Esther Kwon has worn many hats in her years at Daniel K. Inouye Elementary School. Currently an assistant principal, Kwon looks for innovative ways to enhance students’ educational experience in and out of the classroom. As assistant principal, she is an integral part of the school’s administrative leadership team, helping to drive the instructional program and meet overall academic goals. Last year she piloted the Pineapple Academy, a distance learning option for 12 area elementary schools. Kwon’s fifth graders started each day with “Pineapple Talk Time,” where they chatted, listened to music played by “DJ Kwon,” and set their intentions for the day with one of the four classroom norms: be present, be respectful, be curious, be responsible. Students served as co-teachers, helping to summarize learning and share key ideas in the online chat panel. As incentives, the “Bank of Kwon” handed out “Pineapple Money” as prizes. Kwon encouraged students to follow their passions, pairing them with high school students to create projects for the state’s elementary STEM fair. In the program’s inaugural year, 100% of Kwon’s students showed growth on diagnostic assessments, with 80% meeting or exceeding grade level targets in language arts. Kwon shared her learning practices with peers and invited state leaders into her online classroom to showcase what effective virtual instruction looked, sounded and felt like.
Kwon is a leader at Inouye and beyond, helping others stretch to think differently and do better for students. She chaired her grade level and the School Community Council, tutored students after school and mentors new teachers. As a Hawaii State Teacher Fellow, Kwon facilitated focus groups, shared her expertise and published articles on topics like project-based learning and increasing student engagement. She led a discussion about education policy with more than 60 teachers, leaders from the Hawaii Department of Education, legislators and community members. Kwon helped design professional development and systems of support for teacher leaders as a member of the National Hope Street Group Teacher Advisory Council.
Kwon has provided rich, well-rounded educational experiences for Inouye students. As the school’s gifted and talented teacher, she implemented an interdisciplinary curriculum and led students through project-based learning focused on UNESCO’s Global Goals. After teaching in Korea for a semester, Kwon created a world language program for grades three, four and five in which more than 200 students learned basic Korean phrases, vocabulary and Hangul. Her classroom stressed the importance of inclusion and acceptance—students used coding skills to create games to empathize with those who are visually impaired, wrote and recorded songs about caring for others, and performed choreographed dances with peers in special education classes.
Kwon earned a bachelor’s in political science in 2012 from the University of Virginia and a master’s in elementary education in 2015 from Johns Hopkins University.
Press release: Milken Family Foundation Surprises Wahiawa Educator with $25,000 Milken Educator Award
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2015 M.S., Educational Studies - Elementary, Johns Hopkins University
2012 B.A., Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia
