This is Waikiki Elementary School, a public school so successful that it has a waiting list of more than 200 children.

And for two years in a row, a teacher at Waikiki Elementary has won the coveted State Teacher of the Year award.

Catherine Caine, this year’s awardee, has taught at Waikiki Elementary for 23 years, mostly to second grade students. Caine’s colleague, math and science teacher  Matthew Lawrence, won the award last year. Both of them are National Board Certified Teachers.

Catherine Caine, Waikiki Elementary schoolteacher and 2015 Hawaii Teacher of the Year, dances in a zumba class held in the school’s cafeteria.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

When she told me about her teaching award, I was curious to find out more.

I asked to meet her at the school. Caine suggested that I also interview some of her teaching colleagues. I assumed she wanted to share the glory. But as it turns out, that wasn’t the reason at all. Caine said it was because she thought that some of the other teachers should also be able to have the opportunity to be interviewed by a news reporter.

In my nearly 50 years’ experience as a reporter, I have never had an interviewee see the news interview process as a “learning event“ to be considered a gift to be enjoyed by others.

But that, in a way, is the essence of Waikiki Elementary School — life, all of it, the nervous-making and the fun, is one big learning experience and everyone should have an equal chance to dive in.

“Everyone here is participating. Everyone here is made to feel they are an essential cog in the wheel.” — Catherine Caine, 2015 Hawaii Teacher of the Year

I met Caine and three of her fellow teachers in a classroom where we sat around one of the low tables in little chairs sized to fit second-graders.

My goal was to find what magical qualities make a teacher like Caine soar to the top to be named the best in the state when so many of Hawaii’s 11,300 public school teachers are gifted educators.

Caine says she was given the award because she was considered by others to be a worthy representative to spread the word about the enthusiastic learning going on at Waikiki Elementary. She considers the award to be more about the school than her.

Caine says the school’s methods have captivated everyone from the students to the teachers to the school’s office staff and custodians.

“Everyone here is participating. Everyone here is made to feel they are an essential cog in the wheel,” she says.

Fourth grade teacher John Melton says a key ingredient is principal Bonnie Tabor, who considers the teachers intellectuals and gives them the freedom to explore.

Habits of the Mind

Caine says two initiatives have turned the school into a joyous learning place where students enthusiastically push themselves out of their comfort zones.

One method is called Philosophy for Children, created by University of Hawaii philosophy professor Thomas Jackson.

The notion is to engage children as young as kindergarteners in Socratic discussions of big ideas. Jackson says children are natural philosophers with their relentless questions about everything.

The students select questions they plan to discuss and manage their own conversations when they face each other in a circle to ruminate about the chosen topic. All inquires are treated with respect.

Waikiki Elementary School students dance during a in zumba class held in the school’s cafeteria.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Caine says some of the students’ questions have been profound, such as ‘What is on the other side of the universe?” Or “Who made God?”

Caine’s fellow teacher second grade teacher, Jolyn Ikeda-Ejercito, says, “Other questions can be lame such as which is your favorite animal or what is the best type of martial art?” But even though some students’ topics might be daffy, everyone discusses the ideas seriously through the courtesy of civil discourse.

Staci Fong, another of Caine’s fellow second grade teachers, says that listening to the children carefully weigh their ideas has made her become a more engaged thinker herself.

“I have a very intelligent husband. Before when he would say something, I often would take it at face value. Now I ask him a lot of questions. I’ve gained many good tools for inquiry.”

“It helps you think more deeply about what you are thinking,” says teacher Ikeda-Ejercito.

Waikiki Elementary’s other key tool is a learning template called Habits of the Mind.

Created by educators Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick, Habits of the Mind is a list of 16 behaviors to help teachers promote skillful thinking in their students.

It is based on the premise that intelligence is not a static and inborn quality measured by a person’s IQ score, but that intelligent thinking can be taught and over the years will take firm hold in students.

Catherine Caine and students in a zumba class: creating an open atmosphere for learning.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

At least 30 public schools in the state follow Habits of the Mind but none has adhered to the concept as steadfastly as Waikiki Elementary.

Among the key Habits of the Mind are:

• Persistence: To keep working to find a solution to a problem when a solution is not readily at hand; to take time to attack a problem, and if the solution doesn’t work, to try something else to follow through to completion.

• Managing Impulsivity: To think before speaking or acting; to gather information before beginning a task.

• Listening to Others with Empathy and Understanding: To acknowledge and try to understand another person’s point of view; to refrain from dismissing another’s thoughts.

In my nearly 50 years’ experience as a reporter, I have never had an interviewee see the news interview process as a “learning event“ to be considered a gift to be enjoyed by others.

Terri Ushijima, a Department of Education complex area superintendent, says listening to others with empathy and understanding has encouraged students in schools teaching Habits of the Mind to treat each other more kindly and has lessened incidents of harassment and bullying.

• Flexibility in Thinking: Be willing to consider new ideas; be open to changing a belief after listening to others.

• Striving for accuracy: To check for errors and nurture a desire for craftsmanship and precision.

• Questioning and Posing Problems: to strive to develop a questioning attitude; knowing that the question can be more important than the answer; asking how and why.

• Take Responsible Risks: Be willing to try something new and different as long as it is not reckless. Be willing to make mistakes.

Caine, 62, says Habits of the Mind helped her expand her own mindfulness.

When she came first came to Waikiki Elementary, she didn’t see herself as part of a learning community.

“I had my own agenda,” she says. But now she says she is less impulsive, more calm and enjoys listening to the ideas of others.

“I think it is good to have my cage rattled by different beliefs.”

Ikeda-Ejercito says Habits of the Mind’s emphasis on intellectual growth has prompted her to take risks she never would have taken in the past, such as traveling to Japan to meet with Japanese educators and giving speeches to large groups.

“Before, I never would have volunteered to speak in front of a group.”

‘This is Real’

Caine says the bottom line at Waikiki Elementary School is to develop students who are life-long learners.

She says the school’s students measure up very well when compared with other Hawaii public schools. In the DOE’s Strive High Hawaii school performance report for 2013-14, Waikiki Elementary scored 390 out of a possible 400 points.

“We want to inspire children to devour books, to find great joy in reading, to have reading become their thing. It’s about passionate learning; it’s not just about passing assessment tests.”

Caine says, “If we can guide our students to be responsible for making a difference in their own lives and in the lives of others, we will have given them a great gift.”

Caine assures me for emphasis, “This is not hippy dippy. This is real.”