaching (at Makawao School in Maui) that I saw what a difference in kids’ lives I could make through teaching.”
After earning her master’s and teaching certification, she taught first grade at Makawao School.
“I loved teaching first grade, but anyone who knows me knows I love every grade,” Van Kirk said.
After one year in the position, the family moved back to the Big Island when Brett took another job with the W.M. Keck Observatory working at the summit of Mauna Kea. Van Kirk was hired at Waimea Middle School and spent the next two years teaching eighth grade computers/business and then seventh grade math before a math position at HPA’s Village Campus opened. Van Kirk joined the Village Campus in the 2007-2008 school year teaching sixth and seventh grade math.
“I remember driving past HPA when we first moved to the Big Island and thinking to myself, I wouldn’t mind being a teacher there,” Van Kirk recalled. “I really liked the public school. I feel like if you can do it there, you can do it anywhere. I loved the teaching. I didn’t expect that. It was so easy to fit in there. [But] I believe I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
What separates HPA from her public school experience, she says, is the freedom HPA gives teachers to expand the teaching methods they use. Van Kirk, now in her second year at HPA, quickly developed a reputation as a leader in using classroom technology. In her classroom, Van Kirk makes math an interactive experience for students using the SmartBoard electronic whiteboard technology nearly every day.
“I really believe the SmartBoard was made just for math,” she said. “The kids are always up and can touch objects, move them around, draw lines, everything. I never dreamed I’d ever have one in my own classroom. HPA provides more opportunities to incorporate more technology into my teaching. You have so much freedom as a teacher at HPA to engage these students.”
It’s been four years since Van Kirk’s first teaching job as a first grade teacher. She’s served at three different schools on two different islands. She’s taught first grade and she’s taught Algebra. But Van Kirk says teaching still doesn’t feel like a “career,” at least not the kind she thinks of. And she hopes it never does become a career for her. She prefers to see it as more of a “calling.”
“Now when I look at my life, [teaching] wasn’t something I planned at all,” Van Kirk said. “It was completely different for me in business. There, I was known as the “ax lady” because I fired so many people. I could let go of someone and it didn’t really phase me. It was a part of that world. With teaching, I don’t have the same goals any more that I had in business. Teaching to me is so personal. You’re giving your love. That’s the difference.”
MKK Spring 2009]
Story by: Betsy Tranquilli
---
Editors Note: Betsy Tranquilli teaches Lower School physical education at HPA. She is a freelance writer and previously worked as a reporter for West Hawai‘i Today
