Indigenous educational models in higher education that incorporate Elder wisdom, knowledge, and experience are supported by educators but often not well understood or implemented. This study provides an in-depth exploration of six Elders' experiences serving as members of university instructor teams in a Rural Human Services university program.…

The reflective inquiry approach to teacher preparation is based on analysis of teaching "cases" and is particularly relevant for teachers in Alaska's rural multicultural schools. Students learn to ask ethical as well as pedagogical questions and to reflect upon larger issues imbedded in the details of school life. (Author/SV)

The reflective inquiry model of teacher education uses case methods to develop a particular professional way of thinking characteristic of expert teachers. Teaching cases play an important role in preparing teachers emotionally as well as intellectually for the problems of multicultural classrooms, and in legitimizing the discussion of crucial…

Teachers for Rural Alaska is a fifth year program leading to secondary teacher certification and focusing on preparation for teaching in small village high schools with predominantly Native populations. Emphasizing a reflective inquiry orientation, the program aims to develop teachers who (1) can identify crucial problems and dilemmas in rural,…

This article discusses preparing teachers to teach in rural Alaska. An anecdote illustrates how outsiders who come to work in rural Alaska get into trouble because they are unprepared for conditions unique to the North. These conditions end up being viewed as impediments rather than opportunities. The same is true for the field of education. Of…

Since its beginnings in 1970, a field-based teacher education program aimed at preparing certificated Alaska native teachers has graduated 80 teachers. Until then, the University of Alaska's teacher training program had been a traditional campus-based program aimed primarily at preparing teachers for urban schools, with no course that reflected…

This study is a "teaching case." It is a description of events written to help education students understand the complex, ambiguous situations which arise in rural teaching. The limitations of scientific rules and principles for teacher training are especially obvious in rural Alaska schools--where teachers who are typically Caucasian…

This study is a "teaching case." It is a description of events written to help education students understand the complex, ambiguous situations that arise in rural teaching. The limitations of scientific rules and principles for teacher training are especially obvious in rural Alaska schools--where teachers who are typically Caucasian…

The large number of requests for general information on Alaska has resulted in compilation of this booklet. The Alaskan public school system, composed of district schools and state-operated schools, is discussed. Correspondence study, adult education programs, institutions of higher learning, teacher qualifications, and the role of the Bureau of…

These guidelines address issues of concern in the preparation of Alaska teachers who will be expected to teach students from diverse backgrounds in a culturally responsive and educationally healthy way. Special attention is given to the preparation of Native and non-Native teachers for small rural schools in Alaska. To assist personnel associated…

Alaska Natives have a high college dropout rate because of inadequate preparation for the learning and living requirements of college. This dissertation describes research used to develop Prelude, a 2-week advanced program for 11th grade rural Alaska students at Sheldon Jackson College (Alaska) that continues and expands the work begun by the…

This paper discusses issues involved in teaching culturally diverse students and questions current practices in multicultural teacher education. The central portion of the paper describes and discusses an alternative approach to multicultural teacher education through the Teachers for Alaska program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Teachers…

The large number of requests for general information on Alaska has resulted in the compilation of this booklet. Alaska's school system is made up of district schools and State-operated schools. The 29 school districts (controlled by the local school boards) vary in size from 40 pupils with 4 teachers to 34,000 pupils with 1,500 teachers. Boarding…

This document reports on a six-part study conducted during 1993-94 evaluating rural secondary education in Alaska. A survey of 152 graduates of Mt. Edgecumbe High School (a boarding school attended by rural students) examined how well their educational experiences prepared them for college, trade school, and employment. A telephone survey of 800…

Factors contributing to Native students' college success were examined in a study of 50 Native freshmen and 42 non-Native freshmen at the University of Alaska in the 1973-74 academic year. The study compared students in relation to three common explanations of college success: level of academic preparation, goal orientation, ease in the campus…