Lydia Haff, left, and Shay Zykova created a literacy team to develop critical skills in students
Posted: July 28, 2021
Two Waiʻanae High teachers were honored with the 2021 NCTE Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award. This award by the National Council of Teachers of English aims to support early career teachers of color as they build accomplished teaching careers in literacy education.
Lydia Haff and Shay Kaleoʻoluhoʻiloliokawaipāhe Zykova are among 12 recipients recognized across the country.
Haff and Zykova, both ninth-grade English teachers, started a literacy team at their school to focus on building literacy skills in their students.
“Our school serves a population with a large portion of families living in poverty,” Haff explained. “Poverty tends to negatively affect literacy. Some students do not have a lot of opportunities outside of school to practice and develop these skills.
“Several of our students enter high school well below proficiency for reading and writing skills,” Haff added. “Our 2019 StriveHI report stated that only 9% of our students were proficient in language arts, 2% in math, and 24% in science. It is not uncommon for students to enter ninth grade with Lexiles [a method used by schools to measure a student reader’s ability] at a sixth-grade level or lower.”
Zykova says literacy is a necessary skill to escape the vicious cycle of poverty. “For me, literacy is the key to all other learning, and by having a solid foundation in the skills of reading and writing, students will have every opportunity open to them as they move on in the world,” she said.
Haff is in her fourth year of teaching while Zykova is in her third at Waiʻanae High. As award recipients, both will be mentored on personal projects and present their findings at the 2022 NCTE annual convention.
Haff will focus on cross-content literacy. “We have gathered several teachers who are interested in focusing on select literacy skills and implementing literacy strategies with a data team. We’ll meet regularly to compare data and talk about next steps to meet students’ learning needs,” Haff explained. “My hope is that we can build a stronger curriculum and school culture around the importance of literacy skills and instruction, regardless of the content area of instruction.”
Zykova will focus on early literacy skills. She plans to work with the literacy team to support students who read far below their grade level. “Designing instruction and ensuring that it is effective at closing the literacy gap is something that I believe can only be done as a communal effort,” she said. “My goal is to have all graduating seniors from Waiʻanae High School be reading at grade level within the next five years.”
Both view the award as an opportunity to support and elevate their students.
“My hope for my students is that they learn to value and find pride in their various identities,” said Haff, who is Caucasian, Okinawan, and Japanese. “Many of them have to deal with the conflict that may come with living and growing up in a multicultural home. As an English teacher, I try to find stories and class resources that represent my students in their various and/or multifaceted cultural identities or, if theirs is not available, to create their own stories.”
Zykova, whose “mix plate” heritage includes Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, and German, grew up on Waimānalo homestead land and recognizes the need to support students in these communities.
“One problem, I’ve discovered, is that there is a lack of Native Hawaiian authors who write novels about their lives and about Hawaii,” Zykova said. “This lack is the driving force behind my work as I hope to foster a new generation of Native Hawaiian authors who can fill that gap.”
Learn more about the NCTE Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award.