Confessions Of A Teacher and Parent
I believe the key to her success and her passion and love for the teaching profession is that she doesn’t allow herself to be satisfied or complacent. I admire her innovative methods in the classroom such as her adoption of a U-shaped class. She explains: “The desks in my U-shape are only two deep and every seat is a good one. When I stand in front of the class or move around, no student is more than a few feet away from me.” And I particularly like her next rationale: “If someone is covertly trying to check a cell phone in class, I will be able to see it. Every student has the feeling of being in a front row-seat in my classroom.”
Sensei is also a disciple of utilizing games, music and minivideos as quality supplementary teaching tools that bring the added benefit of fun and entertainment to learning. To maximize these educational exercises, she candidly admits that she borrows ideas from other instructors, and recognizes the value of student input and feedback into the process. For instance, Higa asserts, “I learn more about pop artists from my students than from what I personally observe.” That’s why one of the most popular features of her teaching style is that her students often are favored with a Japanese song playing in the background or a music video on a screen when they enter the classroom. Now if only my language teacher had done that when I was at Iolani, I would be fluent in German today!
An examination of Higa’s teaching ideas and strategies is ample proof that good teaching skills are transferable to good parenting abilities. In the section of the book that covers her relationship with son Shawn and daughters Charlen and Amy, who interestingly encouraged their mom to write this book, the same goal-oriented, and highly focused and motivated adult figure takes center stage. It took all of her strength and conviction of a responsible and caring parent to cope with a divorce, which was amicable, and the untimely passing of her ex-husband while her children were still in their teens. The Japanese notion of shikata ga nai — accepting the inevitable with resignation — served as her inner resolve to persevere and press forward. Perhaps the greatest tribute that Shawn, now a banker, Charlen, a schoolteacher, and Amy, a structural engineer, pay to their mom is that they have confessed to her that “they would like to raise their kids the way they were brought up.”
(Memoirs Of A Certain Sansei is available for $12 plus shipping online at elsiehiga.com.)
