In support of school districts experiencing teacher shortages, the state of Alaska provides for provisional certification of individuals who hold a bachelor's degree but who have not completed the requirements for teacher licensure. This certification allows individuals early entry into a classroom as full-time teachers contingent upon concurrent…

"Qik'rtam Litnauwistai" (Island's Teachers) was a multi-tiered, community-based, participatory action research project initiated as a direct response to both community and institutional recommendations to "grow our own" Alutiiq educators. The study (a) examined current departmental practices in teacher education at Kodiak…

Because spiritual life and religious participation are widespread human and cultural phenomena, these experiences unsurprisingly find their way into English language arts curriculum, learning, teaching, and teacher education work. Yet many public school literacy teachers and secondary teacher educators feel unsure how to engage religious and…

In this project I examine the ability of undergraduate students to articulate a working definition of culture and cross-culture. The students were predominately elementary education majors, enrolled in one of two culture-based elective courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks during the 2010-2011 school year. Through the use of…

Each of the papers in this collection offers a much-needed antidote to the forces that disconnect educators from the places in which they teach, learn, and live. Together, they provide an opportunity to reflect on the power of place in education. This issue offers an opportunity--an invitation--to embrace all that the places both in and outside…

Despite the documented importance of professional experiences in teacher preparation, numerous questions persist as to how university supervisors can effectively contribute to rural preservice teachers' development and to establish lasting collaborations between involved stakeholders (e.g., collaborating teacher, principal, community). This paper…

This mixed-methods study explores changes over time in assessment strategies and identifies variables that facilitate that change by examining assessment practices of 11 teacher candidates enrolled in a one-year postbaccalaureate teacher education program that prepares for teaching in rural and urban settings of Alaska. Analyzing multiple data…

Context-responsive teaching is defined in this project as teaching that responds to individual student needs and interests, linguistic backgrounds and family characteristics, the local community and the local natural environment. Context-responsive teaching, as defined in Chapter 1 of this dissertation, consolidates into one concept the…

This paper proposes a framework for the development of culturally responsive practices in beginning teachers to meet the needs of diverse students in multicultural classrooms. The framework describes the trajectory beginning teachers undergo toward becoming culturally responsive and discusses how teacher educators in liberal arts colleges can…

This study explores and evaluates a rural practicum experience for pre-service Master of Arts in Teaching students. Using questionnaires, journal analysis, and interviews we share the experience from pre-service teachers' point of view. We learn about their attitudes about rural schools and rural school students. We asked, "does the…

This article describes the process of implementing Inter-collegially Supported Learning (Tigchelaar and Melief, 1997) and reflection using the ALACT [action, looking back, awareness of essential aspects, creating alternative methods of action, and trial] model (Korthhagen, 1985, 1988) an Elementary Masters in Teaching Program. This study takes a…

One of the greatest challenges of any K-12 teacher education program is providing pre-service teachers opportunities to work with students who are culturally and linguistically different from themselves. Despite best efforts of selecting texts and facilitating discussions, new teachers recently interviewed report that coursework just did not help…

Pedometers are great equalizers. They are wonderful for students who don't have the speed of other students, but can still keep up by taking as many steps as other students while improving their fitness level. In this article, teachers describe how they are using pedometers creatively in classes to impact the level of physical activity.

This paper reports on the changes in understandings and appreciations of pre-service elementary (K-8) teacher education students who participated in a week-long cultural immersion experience in Alaska Native communities and their schools. For this group of pre service teachers, the experience developed new and deeper understandings about the…

Many Alaskan schools are located in extremely remote or "fly-in" places. These geographical extremes affect the recruitment and retention of teachers to remote rural schools. Through a partnership between the Southwest Region School District of Alaska and the Department of Education at Alaska Pacific University (APU), 14 pre-service…