Rose
Urban Rural Exchange
Mission: to build an understanding between urban and rural Alaskans.
The Rose Urban Rural Exchange aims to strengthen relationships
between urban and rural Alaskans by building mutual respect,
understanding and a statewide sense of community through a cross-cultural
exchange of ambassadors from urban and rural communities.
Teacher Cross-Cultural Immersion Program
The Rose Urban Rural Exchange is also offering an opportunity
for elementary, middle and high school teachers from Anchorage,
Fairbanks and Mat-Su to gain first-hand experience about Alaska
Native culture and rural life by attending a regional culture
camp during the summer months. Teachers attend pre-and post-travel
orientation and debriefing sessions. All costs including round
trip airfare, camp fees, and college tuition are underwritten
by the Rose Urban Rural Exchange.
While
being an ambassador for their school, this program offers
teachers a unique opportunity to learn, work and play at an
Alaska Native summer culture camp. The camp experience gives
teachers insights into the Native people, their culture, their
ways of teaching, learning and living.
Tremendous
Benefits to Teachers:
Teacher participants receive the following gifts from the
program:
- 3.0 CR grad-level multi-cultural course through UAA - free!
- An invitation to visit a rural Alaska Native culture camp,
- All expenses paid, round-trip airfare, meals and accommodations
- Two-day sessions with participant peers - cultural training
and debriefing sessions
Program
Requirements:
- Enroll in a 3.0 credit graduate level course on communication
and culture.
- Attend required two-day cultural training and two-day debriefing
session.
- Keep a journal of your camp experience.
- Submit a reflective written essay.
- Develop and teach a lesson plan that relates to your rural
experience.
- Develop a community presentation based on your experience.
Download
an application for submission. If selected, teachers will
participate in an interview with the selection committee,
and a match will be made accordingly.
If
you would like MORE information on Teacher Cross-Cultural
Immersion, please contact:
Laurie
Evans-Dinneen, Director
907-272-5302
ledinneen@akhf.org
MAILING ADDRESS:
Alaska Humanities Forum
421 W. 1st Ave, Ste. 300
Anchorage, AK 99501
|
|
Teacher
Deanna Youngren's second day of chiseling her bentwood visor,
Camp Qungaayux, Unalaska.
Teacher
Kirsten Gray helping to Reforest Dig Afognak
Looking
back on the past week, my most significant realization is
that I have neglected to take advantage of my own cultural
resources….If I am fortunate enough to have my grandparents
here for one more summer, I'm going to rectify what I've failed
to learn in the last twenty years. I'm going to spend time
learning from their stories, not just watching them work,
helping. If there is one thing I learned about my Rose Urban
Rural Exchange experience, it is to not take for granted what
my own culture has to offer.
Amber
Rinella
Klukwan Traditional Fish Camp
|
|
Teacher Experiences:
John Cox, Colony Middle School teacher, learns
how to scrape a ringed seal skin at Tuapaktusuk Culture Camp near
Barrow in July 2006. The camp is sponsored by Ilisagvik College.
"Garrett
sat with me a lot this afternoon and evening and taught me things
about woodcarving. I feel a special touchstone with my father, who
is also a woodworker. I am making a spoon with a pocketknife, but
the woodcarving tools that Garrett pulls out make the work so much
easier. Like showing us how to skin a seal, Garrett teaches by doing.
There is very little talk and I realize how comfortable, and different,
this way of learning is. My time with Garrett leads me to consider
my own teaching methods and the many different ways of knowing."
Annie Caulfield learns to skin a seal.
Annie Caulfield
Keex' Yanshuka
Kake Culture Camp
Keex,
our way of life
Our food is our way of life
Keex, our food, our life
Drumming to an Elder at the Kake Cultural
Camp.
Something
I realized about myself on this trip was how much I value structure.
As far as how I look at structure, it appeared that there wasn't
any, but by the time my trip concluded I realized that the structure
was unstated and that it was actually there. Since I am a teacher
I really appreciate step by step instructions ….I really like
to know what is going on and what to expect next….they did
not give me these details, I had to observe and learn from those
observations.
Kate
Hallford
Kuskokwim Camp
Respect
for nature- when in camp we used all of the animal that was harvested…..The
hunting traditions are passed on from generation to generation.
Quayaan taught Ash how to hunt for aivik. The women taught us how
to harvest animals. The tradition states that the animal gives themselves
to the hunter so the hunter must honor that animal. That is how
the cycle of life continues. The one value that is in danger is
knowledge of the language. This is such a sensitive matter for the
Inupiaq. The fear that the culture will die because the young don't
know the language is palpable.
Warna
Bellamy
Barrow Inupiaq Culture Camp
After everyone had arrived, we gathered at the central yurt for
formal introductions. Staff, elders and then adults and kids stated
their name, where they were from, and parents and grandparents names.
I later learned that they stated their grandparents' names to help
elders identify who the students were and create ties between the
elders who grew up knowing some of their parents and the grandchildren.
Joyce Mayfield
Historical Alutiiq Camp
|
