school, permeating the Waikiki School culture. Over the years, other staff
development experiences have extended and enriched the staff’s under-
standing of curriculum integration, authentic assessment, direct teaching
of thinking skills, concept development, cognitive coaching, the Philos-
ophy for Children program, collaborative learning, and thematic unit
planning. The skills learned in these workshops continue to be used in the
classrooms, at staff meetings, and at parent workshops. Other activities
that supported Waikiki School’s focus included visits to “mindful schools”
on the U.S. mainland, a parent–child interaction workshop to inform par-
ents of thinking and problem-solving processes, and a slide show presen-
tation that communicated the vision, goals, and programs of the school.
School T-shirts, note pads, and stationery with the mindful school
logo helped to spread the school’s philosophy. The PTA initiated an
annual Mindful School T-shirt Contest, inviting students in kindergarten
through 6th grade to enter their unique designs depicting “mindfulness
and thoughtfulness.” Classes voted on which design should be adopted for
that year.
Although the Habits of Mind are emphasized every year, the staff
focuses also on the development and implementation of “cooperation
and caring for others.” In addition to classroom and whole-school activi-
ties, all classes formed inter-grade level “cooperation and caring” class-
room teams that planned and participated in a variety of learning
activities. At the same time, the faculty was developing a “cooperation
and caring” assessment tool, which would later be finalized by the stu-
dent council and used by the student body to self-assess their own growth
with this Habit of Mind. This became an ongoing emphasis and has
become an integral component of our mindful initiatives.
The Mindful School Culture
Staff members of the Waikiki School assert that they have created more
than a friendly school climate. Rather, they view themselves as participants
in a distinct and definable school culture. Culturecan be defined as the
attitudes, beliefs, values, language, traditions, customs, and social norms of
a group of people that are reproducible for new members (Waxman,
Tharp, & Hilberg, 2004). A school culture is the historically transmitted
patterns of meaning that include the norms, values, beliefs, ceremonies,
352 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind