Malia Lee Akutagawa is a science teacher at Molokaʻi High Schoolʻs Innovative, Business, and Technology Academy. She has taught 23 years in the DOE. Twenty of these years were spent teaching Science at Molokaʻi High School, as well as serving as the technology coordinator for six years. Malia studied Marine Science at UH-Hilo but relocated to Molokaʻi, where her husband was raised, to bring up her two daughters, who eventually boarded at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama (Mahalo Pauahi!).

Malia believes that above all creating and maintaining strong relationship is the most important part of being a teacher. Focusing on relationships allows her to care and connect as she teaches 21st century skills while simultaneously grounding students in their foundation of place, ʻohana, and their special gifts.

Malia Rossetti is a native Hawaiian teacher whose goal is to provide a high quality education to students residing on the Wai'anae Coast of Oʻahu. Growing up in Wai'anae herself, Malia noticed the struggles her classmates faced academically. This led her to often help her classmates with understanding concepts when the instruction from the teacher did not make sense. Having her own classroom since 2020, Malia has been able to educate, build connections with, and guide her students to be successful individuals, both in and out of the classroom. Malia is excited to continue her work as a native educator on the Wai'anae Coast while continuing her own learning journey.

Carin Shotliff-Miranda has been teaching High School SocialStudies for 25 years, eleven of which on Kauaʻi. She grew up in a small Latino community in Southern California, where cultural pride, traditions, and history ran deep. When she moved to Kauaʻi, she felt a strong connection between her roots and Hawaiʻi and immediately embraced the beautiful Hawaiian culture, soaking up the history, culture and heritage of Hawaiʻiʻs host culture. Recognizing a lack of high school courses focusing on Hawaiian culture, traditions, practices, and language, outside of existing Hawaiian Language classes, she started a Hawaiian Studies class for seniors at her school. Carin makes it a point to teach from a perspective that respects Hawaiian culture and heritage and has noted that her students are enthusiastic about culture-based activities. Her effectiveness is evident in the ongoing increase in enrollment in her class from year to year!

Tasha Firestone is a 7th grade Guidance and PE kumu at Nānākuli High and Intermediate on the West-side of Oʻahu. Tasha was born and raised in Aiea where she still currently resides. She has been teaching for 16 years in the DOE.

Tasha started teaching at the elementary level before transitioning to middle school. Over the years, her values and vision of teaching continue to evolve to where she now focuses first and foremost on the total well-being of her haumāna, whereas initially her primary focus was primarily on the power of knowledge. Tasha is excited that her new focus aligns perfectly with Aunty Kū Kahakalauʻs Pedagogy of Aloha explored by the HIKI series.

Jean McKeague began her teaching career at a Waldorf-inspired school called Shady Grove in Puna on Hawaiʻi Island. While there she followed two classes of keiki from 1st through 8th grade. When Shady Grove became a satellite site for Hawaiʻi Academy of Arts & Sciences (HAAS), a public charter school, Jean remained there for another two years, before transferring to Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School, where she is teaching preschoolers, which is her favorite age group. When Jean is not Aunty Jean to her beloved haumāna, she is Māmā to her own keiki who are half-Hawaiian. And though not native Hawaiian herself, Hawaiʻi is home. Jean has the deepest and utmost respect for Hawaiian culture and is full of gratitude to start each day with a dip in the ocean.

Join Host Eleonor, aka Tina, Leite-Ah Yo, on Teacher Tales as she introduces the captivating journeys of five Hawaiʻi educators. Discover how the HIKI program is transforming the teaching and assessment practices of these educators and how Pedagogy of Aloha's formula is resulting in native Hawaiian student success. Tune in and become part of changing Hawaiʻi education for the betterment of all students!