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…

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…

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…

This article describes how a preservice early childhood program collaborates with a local agency in a community engagement project. The project was implemented in a family-community partnership class for preservice teachers. There were three purposes for this project. First, to build a partnership between the University of Alaska Anchorage…

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)

Examines the experiences of Native and non-Native Alaskan teacher educators in rural Alaska, describing opportunities for capitalizing on field settings available to faculty at any university. Discusses reasons for putting faculty in the field, looking at field-based training for Native teachers, the "ivory tower" versus the real world,…

In this article, the authors show how two first year teachers a continent apart--Kim in the village of Tununak on the Bering Sea in Alaska and Chris in Beaufort, South Carolina, on the Atlantic Ocean--were able to take inquiry stances on their classrooms. In particular, through analysis of e-mails written in Chris' and Kim's first years of…

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…

Reviews programs and policies developed for college students from diverse cultural backgrounds, discussing Alaska Native students at one institution. The article examines tensions between university and indigenous student cultures, noting changes and accommodations negotiated to help develop environments to promote student success and maintenance…

A personal narrative documents the struggle of an Alaska native teacher through her years in school and in the teaching profession. The article discusses the difficulties students face when they are native Yup'ik speakers but are taught in English; demonstrates how recent bilingual and Yup'ik programs have increased students' success rates. (SM)