The educators wandered about the area, quietly observing and making notes. One had her camera pointed skyward and was taking photos of the clouds. One was bent over a plant, studying its leaves and deep pink blossoms. Another moved slowly along the walkway, murmuring as she recorded video of the artful landscape and blue-green river. Others stood in clusters, chatting softly and comparing notes.
The educators were participating in kilo, the ancient Native Hawaiian practice of intentional observation and the subject of a workshop at this year’s ISTELive conference in San Antonio. Led by educators Amy Var, Kimberly Inouye, Jeannette Abitong-Morimoto and Lori Sakata of Waiakea Intermediate School, a Title 1 school in Hilo, Hawaii, Hawaiian Kilo Vision: Indigenous Storytelling Through a Digital Lens outlined the history and cultural significance of kilo and how teachers can use the exercise to enhance learning across subjects and grade levels. Attendees used the observations they gathered during the outdoor activity to create and present their own kilo journals.
I emailed the Waiakea team after the conference to learn more about kilo and glean ideas for using it in the classroom.
What is kilo?
The practice of kilo dates back to the earliest Polynesians who settled in Hawaii.
“[Kilo is] the science of observation,” says Kumu Kaipo Wahinepio, Hawaiian history teacher at Waiakea Intermediate School. Wahinepio did not present at the conference but has been using kilo in his instruction for some time and was instrumental in getting other teachers on board with the practice. “As long as people have been recording their observations, kilo has remained an integral part of ancient observation practice.”
Early Hawaiians used kilo to understand their natural environment, its processes and how the elements were connected to each other. They learned how to identify and solve environmental issues. They observed the ocean to understand its currents, rip tides and potentially dangerous pockets. They watched the moon cycles to know when to harvest and plant crops. They learned to notice hōʻailona — or signs — in nature.
“Certain birds will show up with a storm or fly away when we have one. Red fish — when the count goes up, jellyfish are coming,” the Waiakea team explains. “They learned what to avoid by watching and connecting to the natural world.”
But the importance of kilo extends beyond its cultural or environmental relevance. Wahinepio calls it a “dying language that we need to keep alive,” especially given the noise and distraction of today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world.
“Kilo asks you to tune into the natural world and find that stillness and subsequent information for yourself,” Wahinepio says. “This is a skill that many are not used to cultivating, as life is busy and we tend to move through it versus with it.”
Teaching with kilo
Bringing kilo into the classroom begins by teaching students its techniques. The Waiakea team outlined the protocol — along with journaling templates, student video examples and how-to resources — in their session:
- Be present. Fully immerse yourself in your surroundings, using all your senses – see, hear, taste, smell, feel. Look for patterns.
- Focus on the subtle. Notice the less obvious details of the environment.
- Reflect. Consider how different elements interact within nature.
- Take responsibility. Apply what you learn to care for and protect the places you observe.
Students can kilo anything in their natural environment, says the team. When in school, students will kilo elements on and around their school grounds, such as the sky, clouds, wind, mountains and flora. What’s important is training students to be still and lock in to their surroundings.
“Take them out to the āina. Cultivate stillness,” says the team. “Kilo is essentially relationship building with people, places and things. It starts with stopping, using your senses and noticing things that we might have otherwise not paid attention to. Begin small and grow the skill over time.”
Some students may struggle at first with being still, according to the team. They note that students who spend a lot of time indoors have more difficulty than students who spend a lot of time outdoors.
“[Kilo is] using the environment as a living textbook,” says the team. “Some kids need more guidance because they don’t have the experience. Students that are keen to reading the environment are the hunters and fishermen, farmers, as they depend on the land. These students have an advanced understanding of the natural world because they are so dependent and deeply connected to it.”
For kilo exercises, students follow the protocols and use their devices to capture images and video and record their observations as voiceovers. Some students may also choose to note their observations on their kilo journal worksheets. Teachers, acting as guides, move about the group, checking progress and making suggestions.
When the students have completed their kilo, they return to the classroom to compile their observations into a video. They combine their images, video clips and reflections into a digital story using Canva or Adobe and share them with the class. Inouye says she allocates about 30 minutes (of a 45-minute class) for the full exercise, from performing kilo and collecting observations to creating the video.
Practicing kilo has been good for the Waiakea middle-schoolers, according to the team. It has been calming for students who tend to be high-energy. It has also helped boost writing skills across the board. Students have gotten better at articulating their observations and using descriptive words to paint pictures.
“Writing samples [have] become stronger because students know that being still helps them focus and they can put into words the imagery that comes through,” says the team. “[They] move away from ‘I see a bird’ … to ‘I see the Pacific golden plover that led the Hawaiians to Hawaii.’”
The team offers recommendations to educators looking to implement kilo with their students.
Be patient. There is a learning curve to practicing kilo and kilo journaling. It might feel awkward in the beginning for students and teachers alike.
“Kids who don’t have experience may feel lost,” says the team. “Kids feel like they need a ‘right’ answer. [T]hose who are on games/computers all day may struggle more.”
Encourage students to apply kilo beyond the scope of their own environment, the team advises. “You can take someone else’s observation and apply it to your own learning,” they say, giving the example of wayfinding. “[Y]ou don’t have to go to Tahiti to know the constellations, but you can ‘see’ Tahiti through pictures and imagine how to navigate that. Seeing constellations, latitude, longitude in your mind’s eye and envisioning that journey through kilo.”
Emphasize to your students that there is no wrong answer. “It’s cultivating your own story with your connection to the environment,” the team says. “[Our] fast-paced world promotes fast-paced expectations and kilo requires patience.”
Experiment with it in different subjects. Kilo can be applied across multiple content areas, says the team, citing examples in career-technical education, English-language arts, math, science and social studies. “This is a lesson where every subject can use observation,” they say.
Var uses it in English-language arts to teach imagery. “Instead of sitting inside the classroom striving to use words to paint a picture of the natural world, taking students outside to kilo and experience their senses firsthand was most optimal,” Var says.
Cultivate your own practice. Wahinepio recommends that teachers keep an observation journal for themselves. “Practice,” Wahinepio says. “[T]he better you get at interacting with your environment, the better you can teach it.”
Start small with observations, Inouye suggests. “Go to the beach,” she says. “Integrate kilo into field trips. Go outside.”
Keep an eye out for connections to other disciplines, advises Var. She gives the example of observing the night sky and looking for constellations in Greek mythology.
“Find what works for you, and don’t be afraid,” says the team. “Kilo is a journey, and there are many paths to success.”
This article was published in SmartBrief Education’s e-book Sharp & Ready: Your Back-to-School Guide for Success.